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NYU Eats World: An alumna laments the rise of an imperial university

44 points by benbreen 12y ago

dfc 12y ago
A giant satellite campus is sufficient condition to say a university "eats world"? Does this expression mean something less grandiose than I imagine?
- cpwright 12y ago
  I think the Abu Dhabi campus is just one symptom of the greater problem the author is making. Grand real estate ambitions in lower Manhattan cost a lot of money; what many consider over-the-top perks for professors (or administration) also cost a lot of money. The school has a small endowment compared to what it would like to consider its peer group; therefore the cost of all these things, which, in the author's opinion, do very little to improve a student's education all fall onto the students as increased tuition. I tend to agree wholeheartedly with the author, and see symptoms of the same thing at my alma mater, which feels the need to rebrand itself as Stony Brook University instead of SUNY Stony Brook, because it doesn't want to sound as much like a state school.
  - dfc 12y ago
    All of what you mention can be true and I still find it comical to say "NYU eats world." The British Empire "ate the world." Many people have wrote "Google eats the world." Grand real estate ambitions in NYC and a giant satellite campus in Abu Dhabi is not eating the world.
    - akgerber 12y ago
      Ah, but for a certain breed of New Yorker, downtown Manhattan constitutes the world.
santaclaus 12y ago
While human rights violations by a major US university's satellite campus are certainly concerning, on the topic of professor salaries, so what? NYU has top programs in a number of areas (The Courant Institute, for instance), and Manhattan, especially lower Manhattan, ain't cheap. If you want to compete with the Stanfords and the MITs and the Harvards of the world for top talent, you are going to have to spend some bread. I don't see the problem here.
- wdewind 12y ago
  Courant is getting better, but when I was there the faculty was lackluster and was so heavily based on mathematical theory that it was getting smoked by more modern programs like CMU's or Stanford's. I would not recommend Courant to anyone looking to study CS, but it may have changed. Evan Korth was doing a lot to make moves, but a lot of the faculty was antiquated and it looked like he was fighting an uphill battle. During one of my lectures I literally had a TA stand behind a professor as he lectured and wave his hands frantically as the professor taught us incorrect things. The TA would stay behind for a few minutes and explain what the professor, in his senility, had gotten wrong. Another class I had a teacher cancel literally 2 weeks in a row of class, as well as probably 4 or 5 other individual classes throughout the semester (nearly half the semester was canceled because he was "sick"). Of course the tested material remained the same... All that for the bargain price of just $55,000 a year. I dropped out 6 months later and have never looked back.
  - magicalist 12y ago
    > so heavily based on mathematical theory er, that would be the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and while the CS department is within it, it's not really surprising that they would have a focus on mathematics. And they are indeed very well respected, especially in applied mathematics (and to a lesser extent, pure mathematics). Not sure why this comment bothered me so much, but there are important things outside of CS :) I'm not very familiar with their reputation in computer science circles, however.
    - 12y ago
wdewind 12y ago
I can't agree more with this piece. Having recently (5 years ago) been at NYU, I can tell you the NYU the author remembers nostalgically is completely gone. It's a shell of a school, massive and well funded, yet intellectually just going through the motions. If you are not going to Stern you are absolutely wasting your money.
- dfc 12y ago
  > If you are not going to Stern you are absolutely > wasting your money. In light of the tax law program at NYU this is laughable. Clarification: NYU's tax law program is widely regarded as the best program in the country and has been for some time. I can not imagine anyone with any connection-to/experience-with tax law saying an aspiring tax lawyer would be wasting their money at NYU.
  - wdewind 12y ago
    Not sure about that, was talking undergrad only. I can't speak for the quality of education at Stern undergrad, but I can certainly say it is good for your career, whereas going to Courant doesn't really mean shit for a career in tech. Certainly not surprised to hear tax law program is bad too. Edit: I thought you meant the opposite. Regardless, still only talking about undergrad.
    - Volscio 12y ago
      You're kidding right? Kids coming out of Courant are in decent demand, especially in NYC tech departments.
      - wdewind 12y ago
        Not in any higher demand than any other schools with CS degrees. As someone who is currently doing and has done a lot of hiring for NYC tech companies I can tell you a Courant degree is not a significant plus on a resume, in the way a Stanford or CMU degree is.
johndoze 12y ago
This article is yet another thread in a long line of people complaining about NYU's rise. My personal favorite comes from the local rap group, Ratking: Seems random, like Stanford transplanted to the fountain and the arch Infecting the apple, a cancer in its heart Why'd you make a campus out the park? If it keeps spreading, It'll be deaded Panting and parched. (http://rap.genius.com/Ratking-snow-beach-lyrics http://rap.genius.com/Ratking-snow-beach-lyrics)
cookrn 12y ago
I've been interested in the ITP program [0] for awhile and would be curious to hear any graduates' responses to this article... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisch_School_of_the_Arts#Interactive_Telecommunications_Program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisch_School_of_the_Arts#Intera...

