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NYU: Evil or Just Dreamy?
By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 18, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jul 18, 2005
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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Newsday tries to figure out if NYU is a "Dream school or 'evil empire'?". There really isn't a consensus as kids who want to head to the big city think NYU is keen while Washington Square area residents, on the other hand, hate the school, but the Newsday has some interesting factoids and insights from NYU's president John Sexton:
- It's the city's seventh largest employer, with more than 13,000 employees (Gothamist isn't sure if hopsital employees count, but we assume so)
- NYU buys $160+ million annually in goods and services from city businesses, with an additional $17 million from Village-based businesses
- Between 2000 and 2004, NYU has spent $400 million on construction and renovation; President Sexton thinks the turning point was the law school expansion in 2001, which, after a court battle, allowed NYU to build a 10-story building
- The Catholic Church on the southern perimeter of Washington Square Park is being eyed by NYU, with President Sexton claiming NYU would "not build to the legal maximum" and exacerbate the skyline blight (The Catholic Church is a big landowner in the city)
- Student and faculty housing might be next located in Brooklyn or NYU (!!)
- The supermarket at LaGuardia and Bleecker (the Morton Williams?) might be one target of NYU's future Manhattan expansion
What do you think of NYU's ever-expanding presence downtown? While the conflicts between NYU and area residents are bad, they don't seem as bad as ones between Columbia and Harlem residents - especially after the Morningside Park incident in 1968.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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