September 26, 2007 | The University
Four CUNY officials, in testimony before the City Council Committee on Higher Education Wednesday, outline campus-based public safety protocols, preparedness plans, emergency communications measures and related new initiatives:
Testimony of Garrie Moore
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
The City University of New York
New York City Council Higher Education Committee
September 26,2007
Good afternoon, Chair Barron and members of the committee. I am Garrie Moore, CUNY’s vice chancellor for student affairs. Testifying with me today are Edison Jackson, president of CUNY’s Medgar Evers College and former chair of the CUNY Presidential Public Safety Task Force; Scott Anderson, vice president of administration and planning at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College; and Howard Apsan, university director of risk management and environmental, health, and safety.
I appreciate the opportunity to talk about CUNY’s emergency management procedures, including the plans and mechanisms in place to ensure emergency communication to faculty and students.
This spring’s horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech University reinforced to every higher education institution the importance of emergency preparedness. Our deepest sympathies are with the Virginia Tech families who suffered such painful losses, and to that devastated university community. Last month’s comprehensive internal and external reports about the April shootings revealed the very difficult and critically important questions that administrators, staff, and faculty across the country must address in order to prevent such a catastrophe.
The safety of our students, faculty, and staff has always been a CUNY priority. As the largest urban university in the United States, with more than 450,000 students spread out over 23 schools, it is our responsibility to maintain safety and security so that our students can concentrate on learning. A share of this responsibility falls to CUNY’s Department of Public Safety, which consists of approximately 1,000 peace officers, campus security assistants, and contract guards.
At the core of the Department of Public Safety are its sworn New York State Peace Officers. Because these officers have police powers and are authorized to make arrests, we make sure that they are very well trained.
Under the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services guidelines, peace officers must receive 53 hours of training. At CUNY, we provide our peace officers with 280 hours of training. These extra 227 hours are spent in law enforcement and emergency medical classes, which include CPR, defibrillator, and first-aid training. And where peace officers are required to attend four hours of annual in-service training and re-qualification, CUNY officers receive an additional 12 hours of annual training on police topics and 16 hours of bi-annual emergency medical training.
In addition to our peace officers, CUNY has a cadre of Campus Security Assistants who are licensed by the New York State Department of State as security guards. They are not granted special law enforcement powers, but we ensure that they are also well trained. Beyond the state-required eight-hour basic training and 16-hour on-the-job training courses, CUNY provides them with another 56 hours of training-totaling 80 hours in all- which includes instruction on security in the college environment and emergency medical training. CSAs also attend eight hours of annual in-service training.
Our campus safety program has been effective in its own right, but it is also backed up by the New York Police Department and the New York City Fire Department. Police response to the campuses is coordinated under a Memorandum of Understanding between CUNY and the NYPD. These protocols are updated bi-annually and provide the NYPD with detailed emergency contact information for each campus.
At CUNY, the college president bears ultimate responsibility for campus safety. CUNY’s Department of Public Safety meets with the NYPD ’s top leadership to discuss system-wide issues, and each college president recently held similar meetings with local police commanders to re-invigorate the relationship between the college and the local precinct.
Additionally, we are ensuring that all of our public safety officers have radios that can be switched to the NYPD frequency so that they can listen to local police communications and be fully apprised of developments in an emergency.
Of course, we are always trying to learn and improve. Several years ago, CUNY brought in The Bratton Group, headed by former NYPD Police Commissioner William Bratton, to conduct a detailed study of CUNY security operations. The study included reviews of both system-wide and campus-specific policies and procedures, and recommended a number of operational improvements that have been implemented, such as standardization of equipment and emergency medical response capabilities.
Around the same time, CUNY retained Kroll Inc., a worldwide leader in security and risk management, to review the University’s emergency management program. In addition to a site-specific study at Hunter College, Kroll developed a comprehensive Emergency Procedures Manual for CUNY and individual Emergency Response Plan templates for every campus building. We have implemented Kroll’s framework for managing emergencies on campus, including the designation of an Emergency Management Team ,and primary and secondary Emergency Operations Centers. Campuses are also provided with 800 MHz radios that allow for direct communications during a crisis.
We have learned that preparedness requires practice. We must continue to expand our tabletop exercise efforts because whenever we conduct them, either internally or in conjunction with other agencies, we find shortcomings that have to be corrected. And we must continue to drill so that evacuation procedures and other emergency actions become ingrained.
