Merger is Great
Wally
and quality of the Polytechnic steadily go downhill. When I was a
student Polytechnic was the second highest rated EE school in the
country. NYU was mediocre at best. Today, Polytechnic and NYU have
switched places. Engineering is not a cool occupation and is on a
downward spiral without medical, research, and marketing strengths. I
think that NYU could bring it. I am stumped by the secrecy and fast
movement of this transaction. I trust that the trustees will assure
that no individuals are allowed to reap any personal gains as a result
of this and that the legacy of Polytechnic will be protected. As long
as there is full disclosure and protection from liquidation of the
assets, there is only upside. When can we get our new diplomas?
Mordechai
Anthing that is kept secret from the alumni can't be good. I just got
a letter from Hultin and Matthews today for a conference call
tomorrow. That's notice of intent? Poly bought the NYU Engineering
School many years ago, sold the Long Island Campus, rented to dorms to
sutdents from other schools because it could not fill them. NYU has
no engineering school. Doesn't Poly know how to stand up and hire
some talent to make it into a real engineering school again? We don't
need this merger. We need a President and Board that do their jobs
and run a first class engineering school without selling off the
assets for no reason.
Mark Schlam BSEE '72, MSEE '73
Wally
couple of weeks.
If Poly were a corporation with stockholders they would have shaken
things up a long time ago. These universities tend to run more like
governemt agencies. Unfortunately, engineering is not a hot field
anymore and getting a Board installed who can turn this around anytime
soon is not probable. I did not realize that Poly is a second rate
place until I started reading all of this and realize that they cannot
get students who meet the standards (I have been in Chicago and
Arizona the last 25 years). The alumni magazine generally does not
highlight the warts and acne. Poly used to be top 10 engineering every
year in the 60's and 70's. Now Poly has stiff competition from
government owned universities and well endowed private universities
with the mega cash and momentum and often in more interesting and
beautiful places than downtown Brooklyn. Sorry, but I do not see Poly
suceeding on its own to become first rate again. I am not pleased to
see what Poly has become. This transaction saves face for the
alumni. And has a real chance to return to greatness under the NYU
leadership.
> > assets, there is only upside. When can we get our new diplomas?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Mike
merger with NYU's Engineering School. Poly always had a great
reputation. We used to be mentioned in the same sentence as MIT and
Harvard. I'm saddened today to see that our reputation has fallen. The
most valuable thing a school like Poly can do is to create a legacy of
excellence and a reputation for oustanding academic achievement for
its alumni. Those of us that can appreciate where Poly came from can
also appreciate that joining with NYU is smart. Our paltry endowment
will NEVER have Poly be the school we'd know it can be. Poly has spent
way too many years worrying about financial issues versus growing the
faculty, joining in research and establishing itself again as a great
school of Engineering and Science. I think we have the answer now. Its
time to support the merger as long as The Polytechnic Institute
identity is NOT lost.
Shafik Yaghmour
I think that this discussion in many ways misses the point of the
position paper and the general objections. Most are not against a
merger or an association per se but are against a deal that is one
sided. A deal in which NYU takes on almost no risk and Polytechnic
assumes all the risk is not a merger or a partnership.
When I say "no risk", what I mean is that if things go bad NYU can
scavenge what is left of Poly and earn huge amounts of money on a
sizable property in a prime location. So if Poly does well NYU gains
and if Poly does bad NYU still gains. On the other hand, NYU has set a
goal for Poly to be a tier one institution but has not provided vision
nor plan. How will the billions of dollars that would be
needed to for Polytechnic to catch up to other tier one school wrt to
facilities be raised? Here
is where the enormous gap between rhetoric and reality lies, just
appending the name NYU and giving Polytechnic access to NYU's
admissions process will not make Polytechnic a tier 1 school, not even
close.
This is beyond even the more fundamental problems that exist with
President Hultin negotiating a five year contract while negotiations
on merger proceed. This is a very unusual situation and when I brought
this up during the first alumni conference call Craig Matthews
admitted this was a known issue and yet many weeks later nothing has
been done(at least publicly) to rectify the situation.
