On Thursday, WNYU aired their interview with NYU President John Sexton on their current events show, Earshot.

The hosts asked great questions about the university, the 2031 plans, NYU Abu Dhabi, financial aid and tuition, and the recent decision to call poorer students to warn them of the cost of NYU. Sexton even talked a bit about the controversy over what he said to NYU Local writer Jessica Roy at a townhall roundtable luncheon last year.

Sexton spoke convincingly on some issues (financials, in particular), but dodged questions or gave weak answers to others. When asked if he was worried about ethical issues tainting Abu Dhabi dollars (presumably referring to Human Rights issues and the torture story), he said he was convinced that Abu Dhabi was the best possible government to work with in the region. He made it sound as if NYU had lots of options throughout the Middle East to build a campus costing $250 million a year at no cost to the university. Somehow I doubt that.

Sexton just avoided discussing legitimate issues surrounding the new campus. The opportunity in AD is clearly enormous, but to try to sweep any concerns under the rug by saying that other countries are worse is a disingenuous, relativistic argument.

But listen for yourself – you can stream the entire interview right off of the WNYU website.