Columbia Stirs Manhattanville Dialogue

Columbia Spectator
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Columbia Stirs Manhattanville Dialogue
By Erin Durkin
Spectator Staff Writer

October 07, 2005

Columbia administrators reviewed their plans for Manhattanville and fielded heated questions from community members at the first in a series of informational meetings leading up to the formal start of the approval process for a the expansion project.The proceedings may serve as a harbinger for what Columbia can expect from the community when they hold their official scoping session later this month, an event that Community Board 9 Chairman Jordi Reyes-Montblanc called �the meeting that will make or break the plan.

�Columbia once again emphasized its need for space to grow, noting that its square footage per student is the lowest among its peer institutions. �We need space to compete for the best students, we need space to compete for the best faculty members, we need space to keep doing the science that�s leading to public health breakthroughs,� said Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin.Vice President for Facilities Joe Ienuso said that, �We�ve pretty much tapped everything out� on the Morningside campus.The presentation emphasized the ways in which Columbia benefits the Harlem community. �We are proud of the relationship we have with the city of New York, and we are proud of the relationship we have with Harlem,� Kasdin said. He cited the employment center opened last year on 125 Street, a lawyer endowed by the University to work on Harlem housing issues, six health clinics that provide free care to local residents, and 4,000 CB9 residents currently employed by Columbia.

After Columbia completed its presentation, a series of attendees rose to ask questions that at times sounded more like rebuttals to Columbia�s fundamental premise that its expansion will be good for the community. Topics raised included displacement of residents due to rising rents, the nature of research that may take place in Columbia�s Manhattanville labs, and the possible use of eminent domain to forcibly buy property in the area.When asked about potential research risks, Kasdin responded that, �Columbia does no classified research and hasn�t for generations.�Materials passed out at the meeting stated that, �Columbia will not build a Level 4 laboratory in Manhattanville,� referring to the highest level of lab safety risk classification.

Vice President for Government Affairs and Community Relations Maxine Griffith said this was �a level of laboratory that we feel should not function in an urban area.�In response to a series of questions about the possible use of eminent domain to take property from area business owners unwilling to sell, Kasdin said, �We continue to say that we are preserving the option of trying to persuade the state that it is in the public interest to do that.� Griffith added that while �it is our fervent hope� that eminent domain won�t have to be employed, �it is a tool that we may need to use.� Kasdin said the University stood by President Lee Bollinger�s April 2004 statement that Columbia sought to develop all the land in its proposed expansion zone or do nothing.

Norman Siegel, the civil rights lawyer hired by Manhattanville business owners to challenge any use of eminent domain, rose to challenge Kasdin on the issue.�Unless you remove the possibility of eminent domain, it will taint ... all your good intentions,� he said.Siegel asked Kasdin whether he would commit to making public all correspondence between Columbia and the state regarding the possible use of eminent domain.�We have been totally transparent,� Kasdin said, as Siegel raised his eyebrows and murmurs ran through the audience. Kasdin did not, however, commit to make the documents public. He did say that Columbia would go through the same public process that every developer goes through before condemnation could occur. �Columbia is not like any other developer ... we look to you to have greater principles and greater morality,� Siegel responded