Stony Brook University announced its sixth president on March 26 after a nearly year-long presidential search, according to a campus-wide email from State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor Kristina Johnson.
“If necessary we will reschedule your commencement to make sure you walk across the stage and we proudly celebrate your accomplishments,” Kristina M. Johnson wrote to seniors in the letter.
This is the state’s most dramatic measure yet, as the number of confirmed cases jumped from 4,152 on Thursday afternoon to 7,102 on Friday morning. The additional 2,950 cases were due to a rapid increase in testing, according to Cuomo.
The State University of New York (SUNY) Student Assembly held a conference call on March 18 to update students on the COVID-19 pandemic as public schools across the state, including Stony Brook University, have taken initiatives in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.
New York state is temporarily freezing the collection of state-owed student loan and medical debt to relieve the financial burden from the coronavirus, according to a press release sent out by the Governor’s office on March 17.
On March 17, an announcement was made stating that students would be required to move off-campus immediately, so The Statesman asked Stony Brook officials for more information.
Campus residents who live within driving distance of the campus were asked to evacuate no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 19. All other campus residents must evacuate no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, March 20.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo called on the federal government to deploy the Army Corps of Engineers to retrofit non-hospital facilities, such as SUNY dorms, to make more room for COVID-19 patients in a press conference on Sunday.
