“The University Space Priorities Working Group today shared with me – as it did with the rest of the NYU community – its final report. I and the other senior members of the University Administration will be studying it carefully – as I hope my fellow faculty members, students, administrators, and other NYU community members will do -- and expect to have a full response in the next few days. But even at this juncture, there are some observations I would make.
“The Working Group’s report is an excellent document. While it does clearly affirm the need for added space in the Core and the soundness of our budgeting and financial parameters, the report also makes thoughtful, persuasive recommendations based on the high priority they rightly placed on academic space and providing our students with the best possible environment in which to excel academically that differ from the University proposals in important ways. Moreover, the report reminds the University that it has an important stewardship role to play going forward in how we maintain and improve the superblocks for our own benefit and that of the surrounding community, and that that role will be enhanced by ongoing input from a special stewardship committee.
“I would also like to thank and express my admiration for the members of the Working Group. The issue of building near our Washington Square core has been a subject of significant debate on our campus. The Working Group – led by and mostly composed of faculty, but including as well representatives from the Faculty Senators Council, the Student Senators Council, the Administrative Management Council, and the University Administration – brought great rigor, care, attention, openness, and hard effort to their task, tackling complex issues of space usage, finance, real estate and land use on behalf of the entire community. The quality of the report is emblematic of our highest tradition of reasoned discourse.
“I want to commend the chair, Ted Magder, the subcommittee chairs – Larry Maslon, Larry White and Allyson Green – and all the members of the Working group for their extraordinary work and time commitment in the service of the University. The process has been a model of shared information, broad consultation and open and civil dialogue.”