So at the end of the day, the basics of the issue are not merger/no
merger but that we have a fair process that is not tainted by
conflicts of interest and that is not rammed through at light speed
without all the issues brought to fore by the various stakeholders
being addressed properly. If such a process can be had then I feel
very strongly that a good deal that most stakeholders involved can be
happy with is __possible__ to achieve.
Shafik Yaghmour
Alumni Board Member at Large
Class of 1997
HH
about your question " When can we get our new diplomas? " ...
The answer is ... There will be new diplomas for alumnus ...
And that actually what bother most of alumnus...
I totally agreed with you on merging with NYU the question are "the
legacy of Polytechnic will be protected, As long
as there is full disclosure and protection from liquidation"
In this case, until now .. there is nothing.
Minsuk
studied all available documents on the web regarding this proposed
merger. Conclusion: This is basically a sale of Poly Institution to
NYU. To NYU this would be a great investment opportunity. If I were
a corporate strategist working on behalf of NYU, I'd aggressively
pursue this acquisition. But I'm a proud of Poly graduate. Seeing
what your opponent's strategy is in this case, I'm wholeheartedly
against this "sale."
For the longer term the Poly and the city itself too will lose more
than it would gain from this move. What can't be good the hive can't
be good for the bees.
GERALD J HERSKOWITZ
I agree with you completely! Hope to hear more of your input during the
conference call.
Gerry Herskowitz '57
GERALD J HERSKOWITZ
I totally agree with your analysis of this takeover by NYU! Hope to hear
your input in the conference call tonight.
Gerry Herskowitz!
-----Original Message-----
From: polyalumni...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:polyalumni...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Minsuk
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 7:58 AM
To: polyalumnidiscussion
Subject: [polyalumnidiscussion] Re: Merger is Great
Wally
"risk" in taking on a weaker entity. If things go badly, they would
have no choice but to liquidate some assets. They cannot afford to
pump cash down a hole if things go badly. This is the same as in a
corporate acquisition, with the exception that the status quo is
protected for 5 years by NYU whereas in a takeover it is rape and
pillage from day one. NYU wants an engineering school so selling off
assets to invest in liberal arts is not exciting. Selling off assets
to create a state of the art technology center would be a good thing.
How can we be proud of what Poly has become? Major change is needed!
GERALD J HERSKOWITZ
In response to your assumption that NYU will "protect" the status quo of the
merger (actually acquisition)
for 5 years, practically there is no protection. Poly is in no position to
bring NYU to court if they violate
any aspect of the agreement. As you correctly point out, Poly assets will be
liquidated by NYU when they need to.
This acquisition provides NYU, very valuable real estate to expand into the
Brooklyn pool of students, both engineering and
liberal arts, without paying the price of Manhattan real estate. They aren't
even going to establish a School
Of Engineering, just in case they have to liquidate Poly.
Gerry Herskowitz
-----Original Message-----
From: polyalumni...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:polyalumni...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Wally
Sent: Wednesday, September 19, 2007 5:34 PM
To: polyalumnidiscussion
Subject: [polyalumnidiscussion] Re: Merger is Great
skormos
sectors in the country today. Starting salaries for Engineering jobs
are double what they were 7 years ago, and across the country
engineering schools are raising their standards for applicants. If
all this wasn't true, NYU would have no reason to even look at Poly
now, particularly after being voted down the last time these talks
started.
They have the resources to put together a Tier I engineering school in
3-5 years, but they don't want to miss out on the tuition and research
money that would be gained by having an established school in hand
within 1 year. I doubt that they would ever decide to liquidate Poly
for the assets, or even close out the curriculum and just use the real
estate as a presence in Brooklyn, but it really does look terrible
when you don't provide any type of recourse or public reassurance of
your commitment to the school.
And quite frankly, no one trusts NYU enough to place the future of
their alma mater in the hands of those with a not-so-terrific track
record.
Spencer Kormos '99