By Vince Gasparini | January 27, 2025
Amid criticism towards the executive branch of the University at Albany Student Association’s temporary closure of its 1,000-acre Adirondack retreat, Dippikill, the Dippikill Board Chair Dylan Klein (‘24) paid a visit to the SA Senate at this past Wednesday’s (1/22) meeting to respond to questions from concerned Senators.
Klein (left) addressing Senators at Wednesday’s meeting. To the right is Senate Chair Ethan Maddappat.
Photo Credit: Vince Gasparini / The ASP
The Dippikill Board of Directors is who leads Dippikill Inc., a subsidiary organization tasked by SA to maintain the property, which SA currently funds with just over $250,000 of its $2.7 million budget, which largely comes from the semesterly $110 student activity fee.
Klein is no stranger to the SA Senate floor - he served four terms as a Senator from Fall 2020 to Spring 2024 before graduating from the university this past May. His appearance at Wednesday’s meeting came as Senators voted down the opportunity for President Jalen Rose and Vice President Amelia Crawford to join the meeting via Zoom call as the two embark on internships in Washington D.C. for the Spring semester.
“I cannot emphasize enough, we are all diligently working towards reopening,” Klein said in opening statements to Senators. “The Dippikill Board held almost weekly meetings while you guys were away for your holiday break.”
In addressing Senators, Klein made it clear that the camp is not for sale - despite accusations from former SA President and original incorporator of Dippikill, Inc. James Lamb (‘91) - and that himself and the Dippikill Board are looking to reopen the camp by the end of next month.
He also stated that he did see Lamb’s requests to speak with him, and that he received them before having his personal LinkedIn profile “flooded” with requests about Dippikill.
“I am a private citizen and I am here under my own volition, and I don’t have to be here,” Klein said. “I would expect your support in saying that harassment of private citizens, no matter how adjacent to the Student Association they are, is unacceptable.
When asked by Senator James Cooper why he could not tell Senators about the details behind the closure, Klein said that it was due to “confidentiality within speech debate clauses” in executive sessions held to discuss the closure.
“In executive sessions, you can’t talk about it outside of the specific session that you are in,” Klein said. “I promise you as soon as I am able to talk, you are going to hear from me. You know I love to talk.”
When asked by Senator Trevor Pettit what actions were being taken from Dippikill Board meetings to move closer to reopening, Klein said that once the information was allowed to become public that Senators would be informed.
“I promise you: there is nothing that we are hiding, if that’s what you’re getting at” Klein said. “What you are asking me to do is break confidentiality and potentially violate New York State nonprofit law, which would be a larger issue at-hand.”
In response to concerns over a lack of communication between himself and Senators, Klein argued that Senators are welcome to reach out to him with their concerns over Dippikill, but that he had not received any inquiries on the camp’s closure except for from Senator Gabriel Kitt.
Towards the end of Klein’s questioning, Senator Cooper told him that while he thanked him for coming, that he hadn’t “answered a lot of questions,” and was “reiterating the points that had been made” in an email sent to senators by Rose and Crawford the day prior, to which Klein said he was there to show that him, along with the rest of the Dippikill Board and the executive branch, have been taking action to mitigate the temporary closure of Dippikill.
“I am here to give you guys some perspective, at the very least,” Klein said.
“If you don’t like my answers, then I guess we are at that point,” he said. “But, I don’t understand how showing up can be an affront to this body and this organization when I am sitting here answering questions. If it’s not to the degree that you like, that happens.”