Protecting our students also means ensuring that those who require professional attention are getting it, and that the counseling they receive is both effective and discreet. Even before the Virginia Tech tragedy, the University began increasing its counseling staff. In 2006, as part of our ongoing review of the University’s mental health/psychological counseling services, we studied the staffing patterns of mental health counseling centers at the CUNY campuses. -As a result of the study’s recommendations, we added full-time counselors in our residence halls at Hunter and City Colleges.
A subsequent recommendation by a group of chief student affairs officers from the CUNY campuses led to the creation of the CUNY Clinical Psychology Fellowship Program, which places into campus counseling centers qualified Ph.D. students from the CCNY clinical psychology program, a highly regarded program that has trained more minority students than any other clinical psychology program in the country. The 12 Fellows selected this year supplement campus counseling center staff, increasing the number of clients that counseling centers are able to assist. We hope to expand the fellowship program over the next year by doubling the number of Fellows. In addition, we have appointed a Clinical Psychology Research Fellow to conduct a needs assessment of CUNY’s overall mental health/psychological counseling services in order to identify areas that need enhancement or improvement. And this year, we will make available to students with acute problems psychiatrists on retainer, in order to offer expanded assistance, including prescriptions for medication, at no cost to students.
Chair Barron, I would respectfully request that the council consider funding for additional counseling. One of the most important reasons we asked for $6.4 million from the council last year for student services was to bolster our counseling services. Counselors have given thousands of our students the tools they need to manage a broad range of mental-health issues, preventing an escalation of troubling behaviors. They are critical to the University’s ability to provide for the safety and well-being of all of its students.
CUNY’s services to students have also been strengthened by our new medical withdrawal policy. The policy, adopted by our Board of Trustees in June, allows students to withdraw or be removed from a college without penalty if their conduct threatens or disrupts the learning environment of others because of a mental health or other medical condition. In the past, disciplinary action would have been initiated for such students. The new policy protects troubled students while providing campuses with a necessary tool to take action in emergency situations.
Of course, we cannot control students’ every action, and predicting their behavior is an art, not a science. But we are committed to implementing and monitoring procedures and policies that will best protect our campus communities.
In addition to our students, CUNY has some 35,000 employees who are entitled to a safe and secure workplace. Because of the legal obligations and the growing sensitivity to workplace violence nationwide, CUNY’s Office of Faculty and Staff Relations has distributed a system-wide policy that was approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees in November 2006. This policy puts into place formal systems to identify hazards and minimize the risks of workplace violence.
Although I am proud to share with you CUNY’s ongoing efforts to minimize the potential of violent incidents, I will be the first to admit that we are not satisfied. Chance may favor the prepared mind, but it offers no guarantees. And that is why we are implementing the following initiatives throughout CUNY.
For starters, we recently distributed to CUNY’s administrative council the final report of the “Safe School Initiative,” a study conducted jointly by the United States Secret Service and the Department of Education. The report provides detailed guidance on identifying characteristics of troubled students or employees. The administrative council, comprising the chief administrative officers of each CUNY campus, will distribute these guidelines to appropriate personnel at their campuses and facilitate subsequent training in, and implementation of, the study’s recommendations.
Our college presidents are called on daily to make difficult decisions on campus. Deciding whether to evacuate or lock down a building in the midst of a crisis is never going to be easy, and it will surely be second guessed after the emergency has passed. In conjunction with the city’s Office of Emergency Management, we have implemented training in the Citywide Incident Management System (CIMS) for the directors of security at the CUNY campuses, so that they can better assist presidents in preparing for and making these difficult decisions. CIMS, New York City’s program for responding to emergencies, is part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) of domestic preparedness.
Effective communication is at the heart of incident management. Without quick, clear, and explicit instructions, a well-organized response can quickly turn into chaos. Our public address systems must cover more than 280 CUNY buildings, some of which date back to the 19th century, so they must be thoroughly reviewed. We are currently surveying each of our buildings to assess CUNY’s needs.
In addition, we have accelerated the introduction of a new technology solution-text messaging. The ubiquity of cell phones makes this an obvious solution; even if only a handful of students in each classroom get an emergency text message on their cell phones, they will be able to share the information with others.
