Are SUNY New Paltz Dorms Safe?

Posted by Victoria Anisman-Reiner Aug 26, 2007

Continued from SUNY New Paltz Campus Concern:

As I told Ms Kwiatoski in one of our email exchanges, I don't mean to imply that all administrators are corrupt. The fact is, however, that SUNY administrators do have a motive to tell people that the dorms are safe. Whether or not the buildings are still contaminated, the people in charge are liable. Because the present situation represents a legal risk to the college, the administration has a financial motive to dismiss the risks and hide the issue.

The bottom line: Claims by administrators that the dorms are safe don't make them safe. Neither do reports that they are still contaminated mean that they are necessarily toxic.

What I see - after correspondence and conversation with people printing both sides of this story, including campus officials - is that there is a potentially very valid concern that the most at-risk areas for contamination remain untested. The school refuses to run more comprehensive tests on either the heating or ventilation systems, instead continuing to dismiss the issue with what some claim (and I agree) reads as classic misdirection. The experts and reporters who agree with SUNY's position that “no further tests are necessary” refuse to respond to direct questions and relate partial information that is full of sloppy arguments.

Check out the available information and consider for yourself:

• the most recent official statement from SUNY New Paltz
• dioxindorms.com webblog
• my article
• Ms Kwiatoski's article
• letter from the Office of the President, SUNY New Paltz: "No such records exist" (PDF)