By Vince Gasparini | January 22, 2025
As Dippikill, the University at Albany Student Association’s 1,000-acre Adirondack wilderness retreat remains closed, SA President Jalen Rose and Vice President Amelia Crawford say they are aiming to reopen the camp by the end of February.
Photo Credit: UAlbany Magazine
“We have met with the Dippikill Board several times since we broke [session] in December,” Crawford, a member of the Dippikill Board, told the ASP. “I am very happy with the progress we have made with the board and we think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel at the moment.”
Multiple SA Senators - including Trevor Pettit, Troy Serao and Peter Cataldo - have been critical of the executive branch’s handling of the closure in separate conversations with the ASP, specifically citing a lack of explanation for the camp’s closure.
Rose and Crawford argue that the reason they have not mentioned any details behind the closing to Senators is because most of the information is “confidential” to the executive branch and the Dippikill Board.
“I’m really disappointed in the performance of SA right now,” Pettit, a sophomore Senator-At-Large said, specifically citing what he called a “lack of transparency.”
“When I was a freshman campaigning for the first time, I honestly did not hear a single positive thing about SA from anybody outside the organization,” he said. “I can definitely say I understand why people feel the way they do.”
Pettit also said that it has been “embarrassing” to have his constituents ask him about the situation and not be able to “answer on behalf of the organization that I represent.”
Serao, a freshman Senator who represents State Quad, called the situation “absolutely disgusting and terrible.”
“This is, frankly, why the Student Association has such a bad reputation, because of things like this,” he said. “It makes us look like a very corrupt organization, even though most of us are just there to actually serve our constituents and do our jobs.”
Cataldo, a sophomore Senator who represents Colonial Quad, told the ASP it was “strange” that Rose hadn’t communicated any details behind the closure to Senators and felt that if nobody discussed the status of Dippikill that it could be “forgotten.”
The SA Senate will meet on Wednesday, Jan. 22, for their first meeting of the spring semester, where Senators are likely to ask Rose and Crawford for answers regarding the status of Dippikill.