The faculty of the Department of East Asian Studies wishes to support the
Middle East Studies Department's resolution and register its opposition to
the proposed NYU 2031 plan for expansion on the superblocks between West
3rd and Houston Streets, even in the only slightly modified version
recently announced, for the following reasons:
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The disruption caused by many years of construction in and around
Washington Square Village and Silver Towers will have serious adverse
effects on faculty quality of life, and thus on the retention and
recruitment of high-quality faculty, which is at the heart of our academic
mission.
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Greenwich Village neighborhood groups and Community Board 2 have
rejected the plan, which is likely to cause grave long-term damage to the
character and livability of the neighborhood, by exacerbating crowding,
traffic, parking and other problems and by significantly diminishing
public greenspace in this residential area. All of us have a stake in the
viability of the neighborhood, and we also believe that our non-NYU
neighbors' concerns must be taken seriously.
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There has been no serious consultation with NYU faculty regarding the
rationale for the plan, its design or the health and environmental
consequences of the many years of construction that it will entail.
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At a time of fiscal and economic uncertainty, there has been no
transparency about how this huge expansion project will be paid for. This
raises concerns that its costs will ultimately be covered in ways that
would undermine the long-term stability and standing of NYU, including
sacrificing other university priorities, raising student tuition (and
therefore student indebtedness), further increasing student enrollment
and/or employing more adjunct rather than full-time faculty.
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More broadly, the NYU 2031 plan would seem to be yet another
manifestation of the administration's embrace of expansion for expansion's
sake, a policy that risks undermining NYU's hard-won academic quality and
prestige, and weakening its attractiveness to prospective students and
faculty.