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In print | Published October 9, 2008

As our president transitions from Swarthmore College to New York University Abu Dhabi, he takes with him a legacy of idealism, pragmatism and progressivism. In his 2004 Commencement Address, Bloom issued a “pragmatic imperative” to the graduating class: “transformed global expectations join[ed] to the ethical mandate to build an inclusive world.” Next August, Al Bloom moves on to the next step of his career, a continuation of his dedication to education and, in his words, “ethical intelligence responsive to our times.” As Vice Chancellor of NYU’s new Abu Dhabi campus, Bloom will be collaborating with a college administration and a government as excited about the impact of education as he is.

First, a few quick facts about Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is one of the United Arab Emirate’s seven emirates, and Abu Dhabi city is the capital of the U.A.E. Led by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi has a population of roughly 1.6 million, a large portion of which is composed of foreign workers and other expatriates. Thanks to the nation’s oil-wealth and the government’s mission, Abu Dhabi has become a high-tech city with a booming financial sector and an increasingly successful tourism industry.

Having already constructed a thriving metropolis, the city’s leadership is now enriching its cultural and intellectual resources and is investing significant amounts of money to do so. Nowhere is this more evident than on Saadiyat, the island location of a $28 billion redevelopment project.

Saadiyat, it can fairly be said, is the next expression of the Abu Dhabi government’s vision; namely, a thrust towards greater cultural and intellectual awareness and development. The government of Abu Dhabi has already committed $50 million to the construction and development of the New York University campus on the small island.

Furthermore, the government has already sought out and paid for an infusion of Western art: by the time Swarthmore’s class of 2011 graduates, Saadiyat will be home to a Guggenheim museum of modern and contemporary art designed by architect Frank Gehry, as well as a Louvre Abu Dhabi.

By 2014, the first class to graduate from NYUAD will have experienced a liberal arts education surrounded not only by some of the greatest works of art and culture in Western civilization, but they will have done so in an extraordinarily unique situation, as the proverbial guinea pigs of an experiment by a government and an institution to extend the principles of liberal arts education to the Middle East.

While slightly isolated from the rest of Abu Dhabi, the enclave of western culture and intellectual life soon to occupy Saadiyat will, its developers hope, influence the surrounding area in a positive way. NYUAD will be heavily recruiting international students and, undoubtedly, students from Abu Dhabi, who will likely represent the children of the economic and cultural elite.

According to Swarthmore Sociology and Anthropology Professor Farha Ghannam, NYUAD’s location in the region makes it a much more desirable option for parents who want a liberal arts education for their children, but in a more familiar environment. Also, Arab nations like the UAE recognize that oil is not a sustainable source of wealth, and that future success rests on the innovation, intelligence and a focus on their youth. Ghannam says, “My sense is that [members of the Abu Dhabi government] are so aware of the importance of education and how it’s going to make them so much more competitive globally … that they will give much more space than they would allow, for instance, for local institutions.”

Nevertheless, Abu Dhabi is not America, and despite the assurances of its government, NYUAD will still be subject to the law of the land. For one, questions have already been raised about how much autonomy NYUAD will actually have. The Abu Dhabi government “will provide the land, funding, and financing for the development, construction, equipping, maintenance and facilities’ operation of the NYUAD Campus,” according to a statement from David McLaughlin, the Provost of NYU. McLaughlin, in the same document, stated that the university will have “absolute and unfettered authority over all academic matters,” including the right to complete academic freedom for its students and faculty. President Bloom has also emphasized that his decision to lead NYUAD rests on this understanding. That the government basically holds the purse-strings, however, brings the feasibility of academic freedom into question.

Plans for NYUAD raise a number of other short- and long-term issues that Bloom and the rest of the NYU team will have to address before their vision can be realized. Two of the most prominent are that homosexuality is illegal in Abu Dhabi and that Israeli citizens are not permitted to enter the nation.

Less obvious problems also exist. Roughly 80 percent of the population of Abu Dhabi city is comprised of foreign workers who are routinely denied citizenship, and no comprehensive labor laws exist to protect them from exploitation. Who will construct the NYUAD campus, and how (if at all) will the development team address labor issues in a satisfactory manner?

What about professorial tenure? How will Emirate law impact how the university runs itself? How does the university perceive its relationship with the community? What if the government tries to interfere? The list of questions and concerns continues on in this vein.

These and other issues undoubtedly exist, yet they do not represent grounds for dismissing NYU and the Abu Dhabi government’s idealist project. Rather, this is a groundbreaking opportunity to engage with the Arab world at large and to demonstrate the compatibility of an American-style education with Arab culture and values within the specific context of Abu Dhabi, an exceptionally cosmopolitan setting.

Over the past 17 years, we have seen Al Bloom demonstrate his ability to understand various groups and make pragmatic change, mostly for the better. Under his leadership, the College has increased the diversity of its students and staff, expanded its facilities and strengthened its commitment to environmental sustainability.

NYU’s dreams for a global network of colleges, and the Abu Dhabi government’s prioritization of education, creativity and innovation are to be applauded. We can only ask that President Bloom continue to uphold his ideals in this radically different environment and engage the students, university and community he will encounter in Abu Dhabi with the inclusive and inquiring attitude he has demonstrated throughout his time at Swarthmore.

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