POLYTECHNIC MERGER | As merger vote nears, some ask questions
Jane C. Timm
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: University
Polytechnic University's Board of Trustees will vote today on whether to finalize its merger with NYU, which would give NYU control of the Brooklyn engineering school.
In October, both boards passed a memorandum detailing the merger plans, and at the time, officials said the deal was almost certain as long as the final document matched the plan. But since then, several Polytechnic trustees and alumni have sought to delay the vote, petitioning both the board and the state government.
Several trustees submitted a letter to the board asking to suspend the vote, saying the administration had not released the full details of the deal to the board and that some voting members had a conflict of interest because they would benefit personally from the deal, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The New York Times reported that some Polytechnic alumni sought the State Education Department's intervention on Monday, saying that when NYU dissolved its engineering school in 1973, the university agreed not to pursue an engineering program.
Department officials told The Times that they would look into the concerns but would not address them before today's vote.
The letter also charged that the merger negotiations had begun without the Board's knowledge or consent and that board members pushed into supporting the merger for fear that NYU would start a competing engineering school if the merger fell through, according to Inside Higher Ed - which NYU's alleged 1973 promise would make moot.
The letter also said that Poly had ignored faculty input. In 2005, the Poly faculty voted against the merger and the negotiations fell through.
Thomas Mauro, a nonvoting trustee of Polytechnic's board and the immediate past president of the school's alumni association, said that he "absolutely [did] not" think the merger was in Polytechnic's best interest.
"The university has great value, a great tradition and it's very important to the city and the state," Mauro said, saying that he thought it was a bad idea "to give it away to another private university with no other benefits than the use of the name."
But Polytechnic assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Jim Kim said that the merger has a lot of potential in terms of collaboration.
"At Poly, we have no medical school. NYU does," Kim said. "But they don't have an engineering school."
NYU's board of trustees will vote on the final merger agreement on Feb. 26.
Jane C. Timm is the university news editor. E-mail her at jtimm@nyunews.com.
In October, both boards passed a memorandum detailing the merger plans, and at the time, officials said the deal was almost certain as long as the final document matched the plan. But since then, several Polytechnic trustees and alumni have sought to delay the vote, petitioning both the board and the state government.
Several trustees submitted a letter to the board asking to suspend the vote, saying the administration had not released the full details of the deal to the board and that some voting members had a conflict of interest because they would benefit personally from the deal, according to Inside Higher Ed.
The New York Times reported that some Polytechnic alumni sought the State Education Department's intervention on Monday, saying that when NYU dissolved its engineering school in 1973, the university agreed not to pursue an engineering program.
Department officials told The Times that they would look into the concerns but would not address them before today's vote.
The letter also charged that the merger negotiations had begun without the Board's knowledge or consent and that board members pushed into supporting the merger for fear that NYU would start a competing engineering school if the merger fell through, according to Inside Higher Ed - which NYU's alleged 1973 promise would make moot.
The letter also said that Poly had ignored faculty input. In 2005, the Poly faculty voted against the merger and the negotiations fell through.
Thomas Mauro, a nonvoting trustee of Polytechnic's board and the immediate past president of the school's alumni association, said that he "absolutely [did] not" think the merger was in Polytechnic's best interest.
"The university has great value, a great tradition and it's very important to the city and the state," Mauro said, saying that he thought it was a bad idea "to give it away to another private university with no other benefits than the use of the name."
But Polytechnic assistant professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Jim Kim said that the merger has a lot of potential in terms of collaboration.
"At Poly, we have no medical school. NYU does," Kim said. "But they don't have an engineering school."
NYU's board of trustees will vote on the final merger agreement on Feb. 26.
Jane C. Timm is the university news editor. E-mail her at jtimm@nyunews.com.
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