Stanford and Cornell Duking It Out For New York City Applied Science & Engineering School - Roosevelt Island's Right In The Middle Of It All, Whew!

Cornell NYC Tech Campus from CornellNYCTechCampus on Vimeo.

This September 23 post summarized the perception by Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA) members attending a September 16 meeting with Cornell University on Mayor Bloomberg's proposed NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School, which both Cornell and Stanford University have proposed to be located on Roosevelt Island, as:

... Summarizing the basic difference between Stanford and Cornell's approach to the Roosevelt Island community to date, Ms. Shull noted that Stanford's approach is to learn everything they can about the community needs and Cornell was only interested in the Child School and talking RIRA out of seeking a Community Benefit Agreement....

Also reported in same post that:

... Assembly Member Micah Kellner is holding a meeting on September 27 with Cornell representatives and selected members of the Roosevelt Island community. I hope to be able to attend and to report on what transpires during this meeting....

The September 27 meeting took place with Cornell representatives, Mr. Kellner, leaders of Roosevelt Island organizations and RIOC Board member(s). I asked to be able to attend and cover the meeting but was told by Mr. Kellner and Cornell representative that press/bloggers could not attend. Mr. Kellner advised that he would report back after the meeting.

I followed up after the meeting on September 27 asking Mr. Kellner to comment on what happened. Mr. Kellner replied:

 It was a great meeting where Roosevelt Island community leaders were able to exchange ideas with the leadership of Cornell University.

I replied the next day:

Thank you for your response.

Could you be a bit more specific as to what was discussed during the meeting and who attended?

Was there any explanation from Cornell representatives regarding why they met with Sal Ferrera' Child School on September 16 and the perception by RIRA members who attended the September 16 meeting that Cornell was opposed to Roosevelt Island residents seeking a Community Benefits Agreement for the project?

Who were the representatives from Cornell, not necessarily their names but what role in the process do they have. Were they decision makers, information gatherers or something else?

Was there any discussion that a New York State school such as Cornell should have some precedence or favor in the selection process over a West Coast School like Stanford?

I believe that at least some Cornell's NYC facilities are located in your district. As an elected official, do you support any particular school being selected by NYC and do you think that a local school should be favored in any way over a school that is not yet located in New York State.

Have not yet received a response from Mr. Kellner to these questions.

A Roosevelt Island resident attending the September 27 meeting with Cornell provides more details describing it as follows:

It was a very casual information exchange.  The Roosevelt Islanders present talked about their organizations, i.e., Matt described RIRA and how it's made up of reps from each building, he talked about the history of the Island; Jim Bates talked about RIDA and what their goals are; Dolores spoke about the Senior Center; Jonathan talked about some of the IT innovations we have on the Island; I spoke about the nature of the Island and some of the concerns I've heard from people, the recurring theme of which was that whatever entity ends up on that piece of land should be integrated into the community.  The residents don't want to feel as if they're living on someone else's campus, nor do they want to see an "us and them" environment with an obvious separation from the community.  We'll need to have a very cooperative working relationship to make this work for everyone.

They were very open to that.  They described some of their projects around the state and expressed a very strong desire to work with the community.  There were no specifics talked about because this is so early in the planning stages, but we all agreed that there were logistics that need to be worked out with the community, like how the red buses would work, what role public safety would play, what kind of energy programs we could expect to see, etc.  All very general issues to put on the table but to be expanded upon as time goes on.

That was the consensus of others who attended the meeting as well. I followed up with the resident asking similar questions to the ones I asked Mr. Kellner. The resident replied:

No one asked that specific question.  I asked if they'd met with others and they said they'd met with the heads of both schools.  They said that's where they start when they come to a community, i.e., they reach out to the local education community to get a feel for what educational facilities/programs, etc. they already have.

The CBA didn't come up per se, but rather the whole concept of working together to benefit the community. I believe they're trying to understand what's already here and where there may be mutually beneficial opportunities.
I don't know the exact titles, Matt may have their cards.  There were two reps from Cornell who told us a little about Cornell itself and said they were the team working on the RFP.
The political consultant was there, but didn't say much of anything.  No discussion at all about a New York school having precedence.  No implication that there would be any preferencial treatment.

Cornell representatives also gave a presentation of their plan for a NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School at Google's HQ in Chelsea yesterday. According to this tweet from AppSciNYC:

RT @levitandan At #google HQ in Chelsea with Cornell techies - about to hear about their proposal for @appscinyc. Packed house. #cornellnyc

The Cornell Daily Sun reported on yesterday's presentation at Google's HQ.

Speaking to an audience of Cornell alumni on Tuesday at Google’s New York City headquarters, Prof. Dan Huttenlocher, dean of Computing and Information Science, revealed an outline of the University’s proposal to construct an engineering and applied science campus on Roosevelt Island.

“We’re proposing to get going right away. We would start operating by summer and we would have students in the city by fall,” Huttenlocher said....

and:

... Cornell has also been in continuous discussion with business leaders in New York City and around the country, Huttenlocher said. He expressed confidence that Cornell’s established presence in New York would give its proposal the edge over those of other contending universities.