Immediately after the April shooting at Virginia Tech, the University established a committee of campus and University IT professionals to identify a set of requirements for the implementation of an enterprise emergency notification system. The committee researched the marketplace to identify vendors that have a proven, highly reliable solution that works within a higher education setting. At that time, no government contracts that provided these services, or that anticipated a client of the size and scope of The City University of New York, existed. As a result, the University chose to pursue the competitive bid process. Chair Barron, since we are currently engaged in a procurement for an emergency notification solution, I hope you understand that I will need to limit my comments on this topic so as not to jeopardize the integrity of the procurement process.
In the meantime, several CUNY campuses have begun to implement interim systems to send text messages to their respective campus communities. These interim solutions are currently available at Baruch College, The College of Staten Island, Kingsborough Community College, and Queens College. The data collected and entered into these systems will eventually be loaded into the University’s selected enterprise system.
To summarize the University’s requirements for an emergency notification system, we have publicly stated that we are seeking a fully hosted vendor solution, with highly reliable and redundant services that are highly secure, easy to use, web accessible, highly configurable for both campus and University-wide needs, have 24171365 support, and provide self- service registration and management of user information. The chosen solution must also support multiple delivery modes including e-mail, text message, phone, fax, and pager
services and must take into consideration the recipients’ preferred delivery method, including any impairment that may hinder the receipt of a conventional message.
On August 27, 2007, the University issued a formal Invitation to Bid. As of September 10, 2007, we were aware of 12 vendors that have submitted their intention to bid response. On September 10, the University held a pre-bidders conference that provided more detailed information about the University’s expectations and informed the potential vendor pool of the bid process. The pre-bidders conference was not required of vendors wishing to submit a response to the Invitation to Bid. Formal bid responses are due back on October 24, 2007. Thereafter, the University plans to open and award the bid to the lowest, most responsive, and most responsible bidder. We expect to begin implementing the data collection and registration modules immediately after the winning vendor is announced. It is our intention to have the new system in use by our early adopter campuses by the start of the Spring 2008 semester.
The legislature has been very supportive of this effort, introducing a bill (no. 7957) to require every public and private college or university in the state to implement some type of notification emergency response system. We would appreciate any further assistance that you can offer. An informed student body can be our first line of defense against campus violence if we provide the proper tools. In addition to general campus information, CUNY will now include emergency information in all orientation packages, and we will post campus- specific emergency management information on each college web site.
In closing, let me thank you again for the opportunity to testify today about our emergency management procedures at CUNY. As I’ve said, every time the University administration discusses our preparedness efforts-which happens regularly-we find things that could be done better. I can’t promise you that we will be-able to prevent every incident, but I can tell you that we will be vigilant, well prepared, and committed to the principle of continuous improvement. The CUNY community-and, indeed, New York City itself-is entitled to nothing less. Thank you.
Testimony of G. Scott Anderson
Vice President of Administration and Planning
BMCC/CUNY
New York City Council Higher Education Committee
September 26,2007
Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and Honorable members of the City Council Committee on Higher Education. Borough of Manhattan Community College welcomes this opportunity to speak with you today on emergency management procedures on college campuses. BMCC and CUNY take seriously our collective responsibility to provide all of our citizens in New York City with a safe learning and working environment on our college campuses.
In this age of heightened awareness of the dangers that natural and manmade disasters pose to the health and safety of our respective communities, we have all had to ramp up our emergency planning efforts. It has become critically important that we all expand our universe and awareness of the many threats that exist in the larger community because no institution, no neighborhood, no individual should have to suffer the consequences of a poorly managed emergency. This is particularly true when lessons learned exist from similar situations. It is easy for us to criticize how a college should have handled a particular emergency but it would be unconscionable if we did not incorporate those lessons learned into our own campus planning.
Six years ago on 911 1, BMCC became the first college in America to lose part of its campus through foreign terrorism. In one afternoon, the college lost a 15-story building, 70 classroom and labs when 7 WTC collapsed onto Fiterman Hall. Although we evacuated everyone beforehand safely, BMCC lost nine students and alumni who were working in the World Trade Center at the time. For three weeks, we suspended all school operations while we tried to get the college back into business. During that time we were creating temporary classrooms inside and around the main campus. In addition, we were also home to over 3,000 first responders every day.
