Monster Swallows Village Whole

‘But will it give birth?’ the Villagers Inquire

“NYU is the largest private university in the United States and they are growing,” Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told Community Board 2 Thursday night. “They are growing at a much faster pace than our neighborhood is. NYU has always been here. It should always be here. I don’t think the Village would be the Village if NYU wasn’t here. But I don’t think the Village can stay the Village if it is predominantly NYU.” And so a new campaign to get NYU to check it’s own expansions in the Village by creating a “secondary campus” begins. [Gothamist]

A secondary campus such as, for example, the one they sold off in 1979? I would have to concur that NYU has grown rather too large for the Village’s britches, and the fact that NYU is trying to build a towering dormitory where St. Ann’s once stood doth not encourage feelings of merriment (though, of course, the blame for that belongs mostly to our archbishop from the Middle West). At any rate, perhaps NYU can strike a deal and buy back the University Heights campus. Unlikely, since the City University of New York which now owns the campus (run as Bronx Community College) would probably like to see itself as a competitor to NYU (it isn’t; they’re leagues apart).

Of course one idea is to stop expanding and maintain the current size and facilities of the university, but this is unlikely. NYU have displayed a Hitlerian glee in the acquisition of neighboring properties, and, to stretch the analogy beyond any rational use, Fordham, St. John’s, and Columbia have no strategic interest in acting as the UK, US, and Soviet Union (respectively) in uniting to counter that expansion.

Previously: Thoughts on NYU et cetera | Back in the Day | New Washington Square Plans | NYU – Old & New