44 points by benbreen 12y ago

dfc 12y ago

A giant satellite campus is sufficient condition to say a university "eats world"? Does this expression mean something less grandiose than I imagine?

cpwright 12y ago
I think the Abu Dhabi campus is just one symptom of the greater problem the author is making. Grand real estate ambitions in lower Manhattan cost a lot of money; what many consider over-the-top perks for professors (or administration) also cost a lot of money. The school has a small endowment compared to what it would like to consider its peer group; therefore the cost of all these things, which, in the author's opinion, do very little to improve a student's education all fall onto the students as increased tuition. I tend to agree wholeheartedly with the author, and see symptoms of the same thing at my alma mater, which feels the need to rebrand itself as Stony Brook University instead of SUNY Stony Brook, because it doesn't want to sound as much like a state school.
- dfc 12y ago
  All of what you mention can be true and I still find it comical to say "NYU eats world." The British Empire "ate the world." Many people have wrote "Google eats the world." Grand real estate ambitions in NYC and a giant satellite campus in Abu Dhabi is not eating the world.
  - akgerber 12y ago
    Ah, but for a certain breed of New Yorker, downtown Manhattan constitutes the world.

santaclaus 12y ago

While human rights violations by a major US university's satellite campus are certainly concerning, on the topic of professor salaries, so what? NYU has top programs in a number of areas (The Courant Institute, for instance), and Manhattan, especially lower Manhattan, ain't cheap. If you want to compete with the Stanfords and the MITs and the Harvards of the world for top talent, you are going to have to spend some bread. I don't see the problem here.

wdewind 12y ago
Courant is getting better, but when I was there the faculty was lackluster and was so heavily based on mathematical theory that it was getting smoked by more modern programs like CMU's or Stanford's. I would not recommend Courant to anyone looking to study CS, but it may have changed. Evan Korth was doing a lot to make moves, but a lot of the faculty was antiquated and it looked like he was fighting an uphill battle. During one of my lectures I literally had a TA stand behind a professor as he lectured and wave his hands frantically as the professor taught us incorrect things. The TA would stay behind for a few minutes and explain what the professor, in his senility, had gotten wrong. Another class I had a teacher cancel literally 2 weeks in a row of class, as well as probably 4 or 5 other individual classes throughout the semester (nearly half the semester was canceled because he was "sick"). Of course the tested material remained the same... All that for the bargain price of just $55,000 a year. I dropped out 6 months later and have never looked back.
- magicalist 12y ago
  > so heavily based on mathematical theory er, that would be the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, and while the CS department is within it, it's not really surprising that they would have a focus on mathematics. And they are indeed very well respected, especially in applied mathematics (and to a lesser extent, pure mathematics). Not sure why this comment bothered me so much, but there are important things outside of CS :) I'm not very familiar with their reputation in computer science circles, however.
  - 12y ago

wdewind 12y ago

I can't agree more with this piece. Having recently (5 years ago) been at NYU, I can tell you the NYU the author remembers nostalgically is completely gone. It's a shell of a school, massive and well funded, yet intellectually just going through the motions. If you are not going to Stern you are absolutely wasting your money.

dfc 12y ago
> If you are not going to Stern you are absolutely > wasting your money. In light of the tax law program at NYU this is laughable. Clarification: NYU's tax law program is widely regarded as the best program in the country and has been for some time. I can not imagine anyone with any connection-to/experience-with tax law saying an aspiring tax lawyer would be wasting their money at NYU.
- wdewind 12y ago
  Not sure about that, was talking undergrad only. I can't speak for the quality of education at Stern undergrad, but I can certainly say it is good for your career, whereas going to Courant doesn't really mean shit for a career in tech. Certainly not surprised to hear tax law program is bad too. Edit: I thought you meant the opposite. Regardless, still only talking about undergrad.
  - Volscio 12y ago
    You're kidding right? Kids coming out of Courant are in decent demand, especially in NYC tech departments.
    - wdewind 12y ago
      Not in any higher demand than any other schools with CS degrees. As someone who is currently doing and has done a lot of hiring for NYC tech companies I can tell you a Courant degree is not a significant plus on a resume, in the way a Stanford or CMU degree is.

johndoze 12y ago

This article is yet another thread in a long line of people complaining about NYU's rise. My personal favorite comes from the local rap group, Ratking: Seems random, like Stanford transplanted to the fountain and the arch Infecting the apple, a cancer in its heart Why'd you make a campus out the park? If it keeps spreading, It'll be deaded Panting and parched. (http://rap.genius.com/Ratking-snow-beach-lyrics http://rap.genius.com/Ratking-snow-beach-lyrics)

cookrn 12y ago

I've been interested in the ITP program [0] for awhile and would be curious to hear any graduates' responses to this article... [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisch_School_of_the_Arts#Interactive_Telecommunications_Program http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tisch_School_of_the_Arts#Intera...