“If a school doesn’t have good roots in New York, it may attract good students here and just be a pipeline to jobs elsewhere in the country,” Huttenlocher said. “We believe strongly that a Cornell in New York, with the strong ties to all of you and others that we have here, would really change that pattern. But for another school that doesn’t have a strong network in New York City, it might never happen.”

Click here for the entire Cornell Daily Sun article.

Here's Stanford University President John Hennessey explaining why Stanford wants to build an Applied Sciences and Engineering Schools in NYC and the economic benefits that will result from it.


A previous post reported on this benefit to NYC's economy if Stanford is selected to build the school:

... During a meeting and tour of Roosevelt Island several weeks ago with Stanford's Director of Communications Lisa Lapin, I learned that a number of Silicon Valley Venture Capital Firms have indicated a strong interest in following Stanford to NYC should Stanford be chosen to build NYC's new world class graduate engineering school - which Stanford would locate on Roosevelt Island...

Sand Hill Road Comes to Roosevelt Island - well, maybe?

The Observer's Beta Beat has a great article on the competition among universities and neighborhoods seeking NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School headlined:

Will Stanford Take the F Train to Silicon Island? Tensions Rise as Deadline for Tech Campus Approaches

Will Silicon Alley U. go to a visiting favorite or the hometown underdogs?

According to Beta Beat:

... As the Oct. 28 deadline for proposals approaches, both neighborhood advocates and the institutions bidding have intensified their campaigns. Scuttlebutt has Stanford as the frontrunner and Roosevelt Island as the likely site, agitating folks like Ms. Dolan and institutions like N.Y.U....

... TO LOCALS, THE SELECTION PROCESS leaves something to be desired. “It’s downright anti-N.Y.C. for the mayor’s office to consider helping an outsider come into N.Y.C. and a massive slap in the face of all the great institutions N.Y.C. has here already,” Fred Wilson wrote in an email to The Observer. Mr. Wilson, a partner at Union Square Ventures and pater familias to the city’s growing tech scene, is not quite an unbiased onlooker: this summer he joined the board of N.Y.U. and its engineering school, N.Y.U.-Poly, which merged with the Polytechnic Institute in 2008, after surveying which institutions might have the most impact....

... Nonetheless insiders acknowledge that incumbents are disadvantaged because the city is already intimately involved with existing expansion plans decades into the future, which didn’t involve anything on this scale. “Let’s say hypothetically, everyone turned in the exact same proposal, would we probably go with Stanford? Yes. Why? Because everyone turned in the same proposal and they have the best reputation,” said a source familiar with the decision-making process. “But we don’t know what they’re going to submit.” Such is the nature of the R.F.P. process, explained the source, wherein even the mayor’s excitement over attracting a school like Stanford is only a “small to medium plus” dependent on what the committee makes of the proposal....

Click here to read the entire Beta Beat article.

Whew - and we here on Roosevelt Island are right in the middle of all of this. From Beta Beat:

City councilmember Jessica Lappin, whose district includes Roosevelt Island, said that, compared with the “cockamamie schemes thrown out through the years,” like a big box store and a housing project, it’s been easy to galvanize community elders around the plan.

Yes, much better than a big box store.

UPDATE 5:40 PM - Jonathan Kalkin, who is leading an effort to organize all Roosevelt Island organizations to participate as stakeholders in an eventual Community Benefits Agreement with any University that develops a campus at the Goldwater Hospital site. was at the September 27 meeting with Cornell and adds:

This meeting was initiated by Cornell University and a number of subjects were discussed, but Cornell seemed very open to working with the coalition on a community benefit agreement to make sure that if Roosevelt Island is chosen they will develop a plan that is mutually beneficial for the university and the community. The discussion on community integration led to a number of suggestions regarding  mentoring programs and assistance in education, a state of the art library, and a shared workspace/incubator.

We also discussed community access to the University resources and campus.  We also talked about improvements to transportation that included talks about possibly adding ferry service and enhanced bus service. Finally we discussed the energy needs of the University and how an Island wide energy plan could mutually benefit the university and community.

This was a preliminary discussion on the possible ideas that may be helpful for the community.  A University has not been chosen yet and the location has not been finalized, but if this develops it will certainly be a great opportunity for the Island.

UPDATE 10/7 - Crains is reporting that several other schools (NYU, Columbia and Carnegie-Mellon) are in the running to be selected to build the NYC Applied Sciences & Engineering School and these schools are considering locations other than Roosevelt Island. From Crains:

Several schools that have flown under the radar in the citywide competition to build a tech campus are poised to shake up what had appeared to be a dogfight between Cornell and Stanford universities.

The two engineering powerhouses have hired lobbyists and public relations firms to pitch their proposed Roosevelt Island campuses. But details of three other bids—led by New York University, Columbia University and Carnegie Mellon University— that would use other sites are emerging. They would be strong contenders if multiple winners are chosen....

Click here to read the entire Crains article.