However, given recent university announcements that their will be no staff raises this year, with other salary & staff cuts on the table, and threats to cut student services, all in the cause of its Year-2031 expansion plan, the prospect for any success by NYU’s dissident students would appear dismal. In the past, NYU has demonstrated that it does not yield to student demands.

NYU’s transformation into a ‘Global Networked University’ may some day be a case study in excessive ambition, in wild prestige spending, and for its arrogant, unsound ‘mergers & acquisition’ mentality.

The impact of the university’s building and expansion program has all but converted the district from 6th avenue,in the west village, to 3rd avenue, in the east village, into NYU’s campus, without regard for impact of its demolition and expansion practices on area history and demographics. This includes Washington Square Park, which has been reconfigured to pacify social gatherings in the park, and to level areas around the fountain to provide more terrain for NYU events such as graduation.

This week in a NYU times article about Bard College’s plans to partner with a Palestinian College, its President criticized projects like NYU’s campus in Abu Dhabi:

“For us, this is what the internationalization of American higher education should be about,” Mr. Botstein said by telephone, adding that he was glad not to be following the example of larger universities building campuses in rich Persian Gulf emirates, a development that he said was “like investing in Monte Carlo or Liechtenstein to develop Europe.”

Keep up the good work.