BMCC was used by more than eight uniformed service agencies from the City, State and Armed Services. The college made its cafeteria, theatres, Gym and outdoor courtyards available to many brave and dedicated emergency workers. However, there was no script for how all of this was supposed to work. We were very fortunate because our emergency staff and the first responder community forged an outstanding constructive working relationship. We learned several important things from that experience:
It is important that college campuses form mutual assistance relationships with neighboring community and first-responder agencies before and emergency arises;
An emergency inventory should be made of every campus to assess the physical capacity of the facility to function as an emergency response location or command center;
Campuses should insure the proper training and equipping of campus emergency staff; Provision should be made to store food, water, toiletries and clothing for essential staff for a three-day period;
Involve the facilities staff in the development of any campus emergency planning effort;
Make plans to relocate administrative functions at a remote site;
Install critical telecom, network and administrative applications at a remote ‘hot site;
During the emergency, insure the continued Web ‘presence’ of the institution at another location;
Insure the frequent and accurate communication of the status of your campus to your faculty, staff and students during the emergency;
Make sure your college is fully engaged in meaningful dialogue with the City’s Office of Emergency Management and other appropriate agencies;
Participate in higher education’s professional organizational forums related to emergency planning, risk assessment and business continuity issues (e.g., NACUBO, SCUP, URMIA, IACLEA, AACC, etc.) Become engaged immediately in business continuity or recovery efforts, not just emergency response;
Pay attention to the mental and emotional health of your faculty, staff and students and especially those emergency workers working throughout the crisis.
These items may seem like commonsense and they are. However, we learned the value of these lessons, first-hand during 911 1 and their importance cannot be stressed enough. Since that time, BMCC continues to be engaged in emergency management activities to better prepare our campus and protect our community:
Suggested Action BMCC Response
Emergency Alert Systems The college installed a public address system in our buildings to provide immediate information and instructions on how to respond to emergencies, including evacuations and shelter-in-place.
Conspicuous Emergency Call Boxes have been installed on every floor of our buildings.
Perimeter video monitoring system has just been installed and the college is seeking additional capital funds support for the installation of additional access control devices, video equipment and bollards.
The college is participating in a university-wide initiative with CUNY to acquire an electronic notification system for all faculty, staff and students. The system would blast text and voice messages to registered phones.
The college receives emergency alerts in NYC through an 800 MHz communications link with CUNY and OEM.
All campus safety officers arc equipped with radio communications for on-the-ground emergency notification to the campus community. BMCC has purchased the equipment and will join the CUNY initiative to install a fail-over network at a remote ‘hot site.’
Lower Manhattan Community and the Community Advisory Committee for Fiterman Hall BMCC has posted its Emergency Action Plan related to the Fiterman Hall project on the college Website. This comprehensive plan includes the notification protocols for the campus and neighboring community.
The First Precinct has committed itself to a 3-minute response time for any emergency calls from the campus
Air and Environmental Testing We retain the services of Bader Associates – the same company that tested environmental quality for Stuyvesant HS and us after 91 11. BMCC routinely responds to environmental concerns by using an independent consultant for testing of our internal environment.
Campus Emergency Response Plan BMCC’s campus emergency plan is reviewed each year for updates and is currently being revised to include a response protocol that incorporates lessons learned from other recent campus events.
CERT and Emergency Training Programs BMCC currently has 102 fully trained and equipped FEMA certified employees on staff to assist the college community and first responders during emergencies. Our goal was to insure the college had CERT trained employees on site, at any of our primary locations, at any time of the day to assist faculty, staff and students during an emergency.
This fall, we hope to begin offering CERT and National Safety Council CPRIAED training to interested faculty, staff and students and extend training assistance to interested CUNY public safety departments.
In addition, BMCC regularly refreshes the skill sets of its 105 voluntary fire wardens.
Fire Wardens and CERT staff receive training in the use of the college’s 18 AED units, perform CPR and3 Evac-Chairs.
Mutual Assistance MOUs We continue to update our mutual assistance MOUs with first-responder agencies and community agencies. We are about to enter into a new arrangement with Stuyvesant HS to provide them with relocation and mobilization location in the event of a facility-based emergency.
The college understands the importance of maintaining an ongoing strategic relationship and communications with OEM, NYPD, FDNY, City Hall and CUNY.
