It's been a rough semester for the NYU chieftain.

The tensions between the school's faculty and president John Sexton over the NYU 2031 expansion plans and decision-making procedures has reached a boiling point. The story was depicted in full with our profile by Nick Pinto two months ago on the Washington Square drama. Soon enough, and in true parliamentarian fashion, the faculty of College Arts and Science voted no confidence in John Sexton, leaving the rest of NYU's individual schools to make up their minds on the ongoing controversy. Aside from that, the school's clerical workers have also advanced a no confidence vote.

But, on Monday night, the first academic move since has been made, this time by the NYU Silver School of Social Work. In a 16-12 split with 9 abstaining, the Silver faculty, made of 52 full-time professors, decided to hold a no confidence vote on Sexton in coming weeks.

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It felt like it was over yesterday even before the Greenwich Village residents in the balcony started booing and chanting, "Chin and Quinn did us in," before Council Speaker Christine Quinn called on NYPD to remove the hecklers from the chamber, before one last old, diminutive woman wailed, "Shame on you! This is horrible!" and before the city council chuckled and congratulated each other through a 44-1 vote to approve the NYU 2031 expansion, known as the Sexton Plan.

The decision was no surprise to anyone, likely not even those who showed up and got kicked out. It was surprising, however, to file out of City Hall a half hour later to see some Greenwich Village residents and NYU faculty huddle just off the steps, still spiritedly chanting and taking questions from media. (Full disclosure: I am a graduate of NYU's graduate magazine program.)

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In face of jeers from Greenwich Village residents, the City Council approved New York University's 2031 expansion plan by a 44-1 vote this afternoon.

The nearly 20-year construction project, which will not begin until 2014, will expand the university's campus to include additional academic facilities, housing for incoming freshman and faculty, create additional retail locations and has dedicated space for a public school.

The most contentious part of the expansion plan focused on the area known as the "superblock", which will be comprised of four new buildings bounded by West 3rd, Mercer, W Houston, and LaGuardia Place. Residents fear that it will not fit in with the rest of the neighborhood, take away community space, and attract too many restaurants and bars.

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After a tense five years between Greenwich Village residents and NYU, it seems the battle over the university's 2031 expansion plan might be coming to an end.

Today, the City Council gave a preliminary thumbs up to the university's expansion plan, leading up to the decisive Council vote on the issue July 25.

It was a late start for one of the city's most hotly contested development issues -- the hearing began over two hours after its scheduled time.

"We're just dotting all of our 'i's' and crossing our 't's'," Mark Weprin, chair of subcommittee on zoning and franchises, said to the anxious crowd.

Council members have had an intense two weeks of discussion about the university's plan.

"It has been a lot of very late nights and early mornings," said Councilmember Margaret Chin, who represents the area of the proposed expansion.

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NYU Faculty member protests 2031 expansion plan outside City Hall

The saga over NYU's 2031 expansion plan continues.

We recently took a trip to City Hall to hear about the university's expansion plan and
while most of the dissenting voices in attendance were from residents of
the Greenwich Village, it was mentioned that nearly 35 of NYU's
departments had also opposed the plan.

Yesterday those faculty, and a few students, released an 'open letter' airing out their grievances to President Sexton, which calls into question some of his testimony from the hearing.

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Tensions ran high at City Hall today as residents of Greenwich Village squared off with New York University administrators and city construction workers over NYU's 2031 expansion project.

The project calls for the construction of four new buildings, three of which would be constructed on land already owned by the institution, as well as additional academic facilities and housing for incoming freshmen and faculty.

The four new sites will comprise an area called "the superblock", which will take six currently existing city blocks and turn them into two "superblocks." New buildings will replace single-story structures and the total area will equal 1.8 million square feet.

The "superblock" is the most contentious part of the plan due to residents fear that it will not fit in with the rest of the neighborhood, take away community space, and attract too many restaurants and bars. 

The hearing began with NYU President John Sexton and members of his administration testifying before the city council on their expansion plans for the university. When pressed for hard numbers about the cost of total expansion, Sexton estimated the 20 year project will range from $3-$4 billion dollars.

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Sam Levin

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, with dozens of officials around him, announcing new NYU partnership.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg, surrounded by around 30 officials -- electeds, reps from his administration, university partners, and more -- announced yesterday that New York City would be partnering with New York University to create an applied sciences center in downtown Brooklyn.

It was such an important, exciting, win-win-win announcement that 14 people had to speak about it (y'know, it's good for New York City, it's good for Brooklyn, it's good for engineers and innovators, it's good for people looking for jobs. Everyone wins).

The ridiculousness of so many folks wanting in on the press conference was not totally lost on the mayor.

"You can always tell whether something's important by how many people want to participate in the announcement," the mayor said, as a host of local pols, university people, and other somehow relevant leaders tried to organize themselves behind Bloomberg for the start of the press conference. "My vague recollection is when we wanted to ban smoking in public places, I stood there..."

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via NYU 2031

As the 2013 mayoral elections near, the expected candidates are looking to build platforms through the work in their current jobs. For Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- who will likely go up against each other in the race to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- the controversial expansion of New York University in the Village is one opportunity to influence a development issue that will impact the city for decades and beyond.

But Quinn's not quite ready to talk about it yet.

This week, Scott Stringer, standing beside NYU President John Sexton, announced his support of a scaled-back version of NYU's two-decade expansion in Greenwich Village, pushing the project one step forward in the lengthy review process mandated by the city.

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via NYU 2031

No one's going to get exactly what they want. But that's the essence of compromise!

This was part of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's message today when he officially announced his support for a scaled-back version of the controversial 20-year expansion plan for New York University.

This latest news is part of an ongoing urban development saga where not-in-my-backyard advocates have clashed dramatically with a powerful university that hopes to grow in the Village, its homebase neighborhood. Elected officials like Stringer have been caught in the middle of the fight, forced to navigate competing interests of preservation, development, and education. For the borough president, who is expected to run for mayor in 2013, taking a stance on NYU is more than an opportunity to influence a project that could fundamentally change the Village -- it's also a chance to start building a platform for his bid to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

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via

In an editorial published in today's paper, the New York Times throws its weight behind NYU's controversial expansion plan, saying that the project's opponents have "mostly overreacted." Although the paper does honor some criticisms of the plan, their ultimate point is broad. "N.Y.U., along with other great educational institutions in New York, like Columbia, needs to expand," the Times wrote. "It's good for the entire city, and it's inevitable." Runnin' Scared reached out to Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which has fought against the plan. Berman said that the editorial "ignores some of the basic facts."

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