Looks like NYU has taken criticisms of its safety reports and security cuts seriously: check out their new initiatives to include dorms in its crime reports and negotiate with the Local 1 union. And they’re extending negotiations with bus drivers. Are they doing enough? I’m not sure - they still did reprimend union members for talking and I don’t think that giving security guards gym membership constitutes benefits.

The WSN had a great editorial about why this matters:

The way that these cuts have been implemented also reflects a wider problem at NYU: strained communication between administrators and students. Students are left in the dark when it comes to significant changes in policy and feel deceived when services are altered without prior notice or when administration policies end up contradicting themselves. When begun without open discussion, initiatives like the reorganization of on-campus security end up suggesting secrecy and deception, even when they are done with the best of intentions.

Students deserve to be better informed about the changes that will affect them. The restructuring of NYU’s campus security is a case in point, especially considering its direct impact on student lives. Better informed, students will be able to help NYU implement its policies more efficiently — if, that is, they agree with the policies to begin with.

Transparency is crucial when NYU continues to mislead students and refuses to allow student involvement in decisions they make.