SA Alumni News

https://www.change.org/p/save-dippikill-reopen-dippikill-stop-the-sale/u/34490622

WE DID IT! WE SAVED DIPPIKILL! TOGETHER! Official UAlbany release on Dippikill Reopening (not this year but soon): This is happening thanks to YOUR support through the Save Dippikill Petition. We averted a sale and are now on track to a reopening under new UAS administration. YOU did this. YOU SAVED DIPPIKILL! https://www.albany.edu/news-c...

Official UAlbany release on Dippikill Reopening:

UAlbany Brings Together Key Partners to Support the Future of Camp Dippikill University at Albany Alumni Association (UAAA), Student Association (SA), and University Auxiliary Services (UAS) — known as the UAlbany Partners — are developing a path forward for Camp Dippikill, located in Warrensburg, N. Y. All agreed that Dippikill should be reopened and made available to e...

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jimlambusa_hiring-share-7448451920677113856-v0pq

#hiring | James Lamb Brian Rudolph is . Know anyone who might be interested?

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14Z41GcGWZt/

𝐒𝐔𝐙𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐄 𝐋𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐋 - 𝑨 𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒖𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒕
SUNY ALBANY
MARCH 2, 1998

Suzanne Gloria Lyall was 19 years old when she vanished from the SUNY Albany campus. She was quiet, intelligent, routine driven, and deeply focused. A computer science student. A poet. Someone who did not just disappear.

Suzanne was born April 6, 1978 and raised in Ballston Spa, New York. She was described by her family as incredibly smart and reserved, someone who built computers from scratch and held herself to high standards. After graduating high school with honors, she attended SUNY Oneonta but transferred to SUNY Albany because the program was not challenging enough. While attending school full time, she worked two part time jobs, one at a computer company in Troy and one at Babbage’s inside Crossgates Mall.

On March 2, 1998, Suzanne attended her classes and took a midterm exam she had been anxious about. That afternoon, she took a CDTA bus to Crossgates Mall for her evening shift at Babbage’s. She left work at approximately 9:20 pm and boarded a CDTA bus heading back to campus. The bus arrived at SUNY Albany between 9:40 and 9:45 pm. A witness saw Suzanne walking toward her dorm. That is the last confirmed sighting of her.

Suzanne never returned to her dorm room. Her roommates did not hear her keys, something they said they would have noticed. She never made the routine phone call to her boyfriend to say she was home. She never showed up to class again and missed another midterm exam. This behavior was immediately out of character. Suzanne lived by routine and was not known to take risks.

Shortly after her disappearance, twenty dollars was withdrawn from Suzanne’s bank account at an ATM approximately two and a half miles from campus. The correct PIN was entered. It has never been publicly confirmed who made that withdrawal. Entering the correct PIN does not prove identity, only access.

Two months later, Suzanne’s Babbage’s name tag was found near the Collins Circle bus stop area on campus. The tag appeared weather exposed, making it unclear whether it was dropped the night she disappeared or earlier. No other confirmed physical evidence has ever been publicly released.

Suzanne had told her manager at Babbage’s that she believed she was being stalked. There are no public details about who she meant, how long this had been going on, or whether it was ever investigated further. The statement exists. The context does not.

Campus police initially suggested that Suzanne may have gone off the grid temporarily, a response her parents immediately pushed back against. New York State Police later became involved, but Suzanne Lyall has never been found.

Suzanne’s disappearance helped lead to changes in how missing college students are handled. In 2008, the Suzanne Lyall Campus Safety Act was signed, requiring colleges and universities to have clearer procedures when students go missing. Change came. Answers did not.

Suzanne was 5'3" with long reddish brown hair and blue eyes, weighing approximately 165 to 175 pounds. She had a mole beneath her left ear and a brown birthmark on her left calf. She may have worn glasses or contacts. She was last seen wearing a black trench coat, black shirt, jeans, and carrying a black bag. She wore distinctive jewelry, including a gold vow ring and a black cord necklace.

Someone knows something. Suzanne did not vanish into thin air. Time does not erase responsibility. If you have information about Suzanne Lyall, contact New York State Police. Share her name. Keep this case alive.

DIPPIKILL UPDATE: SA SENATE APPROVES THREE-WAY DIPPIKILL FUNDING PLAN:

Supreme Court Nomination Concerns and Dippikill Plans Return to Senate By Lucienne Burns | March 30, 2026At the last Student Association (SA) Senate meeting, which took place before Spring Break, past issues presented themselves on the legislative agenda once again. On the agenda, there were two nominations for associate justice positions on the Supreme Court. The appl...

December 2025 Dippikill Update:

New Plans Proposed for Dippikill in Senate Meeting By Lucienne Burns | December 8, 2025 Senators convened for their last meeting of the semester, which included a discussion regarding Dippikill. Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns | The ASPAt its final meeting of the fall semester, the Student Association (SA) Senate hosted discussions regarding the future...

Dear Editors of &

One year ago today, we learned the had "temporarily" closed Dippikill for "significant financial strain."

Alumni, including the 19 member SA Presidents' Coalition that I founded over a decade ago, then stepped up. We called the Administration (after then-SA President Jalen Rose refused to respond to us) and we offered to take the matter to alumni to help the students raise funds for Dippikill.

