The Daily Bulletin Archive

At the March 10, 2023, meeting of the Buffalo State Senate, the Student Welfare Committee brought forth for a vote a motion in response to the December 2022 blizzard. The Senate voted in favor of adopting the following resolution as a formal recommendation to the president:

WHEREAS, the deadly blizzard that hit the Buffalo area December 23–24, 2022, directly impacted Buffalo State students living both on and off campus; and

WHEREAS, many students living in nearby off-campus apartments went days without electricity, without heat, and/or without access to food while their streets remained unplowed; and

WHEREAS, the Buffalo State community did not receive any communication regarding available resources for those impacted by the blizzard until December 29, 2022; and

WHEREAS, there is no publicly available emergency response plan for blizzards or other weather-related emergencies; and

WHEREAS, this blizzard was unprecedented in many ways, but that should not take away from the institution’s ability to ensure that students, faculty, and staff are prepared before and during extreme weather emergencies,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that to enhance communication with students about resources available and to appropriately direct them to those resources, the Emergency Response Planning Group (ERPG) be tasked with working on ways to more effectively disseminate emergency action plans to students and communicate them to the campus community; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Marketing and Communications Office conduct an annual student communication survey to question students on their preferred methods of communication in times of prolonged weather emergencies.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the president charge the agencies so named with reporting regularly to the campus community.

I hereby accept the recommendation of the Buffalo State Senate and charge the provost with responsibility for overseeing the implementation of these changes and for communicating the changes to the campus community.