Hey all – I’m in Hemmerdinger Hall, with tonsillitis torturing me, waiting to hear from our President, Dr John Sexton.  He’s wearing a baby blue Brooklyn Prep sweatshirt, and he seems pretty relaxed.  With TBNYU! being somewhat limited in its scope now, it’s no surprise Sexton is ready for, what I hope will be, a helpful and informative meeting of the minds Narrow margin the download. Leave a question in the comment section if you’d like me to ask it.

Here we go – Whitney Petrie, Vice-Chair of the Student Senate, is leading the discussion.

8:34pm – How will NYU be affected by Albany’s decsions on funding and Obama’s stimulus plan? He’s now explaining how the NYU team of administrators has been working to help garner aid and promote higher education in both Albany and DC. He hopes that higher education will remain a public good, as it once was in NYState during his youth.

8:39pm – NYHELPS is a program he is highlighting for its effectiveness. Creates loans for students with low and attractive interest rates, about 8% or so.8:43pm – He’s now responding to “WSN’s” OpEd about Charles Murray coming to NYU. Sexton says he disagrees with Murray’s statement that a Bachelor’s degree shouldn’t be the big goal for all young Americans. “No one school is right for all individuals… That’s why these [college] rankings are so wrong in targeting how a single student chooses.” He feels it is essential that society see education as public and important.

8:47pm – A girl is asking about internship involvement and how to get an internship in a field she does not specialize in, even if it is offered through NYU. He is answering the question by explaining how students would try to get internships through law firms and public judges.  Explains that the law school decided long ago that credit would not be offered to students for working in law firms that pay and even judges chambers that didn’t because of the value placed on NYU education.

8:54pm If there’s some bureaucratic problem, Mark Wais is your guy. Sexton does not want bureaucratic problems getting in the way of students getting credit. The girl is explaining that an advisor in the Journalism Department said she couldn’t get credit for working in HarperCollins because she isn’t an editing major specifically. Sounds pretty messed up.

8:57pm – Sexton is explaining that there’s little he can do because each school decides its own policy and they know the environment better.

8:58pm – A CAS senior asks why the graduation ceremonies for CAS and Gallatin are being held at the same time as Grad Alley. She feels that she should be given the same chance for celebration as the other schools. Any other options? Rearranging for next year?

9:01pm – He explains that because he has no control over the park right now, and Yankee Stadium is such a tough time-arranging location, and because we can’t get Madison Square Garden, the school had to make tough decisions. “It’s not what we want for you to get two tickets. It’s not what we want for you to miss Grad Alley.”

9:04pm – Senior Week, Mark Wais is saying, is the best they can do to replace Grad Alley for the students. Strawberries and Champagne are just a couple of the ways to compensate.

9:17pm – Can you comment on the reduction of public safety officers in residence halls? Sexton explains he has come from a family of cops and firemen. Our security force is larger than 90% of the country’s municipal forces. “We will spare nothing to keep our students safe.” The issue of overtime is one that is an issue, not for money use, but for poor planning.

9:22pm – He couldn’t go to sleep at night if students’ safety was at risk. If a bit of a longer wait during one’s day is required to ensure safety, then that is a sacrifice he is willing to make. (Talks about how wondrous it is to be able to get to the NYTimes, WSJ, and WSN on his laptop while in Abu Dhabi, then quickly, looking at me, mentions being able to read NYULocal as well, to which everyone laughs.)

9:23pm – How much do you see the tuition rising in the next couple years at NYU? “Very little, hopefully.” Even with more aid and more numerous grants, students and their families are simply more strapped. In a way, tuition is tool for income distribution. The key for him is getting as much money into financial aid as possible.

9:27pm – When NYU Abu Dhabi opens, a student who studies away from NYC will get a free semester of education because of its separate endowment plan. This is a pretty big deal, and something that looks to be pretty popular if advertised correctly.

9:30pm – Sexton is explaining how the university has been able to cut ineffective corners off of administrative costs, freeing up millions of dollars of cash that can go to students’ causes.  I’m going to ask a question about workers rights over seas in a second.

