The Western New York Peace Center
Talking Peace Radio
Solutions Not Suspensions
February 10, 2026
Guests: Samantha White, Esq., Supervising Attorney, The School Discipline Project, WNY Law Center; Mike June, Employment & Education Coordinator, Empower Youth, Peaceprints of WNY; and Victory Ross, WNYPC, Interim Executive Director, hosting.
Topics: values; the use of out of school suspensions as the go-to disciplinary technique; the damage that does to students both at the time of and as they continue, increasing the likelihood that they’ll be in the “school-to-prison-pipeline”; the racial disparities skew who is suspended; alternatives to suspension; the need for the Solutions Not Suspensions Law (Senate Bill S1040B/Assembly Bill A5691A); how people can help:
Learn more at Solutions Not Suspensions www.solutionsnotsuspensionsny.org
Call or email your NYS Senator and Assemblymember at cccnewyork.org/campaigns/new-yorkers-need-solutions-not-suspensions/ to help get the bill passed.
Dedicated to the promotion of peace through justice at home and abroad.
The Western New York Peace Center has been working for peace through justice at home and abroad, since its founding in 1967 as a chapter of Rev. Dr. King’s Clergy and Laity Concerned. We are dedicated to enriching the quality of life of our local and global communities through the prevention of violence to people and the planet. Peaceful conflict resolution among people and within institutions, especially for youth, is central to our mission.
Check out what Dr. Cornel West has to say about us!
“I am so deeply blessed to come back to Buffalo to highlight 53 years of high quality service love and struggle for justice on behalf of my brothers and sisters of all colors who have chosen to build on the legacy of the clergy and laity concerned. I’ve come here to learn! I’ve come here to listen! But I’ve come here most importantly to rejoice for 53 years of struggle! Western New York Peace Center, let the world just look at you, look at yourselves these 53 years you’ve been bearing that kind of witness!…”
-Dr. Cornel West, 2020 WNYPC Annual Fundraiser