To survive at NYU, one needs but a few resources: enough bank to fund an American Apparel wardrobe, enough alcohol tolerance to best an ox in a drinking game and enough bravado to feign insider expertise on this island of judgmental outsiders. Since tips for the first two steps could constitute corruption of a minor, this article settles for laying out the Lego blocks for confronting the confounding NYU experience.
Albert: Online registrar. This service stores your grades, degree-progress reports, schedule and next semester's course offerings. With Albert, time is never on your side. You can only link to it within the first minutes of logging into NYUHome and you have but a few minutes to accomplish whatever it is you logged on to do before the page expires and you must log in again. Hacker tip: The inherent inconvenience of this security measure is best minimized by unauthorized knowledge of your PIN. With this password, you log in much more easily through www1.albert.nyu.edu.
Blackboard: Class-specific webpage. Exposure to this depends heavily on how tech savvy your professor/TA is. They either will or won't set up these pages as a means to communicate with students and post documents like syllabuses, assignments, discussion topics and grades. Stalker tip: A page that lists all of the names and e-mail address of your classmates can save hours of Facebooking.
BobCat: 1. Short for "Bobst Catalogue," which can be accessed to find books, films and other materials housed in the libraries of NYU and partners like The New School Library and New York Public Library.
BobCat: 2. Propogandized nickname used to lend ferocity to NYU's athletic endeavors. Note to NYU: Appropriating the name of a library catalogue diminishes any potential ferocity exponentially.
BobCat, The: 3. Student worker in a Bobcat suit who hangs out at sporting events. Essentially a mascot. This animal now graces the platform of bobblehead ornaments distributed at certain games. See Tear It Up for more information.
Bobst: The towering library on West Fourth Street was designed by Phillip Johnson and is fabulously controversial. While Village residents have decried its effect on the neighborhood's skyline for years, the building drew safety concerns in 2004 when students jumped to their deaths. In response, NYU installed Plexiglas between the library's 12 floors and famous atrium. Not to be outdone in notoriety, the building's two lower levels, which boast dozens of computers, study lounges and classrooms, have become a common meeting location for individuals who frequent the personals section of Craigslist.
Campus Cash: An NYU debit account. This program is separate from a meal plan/Dining Dollars, and is helpful in buying a few items without laying down cash. Many local restaurants, delis and shops accept Campus Cash (sometimes with discounts!) without bill minimums like you might find with credit or actual debit cards.
Coursepacks: Bound editions of (usually out-of-print) reading material assembled by professors. Cheapster Tip: While these can be cheaper than buying an entire book, copyright fees bump up the cost you'll pay at various Village copy shops. A thriftier solution is for the professor to post readings on Blackboard, which can be printed free of cost (to students) at NYU's computer labs.
Dining Dollars: Formerly Declining Dollars, a service included in all meal plans. It's basically a debit account that differs from Campus Cash in that it is only accepted in NYU dining halls and the Starbucks at Faye's at The Square. Since Dining Dollars are prepaid and subject to expiration, don't shy away from spending them. If you want to unload them before winter break, hit up Faye's before the holiday rush and get your family some coffee mugs.
Downstein: The traditional-style cafeteria in the basement of Weinstein residence hall. Weekend brunch here is delicious but crowded.
Downtown dorms: Generally, dorms south of Houston Street: Broome Street, Lafayette Street, Water Street and Cliff Street residence halls. While the residents laud the rooms for their spaciousness and amenities, they are just as often criticized for their distance from the Silver Center.
E-billing: Last year, NYU did away with paper billing and set up this service to allow students to pay their tuition through the internet. Tech-fearing parents shouldn't worry because it's still possible to print your bill and mail in your check. NYU will have no qualms about taking your money in a not-so-eco-friendly way.
Fountain, The: The focal point of Washington Square Park. When the fountain is dry, entertainers use it as a venue; when the water is running, you might see someone frolicking in its depths. It is also the subject of controversial renovation plans, which would have it moved and centered with the arch instead of its current position, centered with the terminus of Fifth Avenue. Construction plans would put the park out of commission for a few years, forcing NYU to find a new location for commencement ceremonies.
