NYU is gradually reopening its Abu Dhabi campus, inviting students, faculty and researchers to request access to the site on a day-by-day basis after it closed for two weeks due to Iranian threats to strike U.S. universities.
Through a “managed access model,” announced in a Sunday email obtained by WSN, NYU community members — including students, staff and family — can apply to visit the campus during limited hours, which the university requested that WSN omit due to security concerns. Residential activity at the campus has not yet resumed and classes remain online.
Fabio Piano, interim vice chancellor at NYU Abu Dhabi, celebrated one week of “no sky activity” near the degree-granting campus at a University Senate meeting on Thursday, saying that “We are now in a position to start returning back to full activity on campus.” He added that since the site began reopening labs and offices, more than 1,000 community members have submitted access requests.
“I can’t tell you how much we have appreciated all the central leadership support of NYU Abu Dhabi during this important time,” Piano told the group on Zoom. “The community has demonstrated the strength that we perhaps didn’t know we had, and is coming out of this stronger than before.”
Piano also praised the Emirati government for “an extraordinary job at being able to protect the UAE and everyone in it.” The country’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research announced on Wednesday that in-person learning for all public and private institutions will resume on April 20. Hybrid and remote learning options can be used as needed for select private universities, such as NYU.
Most students and community members must submit their request a day before their arrival via a Google Form, detailing which building they plan to visit and why. Those teaching or conducting research can obtain recurring access by completing a separate form, but must share their expected frequency on campus. “Essential personnel and those critical to campus” will automatically be allowed on site.
Administrators also said that students’ hotel accommodations sponsored by the university will end on Friday, with discounted rates offered moving forward. A decision regarding commencement and summer programs will be finalized in the coming week based on “continued stability.”
The developments come over a week into a 14-day ceasefire between Iran, the United States and Israel, with President Donald Trump agreeing to suspend attacks if Iranian officials reopen a primary route for oil and gas. The warring parties failed to reach a truce on Sunday following nearly 24 hours of peace talks in Pakistan, and negotiations are set to continue. On Thursday, a U.S.-backed 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect, halting bombardment in the region.
NYU shut down its Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv campuses at the end of March, after U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iranian universities sparked threats of retaliatory strikes on American universities in the Middle East. Earlier that month, administrators moved classes in Abu Dhabi online “for the foreseeable future” following a nearby missile strike. The university did not respond to WSN’s requests for comment on NYU Tel Aviv.
Contact Leena Ahmed and Dharma Niles at [email protected].