On Wednesday, President Andrew Hamilton’s Affordability Steering Committee launched a website that allows members of the NYU community to propose their own ideas on how the university should cut costs. The creation of an easily accessible, publicly hosted space for community engagement is a dramatic departure from the relative inaction of the Sexton years. Going forward, it will be interesting to see if ideas proposed on the site are actually evaluated and followed up with.

The open suggestion box is a critical next step, not only for Hamilton’s affordability mission, but also his ongoing efforts to create a more transparent administration. After only three months in office, Hamilton has already undertaken several measures to address attendance costs, including the formation of the ASC and a proposed freeze on tuition increases — which he described in emails sent to the university. Hamilton has made great strides in bridging the administration and the community; with the ASC suggestion box, it seems that these bridges are slowly becoming two-way.

But there is a hard limit on how useful these suggestions can be without statistics to back them up. Students can suggest ideas on affordability to their heart’s content, but unless they have access to all of the university’s finances, the suggestions can’t make it beyond the level of idle speculation. Even some of the highest-rated suggestions on the ASC suggestion site are calls for greater transparency in administrative matters, because that information is vital for the idea-making process. Great ideas don’t come from nowhere — they come from a careful, considered analysis. Only when the NYU community has access to detailed figures can that analysis be done properly.

Though Hamilton’s trend of feedback is promising, it still remains to be seen how much back-and-forth there will really be on these suggestions. The forum does provide a direct email line to the ASC, but that does not necessarily guarantee a response or ensure that action will be taken on an issue of concern to the community. Each proposal is also linked to a public rating system, but it is easy to lose track of good ideas that may get buried if they are not necessarily popular. The effectiveness of this page all depends on how well the ASC responds to suggestions in the coming months. If they make it clear that they are listening and providing feedback, then the system can work as intended.

All ideas, even those that may seem patently unfeasible, those that threaten an administrative service and even those that threaten the size of a department should still be posted to the ASC site and weighed. This forum offers a unique opportunity for the NYU community that should not be taken for granted. Those who run this university are trying dearly to listen to the community, and now it is time for students to rise to the occasion.  

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