We’ll get a little bit of pro/con going on this idea in upcoming posts and [hopefully] in the comments. For now though, submit your thoughts and suggestions to NYU on this website and vote in our poll.

Update: 1010wins.com (and NYU Local reader Chris Kennedy) reports that “train service on the line, which was suspended for nearly 1 1/2 hours in both directions, has resumed.” A 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the 1st Ave. Station. (via Gawker)

A sampling of the academic syllabus:

Week 1: “You Don’t Know Dick: The Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men” (1997 documentary)

Week 2: “Mom’s Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement” (2006 documentary)

Week 3: “Loads” (12 minute film from 1971)

Week 7: “Bottom Values: Anal Economics in History of Black Neighborhoods” and “When are Dirty Details and Scenes Compelling? Tucked in the Cuts of Interracial Anal Rape,” both readings pulled from Kathryn Stockton’s book, “Beautiful Bottoms, Beautiful Shame.

The actor has shown previous interest in queer cinema, directing his own film in Tisch last school year based on gay poetry. We wish him the best here and please put your Blackberry cameras down.

Update: No more fire trucks.

Washington Square News reports that the five bus routes formerly in operation have been reduced to two, and NYU has not yet mustered up the guts to make a formal announcement.

According to the WSN article, routes A, C and D have disappeared. Route B that used to cover just the dorms in SoHo now caters to Greenwich Hotel. Route E doesn’t go to Union Square anymore, but does make a stop by 1st Ave. and 12th Street. If you live at the 13th Street dorm it is actually quicker to walk home from campus than anywhere on the new transportation map, which incidentally has not been updated yet.

Photo by Flickr user tommaync used under a Creative Commons license.

Welcome, everyone, to the harsh adjustment period between summer and the 100s of pages of weekly reading that we call school. In a few days, most of us will have gotten over the shock of a summer so quickly departed and that beginning of the year desire to pay attention in class and do our homework. And once you put down those newly-purchased pens and shiny spiral notebooks, instead locating someone to leech notes off of for the rest of the year, we’ll be here. And we’re just as dedicated as ever to giving you guys something to read while pretending to take notes on your laptop in class*.

In order to aid us in this task, we’ll be rolling out a host of new site columns and features over the next few days. From Tuesday Tracks to Sex Diaries and ever-updating info about events around the city, we’ve got you covered. Happy first day back, stop by often and we’ll do our best to keep it interesting.

*NYU Local does not technically recommend ignoring your boring Nat Sci lecture to read about a badass concert that you won’t want to miss next time around. But we can’t really stop you from exercising your own free will, can we?

With great sorrow, I wish to inform you of the death of John Lamensdorf, Class of 2009. John died Thursday night in a tragic accident while working on a student film project in Georgia. The accident is currently under investigation by local authorities. Another Tisch student is receiving treatment for injuries sustained in the accident. The School has dispatched a team of faculty and staff members to Georgia to help the other students involved in the project to return home.

John Lamensdorf received his BFA in film and television earlier this month, after submitting a superb advanced narrative film. He was widely known among members of our community for his searching intelligence, artistic integrity, and deep capacity for friendship. Our hearts go out in sympathy to John’s family and friends. When information about a funeral or a memorial service becomes available, I will share it with you.

In them meantime, I want to remind everyone that if you are feeling vulnerable, or would simply like to talk about your feelings, you may call the University’s Wellness Exchange at 212-443-9999 on a round-the-clock basis

Anyone with more information about the investigation contact: tips@nyulocal.com

Update:

Authorities said the NYU crew ran electrical wiring around a house to light a night shoot with a power generator Thursday night, when a mechanical arm lift on a truck parked across the road struck overhead electrical lines. Jasper County sheriff’s Lt. Jerry Robinson said Saturday that sent a charge through the wires the crew was working with, shocking one student who was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.

Via Associated Press Georgia.

But seriously. In my short time there I was able to grab a cup full of strawberries (assuming they ran out of champagne), some Twizzlers, Coldstone ice cream, and strawberry sherbet. They make you eat the sherbet straight out of a cup with your mouth. This would probably be degrading if it wasn’t so delicious. Also, they’re giving away what’s advertised as the longest strawberry shortcake in New York. I couldn’t help thinking they could have aimed a little higher, but it still looks incredibly yummy. You’re gonna really have to really want some of this culinary ambrosia though because the line to get a piece is longer than Space Mountain.

Anyway, If I were you I’d head down there, get a strawberry sno-cone, and walk around Washington Square Park with it. I did this, and it turned out to be a better conversation starter than walking a dog AND carrying a baby.