The University rejected that help revealing SA advised them they intended to soon sell Dippikill (later back-pedaling on that). So, we rallied alumni to protest such a sale, who went to SA Meetings and signed the online petition I put up in December:

https://www.change.org/p/save-dippikill-reopen-dippikill-stop-the-sale

Then, in January, when UAlbany Student Association said they were going to reopen Dippikill by the end of February, the University finally gave us a Dippikill fundraising link to use and then-SA Senator Trevor Pettit (now SA President) was critical of the 2024 Dippikill closure. This article from Albany Student Press really didn't age well...

https://www.albanystudentpress.com/post/sa-executive-branch-aims-to-reopen-dippikill-by-end-of-february-as-senators-criticize-lack-of-trans

Then, in April, SA leaders formed the very ad hoc committee required to pursue selling Dippikil, without affording proper notice under the Open Meetings Law (according to advisory opinions issued by NYS Committee on Open Government, at my request), in which case people then concluded I wasn't Chicken Little after all when I rang the stop the Dippikill sale bell.

Fast forward to November 11, 2025, and we now know there wasn't actually "financial strain" at Dippikill; the truth was, SA was actually sued by Dippikill employees for allegedly violating the state labor law and they wound up settling out of court. Then, they permanently closed Dippikill, apparently out of spite. So, the closure that was announced one year ago was never really "temporary" at all.

Where is the concern over the fact Dippikill has now been closed for a year now by current student leaders including Pettit? 'Students don't have cars to be able to get to Dippikill,' then-SA leaders said last year. Now, student leaders are demanding more on-campus parking. What a sham!

Care to chime in now, Trevor?

Dippikill is a UAlbany institution. I know first hand because I have enjoyed the campground since 1987 and was a board member on and off for well over a devade who formed the non-profit corporation. Very few state schools in America have such an asset to offer their University communities, including former students which are called "alumni."

The UAlbany Alumni Association has remained silent. Which is why we have an SA Alumni group of former student leaders on Facebook and LinkedIn... to protect what past Dippikill managers have called UAlbany's "own private Walden."

On this, the one year anniversary of the closure, we call on UAlbany Student Association to reopen this wonderful wilderness retreat for the enjoyment of current, past, and future students and the entire University community.

/JAMES LAMB/
[email protected]
UAlbany Class of 1991
SA President 1988-89
Former Dippikill Board Member

Sign the Petition SAVE DIPPIKILL: Reopen Dippikill & Stop the Sale!

CRIMINAL TRESPASS AT SA MEETING?
Is UPD now in hot water?

Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2025 at 3:59 PM
From: "dos.sm.Coog.InetCoog"
To: "James Lamb"
Subject: RE: Criminal Tresspass Arrest at a UAlbany Student Association?

Good morning,

Please see our previously issued advisory opinions for guidance regarding exclusion from public meetings.

Ejection/Exclusion from Meeting
5286, 5552, 5670

Sincerely,

Christen L. Smith
Senior Attorney
Pronouns: she/her/hers

New York State Committee on Open Government
One Commerce Plaza, Albany, NY 12231
(518) 474-2518
http://www.opengovernment.ny.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: James Lamb
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2025 10:34 AM
To: Moore, Kathleen
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; dos.sm.Coog.InetCoog ; Editor-In-Chief ; Laurence Socci

Subject: Criminal Tresspass Arrest at a UAlbany Student Association?

Did you see this yet, Kathleen?

https://www.albanystudentpress.com/post/sa-meeting-interrupted-by-arrest-regulation-of-ai-passed

How does attending a public meeting at a state university required to be open to the public by the state open meetings law constitute "criminal trespass?"

Coping in the state COOG here asking for an advisory opinion on this. If I were to attend an SA meeting after having questioned the Student Association's compliance with state law and student activity fee regulations, could I be arrested too as they have implied to me in the past through an attempt to intimidate me over my Dippikill petition advocacy, suggesting they opened a "criminal investigation?"

Should Dippikill advocate alums now fear attending Homecoming for fear of being arrested on some bogus charges because the University or the Student Association doesn't like the content of their speech and are willing to use government power as a weapon against dissent? Is this what New York has become? If so, glad I got out of New York State before it was too late.

This appears to be Nazi-like terror tactics intended to stifle dissent, free speech and the exercise of citizens' rights to attend meetings under state law. Unless there is some real, prior bona fide harassment and an order affording notice to not visit the campus, this is very disturbing and appears to be violation of civil rights under color of law just begging for a Federal 1983 civil rights action against UPD.

I think UPD and the University have some explaining to do here...

James

The Committee on Open Government One Commerce Plaza 99 Washington Ave. Albany, New York 12231 (518) 474-2518 Fax (518) 474-1927 https://www.dos.ny.gov/coog/

Remember when SA said students can't use Dippikill because they don't have cars to get up there? Yeah, neither do they...

SA Senate Hosts Director of Parking, Debate over Rules Committee Leadership By Lucienne Burns | October 13, 2025 The Student Association Senate at their Oct. 8 meeting last Wednesday. Photo Credit: Lucienne Burns | The ASPThe Student Association (SA) Senate meeting last Wednesday (10/8) hosted the director of Mass Parking and Transit Services to discuss parking-related conc...

Dippi-back-ups...

Four of the best lake vacations in the U.S. are in Upstate NY, ranking finds Four waterways in New York state ranked among the nation's best lake getaways, according to U.S. News & World Report.

61% of poll respondents say SA retaliated against Dippikill staff who filed and are to be paid a $500,000 overtime claim settlement.