Don't let budget cuts threaten integrity

In this semester's first two weeks, several universitywide policy changes have already begun to affect students on a daily basis. Faced with financial difficulties, NYU has capped students' free printing, foregone offering students planners, and heavily restructured campus transportation by eliminating three bus routes and modifying those that remain. The WSN Editorial Board believes that NYU's latest cost-cutting measure — not renewing contracts between the Tisch School of the Arts drama department and two prominent external studios, Collaborative Arts Project 21 and the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute — raises the question of whether NYU places more emphasis on cutting costs or giving students the best education possible.

Although all of these cuts were at least partially driven by financial burdens, this last one is distinct and deserves greater scrutiny. Rather than keeping visible changes outside of the classroom, NYU has touched its academic programs, its educational offerings and its ability to deliver an optimal education — its bread and butter as a university. While limited printing and fewer bus routes are an inconvenience, severing ties with programs such as CAP21 and Strasberg has the potential to impact the very quality of education that Tisch drama students receive, for better or for worse.

Without a doubt, this is an important decision. Even in the best of financial times, it would warrant an extended and deep discussion within Tisch, and an examination of whether the school would still be able to maintain the level of education students expect. Thus, this decision is even more worrying because it was made amid financial constraints.

To counterbalance these cuts, NYU is creating a new internal music theater studio that will give displaced students an opportunity to learn in a similar environment. However, as this studio is constructed, its benefit and value to students must remain the top priority. If the school's hand has been forced by short-term financial constraints, both students and the university will be shortchanged in the long term.

Tisch must ensure that the academic quality and rigor provided by CAP21 and Strasberg continues. Making every effort to do so but still falling short is not sufficient; in that case, NYU will have sacrificed its academic quality, its prestige and its value as a university for budget considerations. This mindset must be applied universitywide, as more and more departments are forced to reconsider budgets.

We acknowledge that, like many universities, NYU is faced with severe financial hindrances. But students' education must be the very last area impacted by budget cuts. With a stellar reputation and a name that gives instant credibility to any résumé, we hope Tisch will build a strong, vibrant musical theater studio. However, administrators and faculty must remember that this task cannot be taken lightly. No matter what financial troubles may face NYU and higher education, the quality of education must never be at risk.

E-mail the editorial board at editboard@nyunews.com.