New York University’s ties to Trump, Wall Street banks and Gulf monarchies
By
Sandy English
29 March 2017
This month, New York University’s Student Activities Board (SAB) rejected the International Youth and Students for Social Equality’s (IYSSE) application for club status and denied the subsequent appeal—for the second straight semester. The decision is an act of political censorship aimed at blocking the development of a socialist, anti-war group on campus.
Several of the students on the SAB publicly boast on social media of their connections to the Democratic Party, corporate media and banks. The character of the SAB itself is a reflection of the university’s administration, which is deeply integrated with the political establishment and Wall Street. While such connections are common at major universities, the process is particularly marked in New York City, the home of Wall Street, where the cost of living has grown to such an extent that workers, including those employed by NYU, can no longer afford to live in Manhattan.
The careers and personal lives of NYU’s Board of Trustees personify the marriage between finance, the government and the military.
The Board of Trustees is currently comprised of 66 members, most of whom are billionaires or multimillionaires. They nominate and elect themselves. They make staffing decisions on senior administrators, including the president of the university (who sits on the board), currently Andrew Hamilton. They have final say over all investments, including the disposition of NYU’s massive real estate holdings, as well as faculty salaries and curriculum decisions.
Most members of the Board of Trustees are New Yorkers, and they or their families have risen in wealth and power as the standard of living of the…