August 26, 2004

To:  The Baruch College Community

From: Robert Specter, Vice President for Administration and Finance

Re:  Travel During the Republican National Convention August 30-September 2
______________________________________

As most of us are aware, the Republican National Convention will be held at
Madison Square Garden from Monday, August 30, through Thursday, September 2.
This activity coincides with the first full week of classes in the fall semester.

The college will be open normal hours and classes will be held according to
schedule, but we anticipate that travel patterns for many faculty, staff, and students
will be adversely affected.

All Baruch employees should plan ahead in order to report for work as regularly
scheduled (unless you are taking scheduled leave – personal days, vacation, or sick
days -- at that time). As a precaution, please budget extra time for commuting during
the course of the convention.

As a result of security precautions that will be in place during that period, students
should allow extra time for travel, particularly those who use public transportation
that has Penn Station as a terminus. A good source of information relating to service
modifications and restrictions can be found on the transport companies' web sites
and should be checked on a regular basis. Links to these websites are provided by
clicking on the "Republican Convention Advisory" button on the Baruch homepage,
http://www.baruch.cuny.edu, or by going directly to that page, http://
www.baruch.cuny.edu/emergency.

(This is the permanent location on the website for any general emergency advisory
information that the College needs to disseminate, such as during periods of
inclement weather or other events that necessitate up-to-the-minute information.)

You should also regularly check the home pages for Baruch (http://
www.baruch.cuny.edu) and CUNY (http://www.cuny.edu) for announcements about
any change in the status of the College's operations.

Baruch information is 646-312- INFO (4636). The College switchboard (646-312-
1000) will also be staffed for emergency coverage. The Security Office (212-802-
3000) is open 24 hours a day.

For specific problems you might encounter during the days of the Convention,
helpful information is available on a variety of web sites which you'll find linked from
the Baruch general emergency information page:

* New York City Department of Transportation
* Office of the Mayor
* General information for NYC residents (NYC Host Committee 2004)
* Long Island Rail Road information
* New Jersey Transit information
* Amtrak information

In addition, you should monitor media reports for service updates, such as can be
found on the websites for the WCBS and WINS radio stations. These links are also
provided on the Baruch emergency page.