9:31pm – My question – “The Student Senate recently sent you a resolution asking for a firm declaration by NYU guaranteeing workers rights. Can we expect some kind of resolution along these lines from your office within the next year?”

9:32pm – “We are going to do everything we can to make sure people are treated well.” The issue of human rights is very important, but he is not sure America has the best understanding of worker’s rights. That does not mean we shouldn’t be working. There’s a limit to what a single university or company should do – “We probably shouldn’t have a foreign policy. It will always be in the conetxt of the individual society.” His wife was one of the founding members of the Working Families Party, one of the groups who helped get the minimum wage law passed in New York. You can’t take that law and apply it to sites overseas. If people want us to do that, they can’t. If they want us to work to help workers overseas, that’s something we are committed to. No discrimination. Committed to advancing the lives of people who work on their sites.

9:35pm – I ask why the opening of Tel Aviv was pushed to a later date.  There are a lot of issues with opening or closing a site.  There are a whole host of things behind the scenes around the globe. His own daughter was mugged in Prague, and her school had no support for her, having her live in a hostel, while the NYU people were there to care for her.  Sexton says that he wants to ensure the safety and security of his students above all else.  The Tel Aviv decision was based on student enrollment - supposedly less than ten students expressed interest. It was more of students not willing to make that decision to go to Tel Aviv at that time, which is why the opening was deferred.

9:39pm – SOmetimes openings are huge successes. For example, the China site took off, which is what he hopes will happen to Tel Aviv.

NYULOCAL EXCLUSIVE (Clarification – Thanks Paul – This was the last question of the night, and I was allowed to ask it after a little bit of teasing by the President, asking if I was, as a reporter for NYULocal, “Charlie or one of his acolytes.” I explained that my coverage was unbiased [I proved this by reading out that I hadn't made fun of his Brooklyn Prep Sweatshirt] and that this was a lighter question. I asked him “Where were you, what were you doing, and what did you think upon hearing about the Kimmel Occupation,” to which he laughed and asked when it had become known as the ‘Kimmel Occupation.’ This was all pretty jovial, and he and I teased each other a bit, back and forth. He then moved on to explain his stance on the issue on the stipulation that the Washington Square News, which had a freshman reporter in the room, not be allowed to write on what he was about to say, that it was a question-and-answer reserved for NYULocal alone, to which everyone in the room applauded.)

 9:40pm – After I asked my question – “This was not a big moment in my life.” He says that of Tuesday that week, he had a town hall only for graduate students over in Kimmel. Lots of Abu Dhabi conversation at the town hall.  After this terrific meeting and after teaching, then, after the next night, he had his weekly student dinner, and Thursday night, he had another one of his dinners.

9:49pm – At about 11:00pm, he and the students who had had a dinner in Kimmel could hear noise, but they thought nothing of it.  Then he got Legs, his dog, took the dog to the dogrun in WSP, then went home. He got a call about the students who barricaded the cafeteria “because of the quality of the food, Im sure.” He explained that first thing he said was that he didn’t want the students to be hurt physically or in their lives. “Let’s just be sure they have a way out.”  This is serious stuff that stays with you, he explained of the students occupying the cafeteria. Some wanted the way out that was offered, and others did not.  ”With a hospital full of sick people, kids emailing ya about money problems, and on-the-edge issues coming to you all the time, this kind of thing doesn’t make it to the top of your pile.”

9:53pm – People criticized him and his administration as being too lenient, too tough, not giving them full amnesty, etc. If it happened again, there’d have to be tougher punishments.  He felt that actions warranted the punishments given.

9:54pm – At St. Francis, he was considered a radical, and there, he alone was considered Take Back ST. Francis College! after the way he opposed the Iraq Vietnam War. (Thanks, President Sexton, for the clarification)

9:55pm – The town hall is over, and the members of the Senate who were at the meeting announce that they will be presenting their stance on Abu Dhabi, to which they recently visited with NYU’s Board of Trustees, some time soon.

I’ll have a write-up of my thoughts in the morning. Stay tuned.