Campuses in the Sand

Are you concerned at all about bringing your students to a place like Abu Dhabi?
Any time you move into a completely different culture, you have to take pains to describe [the differences] to the people you're sending. This is something we encounter with every overseas campus. This is always on our mind. We have indicated to Abu Dhabi that we will apply the same standards as we do in Washington Square, and they have indicated to us that they will do everything they can to work with us.

What was your first experience like in Abu Dhabi?
I took my first trip to Abu Dhabi in May 2006. As the crown prince said to me on my last visit a few months ago, it was during my first visit that he made his decision that NYU should be their partner. He had this funny comment, "Now I understand that people from Brooklyn do the same thing we do here." And he is 100 percent right. In that meeting, it was almost a spiritual experience. I just found myself transported to an intersection of humanity that is quite remarkable. For me, I view humankind's evolution as progressive evolution towards the better. I saw in that first visit the possibility of incarnating that very progressive view in a way I never saw before.

© 2008