N.Y.U. is giving back already
To The Editor:
Re: “High time N.Y.U. gave back” (letter, by Robin Rothstein, July 12):
Robin Rothstein’s letter to the editor correctly notes that N.Y.U. has a responsibility to give back to Greenwich Village and the larger New York City community of which it has been a part for more than 180 years. That is, in fact, precisely what the university has done throughout its history; N.Y.U. is very proud of its distinguished record of community service.
Last year, N.Y.U. students, faculty and staff provided more than 1.4 million hours of service through numerous local and national programs. To give a few examples:
• N.Y.U.’s American Reads/America Counts program is the largest in the country and provides nearly 1,000 tutors working up to 12 hours a week in the New York City public schools;
• The N.Y.U. Dental Van travels throughout the city providing free dental care to low-income children, and N.Y.U.’s dental clinic provides low-cost dental care to 50,000 people every year;
• N.Y.U. contributed significant support to both the renovation of Washington Square Park and restoration of the Arch;
• N.Y.U. provides annual support for the summer Washington Square Music Festival;
• The N.Y.U. Civic Team arranges for more than 300 students each semester to work at 20 nonprofit agencies where they commit to a minimum of two hours of service per week;
• N.Y.U.’s Jumpstart program places seven teams of 10 tutors each in Lower East Side nonprofit agencies to help preschool children;
• Every year, N.Y.U. sponsors a team in the Greenwich Village Little League;
• And the N.Y.U. Community Fund has raised and distributed more than $2 million since 1982 to support local nonprofit organizations.
This is just a partial list of the many local programs and services where the university works with nonprofits and other organizations to improve the larger New York City community. Because of our record of community service, in March N.Y.U. was named with “Distinction” to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which recognizes schools that “reflect the values of exemplary community service.” As we move ahead with our N.Y.U. 2031 expansion, we look forward to working with the community to create a better N.Y.U. and a better New York City.
John Beckman
Beckman is N.Y.U. vice president for public affairs
Just a lame punk bully
To The Editor:
Re “Peed-off crusty threatens senior, trashes his glasses” (news article, July 12):
I am not sure what a “crusty” is but I know a lame punk bully when I see one. I made a film about this sort of violent behavior in Washington Square Park back in 1994. Sad to see that the tradition lives on.
Lawrence White
Get real about Lynne Stewart!
To The Editor:
I call your attention to an article on Fri., June 29, in The New York Times, “10-year sentence for lawyer in terrorism case is upheld.”
Your paper in the past has published articles favorable to Lynne Stewart.
Puff pieces!
Please print the truth about this woman who has aided terrorists!
Her accomplice got 20 years! Ten is not enough!
Joseph Marra
Color her a Chupi fan
To The Editor:
Re “Pompeii Red redo at Palazzo Chupi” (news article, July 12):
Loved it pink and love it Pompeii Red. Glad photographer Toni Dalton tracks our evolving museum in the West Village.
Miriam Chaikin
Imagining the damage
To The Editor:
Re “Chin must reduce N.Y.U. 2031 project’s scale” (editorial, July 5):
N.Y.U. has spent a tremendous amount of money trying to push this expansion play down the throats of the Village. I didn’t say “superblocks” on purpose. Our entire community would be damaged.
The strips are public land but the university has treated them as if it has the right to own and change them. Thousands and thousands of hours have been spent making these open-space areas what they are now. Isn’t that effort worth something?
The lives of the residents in 505 LaGuardia Place are under a cloud with the specter of losing their ability to pay for their homes. What about those people who worked hard and spent their lives’ income to live on Mercer St? What will compensate them from losing their piece of the sun?
I could repeat a score of reasons why N.Y.U. should not be allowed to build its N.Y.U. 2031 plan. Let us hope that the scales of justice are working in the City Council because if they aren’t, the courts will have their way.
Ray Cline
Purple shame
To The Editor:
Re “ ‘It’s gone too far’; Broderick brings down the N.Y.U. house” (news article, July 5):
New York City needs to take a lesson from San Francisco, which, starting back in the ’70s and ’80s, elected progressive officials (mayors, supervisors, planning commission members) who believed in preserving the beauty and character of the city’s skyline and old Victorian neighborhoods rather than “Manhattanizing” them.
It is not surprising that New York University continues its bulldozing mentality of targeting the Sasaki Garden, the community gardens, the majestic trees along Laguardia Place, etc., when it has already wiped away the historic Edgar Allan Poe house and the historic Provincetown Playhouse, rather than realizing the importance of preservation and restoration. Shame, shame.
Ralph Swain
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