Questionable Leadership

NYU Prez’s Staff Turns Against Him

In a vote of no confidence.

The president of NYU has lost the confidence of his staff, basically, “by ignoring us,” writes Jeff Goodwin, a sociology professor at the school who led the charge against John Sexton back in December. Specifically, Goodwin and his fellow staffers are concerned about plans to expand NYU’s offices and dorms into the part of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village where many of them live, as well as lofty aspirations to build NYU branches overseas in places like Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, “where academic freedom, and free speech generally, are so parlous.” Unlike his employees, however, NYU’s trustees continue to have confidence in the president. Still, Goodwin remains convinced that the school needs a new head. “NYU would be better off with a more trusted and less divisive leader.”