Emergency Fail-over telecom and Power BMCC is exploring the installation and use of ham-radio repeaters and equipment as a low-tech fail-over for communications failures. In addition, the college has made a capital request for separate telecom and IT power support, including the use of wind and solar powered power generators on our roof. If successful, the college could provide additional telecom support for affected first responder or governmental agencies.
Our emergency planning will never be exhaustive enough because there will always be new permutations in the kinds of threats that can affect our campuses. What is important however is that each and every college and university develop a culture of campus readiness. No emergency-planning document will ever be ‘comprehensive’ enough. It is critical that we subject our planning protocols to constant review and conduct frequent training exercises, whether full-scale or tabletop. This is not paranoia. This is our responsibility. The health and safety of our students, faculty and staff deserve no less from us.
Thank you for your time, this opportunity to speak with you and for your commitment to the welfare of the citizens of this great city.
Testimony of President Edison O. Jackson
Medgar Evers College/CUNY
New York City Council Higher Education Committee
September 26,2007
In light of the recent tragic incidents that have taken place on college campuses throughout the nation, Medgar Evers College of The City University of New York recognized the compelling need to revisit campus protocols and update emergency notification procedures. We reviewed and revised the protocols with the goal of implementing several strategies that would enable us to respond effectively to emergencies that threaten the public health and safety at the College. Recognizing that there is no “One Size Fits All” plan in campus security, the College initiated the development of a security policy that remains in compliance with The City University of New York Public Safety guidelines and procedures. Our highest priority is to safeguard lives. In so doing, we acknowledged the cultural characteristics of our students and surrounding communities, the physical layout of our campus buildings and the available crime prevention techniques. Four months ago, I appointed a Response Team and a Campus Emergency Protocol Taskforce to conduct security vulnerability assessments that considered aspects of culture, physical layout and crime prevention techniques. The Taskforce was charged with identifying security vulnerabilities, creating a plan template, and recommending the most practical methods for reducing risks at all levels at the institution.
The Campus Emergency Protocol Task Force is in the final stages of producing a Campus Emergency Protocol Handbook which will provide all members of the college community with information that will assist in identifying, responding, and hopefully preventing campus emergencies. This comprehensive document covers a myriad of important topics directly related to campus emergencies. Topics includes: Shooting Incidents on Campus; Assessing & Responding to Dangerousness; Mental Health Emergencies; Violence in the Workplace & Disciplinary Procedures; Domestic Violence Related Emergencies; Standard Fire Evacuation Procedures; Environmental Disasters, Hazardous Materials; Evacuation of Differently-Abled; Campus Emergency Contact Persons; and a list of relevant referral offices on campus and within the community.
My response team includes myself, the Chief of Staff, the Director of Public Safety, the Vice President of Administration & Facilities, the Provost, the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Counsel to the President. When called into action at our identified Incident Response Center (President’s Conference Room), the response is charged with obtaining and evaluating event information and assessing the potential impact of the event on the college” community’s public health and safety.
In the event of a campus emergency, the campus Public Safety officers and local police have a protocol in place. Since Medgar Evers College has been designated as a Community Emergency Command Site, Public safety and local police will analyze the event and evaluate possible recovery strategies. Concurrently, students, faculty and staff will receive notification via email, flyers, and megaphones, giving the latest update on what actions that are currently being taken. The President or his designees will determine if classes and other events will be canceled. Communications with the news media, State, City and other agencies will be handled by the staff in my office. If the event rises to the level of a terrorist-related attack, the New York Police Department has responsibility for coordinating the overall response to the event.
The College is moving forward to install flat screens at prominent locations throughout the institution, which will serve as message boards in the event of an emergency. The College purchasing office recently submitted bids for the installation of a campus-wide public address system. The College is actively researching the feasibility of implementing an emergency warning-network system that will be delivered through text messaging. Should we need to declare an emergency, a communication system is in place to quickly and efficiently alert all members of the college community. Until a CUNY-wide alert system is fully in place we will rely on e-mail, flyers, megaphones, walkie-talkie, and other available communication systems.
Sad to say, in all likelihood there will be future incidentron campuses. My goal is to reach a level of security that will greatly reduce the likelihood of such a tragedy occurring at Medgar Evers College. The Campus Emergency Protocol Taskforce has made several recommendations for implementation of procedures.