Graduate Student Organizing Committee (GSOC): Members of this group staged a strike in November 2005, just before fall semester finals, in a bid for recognition of their union. Picket lines divided many administrators, professors and students and disrupted classes. After winter break and upon possible loss of benefits, most striking grad assistants returned to work and the spring picket lines were few and far between. The strike formally ended once classes started again in fall 2006, but GSOC still says it is pursuing other options to obtain recognition for its union.
Greenwich Village Historical Preservation Society: Vocal opponents of NYU's real estate endeavors. Headed by Andrew Berman, the group is currently venting its wrath over NYU's intent to build a 26-story residence hall on 12th Street.
Main Building: Former name of the Silver Center from back before the Silver family donated that money. There's a plaque on the side of the building that might shed some light on the subject, if you find NYU's fund-raising endeavors stimulating.
SafeRide: Free late-night shuttle service. Call up 212.992.VANS to be transported from any NYU building to any NYU building between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. The system is notoriously understaffed, late and unfriendly, but it's better than nothing. Calling on a weekend night (which for our purposes includes Thursday and not Sunday) will leave you waiting more than an hour in the lobby for a van's arrival. Van clientele on these nights is, as you would imagine, of the loud, drunken and vomiting persuasion. You're better off cabbing it and reserving SafeRide for late Tuesday nights at Bobst.
Sophomore Priority: In spring 2005, NYU housing officials changed policy to stop determining upperclassmen housing through seniority. While traditional-style dorms around Washington Square are freshman dorms, juniors and seniors mostly inhabited the sought-after Union Square dorms like Carlyle and Palladium while sophomores worked their way up with a lackluster placement in Lafayette. This controversial change sought to create a Union Square "sophomore cluster," but as it turns out, more sophomores would apply than there were beds in Union Square. This led to sophomore placement in distant residence halls like Greenwich Hotel and Broome Street. The "cluster" term was quickly abandoned in lieu of "priority," so sophomores generally get the sweetest suites on campus. Still, the numbers show that even high-priority sophomores get shafted with an unpopular dorm and therefore lose the opportunity to live in Union Square. Threatened with placement at Lafayette or Twenty-sixth Street residence halls and with no chance of better picks in the future, many students of differing grades have opted out of housing entirely.
Tear It Up: Promotional athletic department events used to attract NYU's notoriously apathetic and unathletic population to take in a volleyball or basketball game at Coles Sports Center. With the promise of free food and bobbleheads, the games have seen greater turnout than in recent history.
Torchtone: Consider this the dial-up Albert. Students once registered for classes over the phone, but not so much anymore. It's still used, however, to order graduation tickets. The likelihood of it being around in 2011 is low.
Upstein: Food-court-style cafeteria on the lobby level of Weinstein residence hall. Unlike most residence halls, you don't need to pay for a meal to sit there.
Uptown dorms: University Court and Twenty-sixth Street residence halls, both of which are the most undesirable buildings on campus because of their distance and aesthetic. Assignment to either assignment is usually greeted with anguish by students who had low housing priority (juniors).
Village: Loosely, the area between the Hudson and East rivers, north of Houston (it's "How-ston") Street and south of Union Square. From there, the area is usually broken down into East, West and Greenwich subsections.
Violets: It can be confusing, but NYU's sports teams are actually called "the Violets." "Bobcat" is a nickname. NYU athletes would be considered Violets, not Bobcats.
Washington Square Campus: Cutesy term NYU sometimes uses to convince you that there is an equivalent traditional-style campus here. Basically, anything around the nucleus of Washington Square Park.
WSN: Short for Washington Square News. At this moment, you either hold it in your hands or are looking at its website, nyunews.com. Like mispronouncing Bobst as "bahb-st" or reading CAS as "cass," you will be ridiculed for misidentifying the Washington Square News as "the WSN." •
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