The times reports that a judge wants an investigation of possible collusion between Columbia University and the Empire State Development Corporation, a state agency that finances higher education real estate projects. Columbia and the ESDC are using the same consultant in "determining" whether to proceed with a possible eminent domain landgrab of west Harlem for Columbia's much ballyhooed science campus expansion.

If the ESDC is colluding with Columbia, where else is it showing such deference to neoliberal universities' gentrification agendas over the concerns of local communities and organizations? The ESDC provides substantial financial incentives to universities. Maybe this all needs significantly greater scrutiny...

Meanwhile, John Sexton tries to assuage community fears over NYU expansion. I blogged about this last week, but what strikes me about Karen Arenson's piece is how incomplete any dialogue that only includes 300 "community members" can be, and the necessarily overdetermined place of the Nadler-Quinn task force in keeping NYU honest. Won't work. Not by itself. What will change the way NYU interacts with not only the long since gentrified neighblorhoods around it, but also the rest of the city and the state and region, is a strong, dynamic movement for social justice from the ground up, which links folks working on campus and around the city. This isn't possible without GSOC, without strong campus labor movements constantly pushing and transforming the university. And I don't think academic labor movements can ever win unless we adopt tactics like these.