Spring 2012

In view of the enormous importance of the 2031 Plan to the future of NYU, the FSC wished to obtain a better understanding of the scope and strength of faculty opinion about the various issues surrounding the plan. To that end, the FSC developed a survey of faculty opinion, which allowed the FSC to hear from greater numbers of faculty members in a more systematic fashion.

The FSC has reviewed and assessed the results of its survey on NYU 2031, undertaken between April 5 - 13, 2012 and distributed to 3,933 tenured, tenure track, and non-tenure track, full-time faculty. We received 1,146 responses for an overall response rate of 29%.

Nearly two-thirds of the faculty respondents oppose the plan, most of them at the level of "strongly opposed." Over half of the respondents believe that NYU 2031 will not meet the needs of NYU’s faculty and students or the needs of its research and academic programs and three-fifths express a lack of confidence in the university’s ability to carry out the plan. The survey results show that the majority of faculty respondents are concerned that the 2031 Plan will make NYU housing less appealing for faculty, create additional pressure for increasing student tuition, make faculty recruitment and retention more difficult, and damage the financial stability of the university.

Close to 70 percent of the faculty would change their opinion of NYU 2031 if reductions were undertaken. Of those, a plurality would feel much more positive about the plan if the proposed academic buildings between the Washington Square Village apartments were eliminated or if construction was moved elsewhere in the city. Faculty would also feel more positive about the plan if the Zipper building were scaled back and did not include a hotel.

View the general results of the survey

Please note that scale values run from 1 at the far left (e.g., strongly oppose = 1) to higher numbers toward the right (e.g., strongly support = 7). These are reflected in the "Rating Average" at the right side of each scale. For question # 4 on benefit and damage, the Rating Average is inflated and therefore uninterpretable.

View the Quantitative Analysis of the survey
View the Qualitative Anaylsis of the survey
 

The raw data will remain confidential.

As always we encourage faculty to send the FSC comments and questions or by contacting your school senators.