Hennessy addresses Board of Trustees about NYC campus

University President John Hennessy met with the Board of Trustees this Tuesday to discuss preparations for the potential New York City campus as well as future renovations for Stanford’s main campus.

An agreement for collaboration among Stanford University, the City University of New York (CUNY) and the City College of New York (CCNY) recently passed, furthering progress toward the possible Stanford NYC campus. While the collaboration came about as a result of Stanford’s proposal to build an applied-sciences campus in NYC, CUNY and CCNY will not be submitting the proposal with Stanford.

In preparation for the potential NYC campus, the Board passed a resolution that created an 11-member committee, which includes President Hennessy, and would be responsible for approving any financial commitments the University makes toward the proposed campus and for negotiating the construction of the new campus.

The Board expects the final selections to take place by the end of November, and if Stanford is selected for the NYC campus, the Board will be ready to begin negotiations with the city of New York.

“Stanford brings a lot to New York and we had a chance to talk about how we could take advantage of the New York opportunity in a way that is of maximum benefit to the whole University,” said Board President Leslie Hume. Hume also emphasized the Board’s hope for a mutually beneficial relationship between Stanford and the city of New York.

“This was really a chance to give the Board a more extensive briefing on the tremendous opportunity the prospect of a New York campus represents for Stanford,” Hume said.

In addition to discussing preparations for a possible Stanford NYC campus, the Board also discussed future renovations to Stanford’s main campus.

The Board discussed the relocation of the Meyer Library and the East Asian Library, approving a concept proposal for $57 million.

Also on the agenda was a $17 million concept approval for the construction of an addition to the Arrillaga Family Sports Center.

“This addition will enable us to consolidate the football program space in a single location, to provide some additional space for teams and to fill existing football space with other sports’ growth,” Hume said.

Another topic of discussion brought forth during the meeting was the proposed outdoor and indoor recreation space for the faculty and staff at SLAC. The board passed concept and site approval for the project, totaling $11.6 million.

After receiving concept and site approval in June, the satellite Research Animal Facility received design approval during the Board meeting for $27.5 million.

One of the final items on the agenda was design approval for the Stanford Research Computing Facility.

“[This] allows us to build a more flexible, powerful data center for computational research,” Hume said. Design approval for the facility was $41.2 million.

The Board also welcomed new trustees Ron Johnson ’80 and Vicky Rogers ’83. Both Johnson and Rogers are Stanford alumni. Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in economics at Stanford in 1980 before receiving an MBA at Harvard University and is currently a senior vice president at Apple.

Rogers received her bachelor’s degree in economics at Stanford in 1983 and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the California Art Club.

“We’re just delighted to have these two individuals willing to give their time to Stanford and to join our Board,” Hume said.