1. We believe that this plan will have a negative impact on the academic mission of the university. We envisage that it will impede for the foreseeable future NYU's ability to recruit new faculty and create a prolonged deterioration in the living and work environment of current faculty and students. Over 40 percent of NYU faculty live in Washington Square Village or Silver Towers, which are slated to become construction sites for two decades. These issues undermine one of the plan's stated rationales of attracting and retaining top faculty.
2. We are not persuaded that the primary declared rationale for the plan --- that NYU students need more space --- presents sufficient grounds for launching a costly building campaign in a time of chronic economic uncertainty. We are deeply concerned about the lack of exposure of financial specifics and the absence of consultation with the faculty.
3. Further, we are deeply concerned that NYU students --- already among the most indebted in the nation --- will almost certainly bear a significant portion of the burden of the expansion bill in the form of increased tuition and other fees.
4. We also feel it most likely that the execution of the 2031 plan will result in an irreparable rift with our community neighbors, as evidenced by the unanimous rejection of the plan by Community Board 2, and that their right to be equal partners in shaping the destiny of Greenwich Village should be respected.