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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 pro

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.
  - wdewind 12y ago
    Sorry, you're absolutely correct, and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. As a math institute I have no problems with it, and it has a great reputation. I have a number of friends who felt the program was good. Regardless, the main problems with the place are the people teaching in the CS program, not the material being taught (although that could use an update as well).
dreamweapon 12y ago
On the topic of professor salaries, so what? The debate isn't so much about professor salaries across the board; but rather the discrepancy between senior-level salaries, and those of so-called adjunct professors (who are paid so poorly that the "professor" title hardly seems to apply). This has been a major sleeper scandal evolving over the past 20 years -- hardly unique to NYU; and hardly a trivial matter, if you are concerned about the long-term health of the academic system, that is.
potatolicious 12y ago
You've conveniently ignored the main thrust of the author's argument and gone for something she spent almost no time on at all. The faculty salaries are not nearly as concerning as NYU handing out cash outside of compensation packages, and allegations of nepotism. She specifically cites one individual who was given use of a university-owned apartment despite not being affiliated with the university except familial connections - he was neither staff nor student. She also cites other individuals who were given loans by the university to purchase personal property, which were never repaid and in fact written off very soon after. She goes on to cite other examples of school administrators using NYU's funds as their private bank account. Extreme compensation packages is one thing (and arguably necessary), but corruption and nepotism is a whole 'nother ball game. In any case, the main thrust of the author's argument aside, her complaint about the professor salaries isn't the salaries, but rather the intent of the institution. Why does NYU have to compete with MIT and Harvard? The author laments the loss of an institution whose primary mission was the education of its citizenry, not competing for the wealthiest students from around the world. The author argues that NYU was not, and did not need to become, a "world class" institution, and that despite attracting world-class faculty talent from around the world it is failing at the mission of educating New Yorkers, both in its focus on international prestige at the expense of quality education, and in its poor finances compared to other high-end institutions that passes the financial cost of this glory-seeking directly onto students in ever-increasing sums.
616c 12y ago
Hi, I might work at a place like NYU, but in a neighboring country (which is an exercise left to the reader). I have no doubt, by the way that NYU operates like us: the government of the host nation throws so much money at the school that the satellite campus hands back excess many as excise taxes/tribute to the main campus in the name of administrative overhead. This is not unqiue. In said country, multiple top tier US schools have come. And the reason is obvious. The school makes money on this arrangment, and spend next to nothing for the privilege. What company would say no in this arrangement outside the education sector?

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.
- wdewind 12y ago
  Sorry, you're absolutely correct, and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. As a math institute I have no problems with it, and it has a great reputation. I have a number of friends who felt the program was good. Regardless, the main problems with the place are the people teaching in the CS program, not the material being taught (although that could use an update as well).

dreamweapon 12y ago

On the topic of professor salaries, so what? The debate isn't so much about professor salaries across the board; but rather the discrepancy between senior-level salaries, and those of so-called adjunct professors (who are paid so poorly that the "professor" title hardly seems to apply). This has been a major sleeper scandal evolving over the past 20 years -- hardly unique to NYU; and hardly a trivial matter, if you are concerned about the long-term health of the academic system, that is.

potatolicious 12y ago

You've conveniently ignored the main thrust of the author's argument and gone for something she spent almost no time on at all. The faculty salaries are not nearly as concerning as NYU handing out cash outside of compensation packages, and allegations of nepotism. She specifically cites one individual who was given use of a university-owned apartment despite not being affiliated with the university except familial connections - he was neither staff nor student. She also cites other individuals who were given loans by the university to purchase personal property, which were never repaid and in fact written off very soon after. She goes on to cite other examples of school administrators using NYU's funds as their private bank account. Extreme compensation packages is one thing (and arguably necessary), but corruption and nepotism is a whole 'nother ball game. In any case, the main thrust of the author's argument aside, her complaint about the professor salaries isn't the salaries, but rather the intent of the institution. Why does NYU have to compete with MIT and Harvard? The author laments the loss of an institution whose primary mission was the education of its citizenry, not competing for the wealthiest students from around the world. The author argues that NYU was not, and did not need to become, a "world class" institution, and that despite attracting world-class faculty talent from around the world it is failing at the mission of educating New Yorkers, both in its focus on international prestige at the expense of quality education, and in its poor finances compared to other high-end institutions that passes the financial cost of this glory-seeking directly onto students in ever-increasing sums.

616c 12y ago

Hi, I might work at a place like NYU, but in a neighboring country (which is an exercise left to the reader). I have no doubt, by the way that NYU operates like us: the government of the host nation throws so much money at the school that the satellite campus hands back excess many as excise taxes/tribute to the main campus in the name of administrative overhead. This is not unqiue. In said country, multiple top tier US schools have come. And the reason is obvious. The school makes money on this arrangment, and spend next to nothing for the privilege. What company would say no in this arrangement outside the education sector?