To that end, Medgar Evers College has increased the number of public safety officers. I have required additional training for all Public Safety Officers so that in the event of a potentially violent situation (i.e., hostage situation, disgruntled person) Public Safety Officers will be trained and readily able to conduct selective evacuation procedures. These procedures will permit large numbers of students and staff to be swiftly evacuated should a potentially violent individual enter the college.
I have provided the Vice President of Student Affairs with the necessary resources to address minor altercations and infractions on campus in an expedient manner to prevent them from escalating. It has been reported that the young man who shot the two students at Delaware State University was involved in a previous minor altercation with one of the shooting victims.
The College is installing additional “red” emergency telephones throughout the campus. Emergency phone numbers will be prominently displayed to ensure quick communication with Public Safety, which will enable that office to implement the necessary response in a timely manner to minimize harm to persons and property.
Evacuation drills will be conducted to orientate members of the college community how to respond to emergencies. Public Safety will conduct drills quarterly, or more frequently if needed.
I have required that Public Safety install additional surveillance cameras throughout the campus. By monitoring suspicious activity on campus, Public Safety will thwart those persons who might want to bring harm or danger to the campus.
The Campus Emergency Protocol Handbook will be utilized as training document for faculty and staff. Training will be ongoing and mandatory for fulltime employees. While these are not failsafe approaches it is my hope that these plans will enhance security and safety on campus by minimizing or containing actual or potential threats. Our plans and accomplishments, while necessary to enhance our security, are shadowed by the tragedies that have occurred at Virginia Tech, and more recently by the recent shooting incident that occurred at President Allen L. Sessoms’ college, Delaware State University. Our campuses, our students, our larger community remain vulnerable. These emergency procedures allow us to better guard and protect all those who see the College as a beacon of hope and higher learning in the community. Whether we are protected from natural disaster, accidents, or hostile individuals, our safety measures are directed toward protecting our community. To succeed with minimal harm to individuals or the fabric of our community, we must all be educated and aware of potential dangers and effective responses.
Testimony by Howard N. Apsan
University Director
Risk Management and Environmental, Health, and Safety
The City University of New York
September 26, 2007
Chairman Barron, Members of the Higher Education Committee, good afternoon. I am Howard Apsan, University Director of Cuny’s Office of Risk Management and Environmental, Health, and Safety, and I appreciate the opportunity to highlight some of our recent emergency preparedness and risk management efforts.
In addition to promoting awareness and compliance with Cuny’s environmental, health and safety obligations, our Office is responsible for coordinating risk management activities throughout CW. For us, risk management consists of assessing the hazards that C W faces, and developing the tools needed to prevent their occurrence, or reduce their effects on our campuses. Acknowledging and understanding risk enables us to prepare for the unexpected, and provides a foundation for dealing with emergencies in a planned and organized fashion. To illustrate, I would like to share three quick examples of our work.
First, CUNY has made significant progress in addressing environmental risk. In response to EPA’s focus on colleges and universities over the past five years, CUNY has established a comprehensive audit program for all of its campuses. Through this process, we have seen the number of environmental compliance concerns decline consistently, and we have been able to avoid substantial fines and penalties.
Second, although we hope never to find out, an Avian influenza pandemic would pose dramatic health and business continuity risks to most institutions in New York. To prepare, CUNY has collaborated with other universities and with the New York City Health Department to develop detailed plans that were shared throughout the CUNY community. Preparedness will not prevent a bird flu outbreak, but it might limit its impact.
Third, even though we are in the midst of this year’s hurricane season, most New Yorkers tend to think that hurricanes and tropical storms happen elsewhere-and that is generally, but not always, correct. A major coastal storm could severely impact the City’s low-lying waterfront neighborhoods, as well as several of our campuses. New York’s Office of Emergency Management serves as the lead agency, but CUNY will be integral in both sheltering and training. Eleven of our campuses are designated as emergency evacuation hubs, and since April, more than 12,500 emergency volunteers have been trained by CUNY.
In closing, risk management and emergency preparedness for a system as large as CUNY is often daunting. It’s hard to open a newspaper or listen to the radio without thinking about new threats that must be tamed. The good news, though, is that we don’t have to go it alone. We have established a CUNY Risk Management Council, with representation from each college campus and every CUNY division. We work with our counterparts in government agencies, other universities, and private industry. And, it goes without saying, we are very pleased by the attention that this City Council Higher Education Committee hearing brings to the issue.
Thank you.