Emergency Information

Basic Emergency Instructions for Students, Faculty, & Staff

  1. Call 911 (dial 9 first if calling from a Cooper phone) if you believe there is a serious emergency.
  2. Contact a security desk.
    • Foundation building: x180 (212.353.4180)
    • 41 Cooper Square: x270 (212.353.4270)
    • Residence Hall: x050 (212.353.4050)
  3. Stay on the Scene only if you can do so with no risk to yourself. If possible, stay until the arrival of: Fire/Police/Person in Charge (Director of Public Safety or Engineer on Duty).

How to speak to 911

  1. Stay calm. Someone's life may depend on it.
  2. Give vital information:
    • Your name.
    • The phone number you are calling from.
    • The exact location of the emergency-street address, floor, and room number.
    • State the nature of the emergency.
    • Do not downplay the severity of the emergency.
      Describing an injury as a cut may yield a 45-minute response time by an EMT. Describing an injury as a 'severed finger' may yield a 3-minute response time from a (more highly trained) paramedic.
      Particularly important: chest pain, heavy bleeding, difficulty breathing, unconscious.
  3. Follow the dispatcher's directions. Don't hang up until directed to do so.

In the event of a localized emergency, you may be directed to relocate between buildings.

See the emergency protocols links below for further instructions on responding to:

See the campus Pandemic Flu Response Plan

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.