September 2, 2011

Good afternoon.

As we all experienced, the New York area endured two emergency situations this past week: an earthquake and a hurricane only a few days apart. The New School was relatively fortunate in that neither episode created significant problems on our campus despite the treacherous conditions and travel delays that disrupted life for hundreds of thousands.

These two events give us a chance to review our emergency procedures. While each incident is unique, we can always learn from them. For example, after the earthquake, we found out that the New School Alerts system can be delayed when the Internet and cell phone systems are overtaxed. We are working on ways to avoid such delays in the future. In addition, we did not have much experience with earthquakes, and we need to review the best way to address such events.

I would like to hear from students, faculty, and staff about their experiences last week. The safety of our community is of paramount importance, and I am eager to bring your ideas and observations to our emergency preparedness team, which is working to further improve the way The New School addresses emergencies.

I welcome your feedback at presidentsoffice@newschool.edu and offer my great thanks.

Sincerely,