CU Seeks Federal Funding for M'ville

One week after the $787-billion federal stimulus package was signed into law, the offices of Gov. David Paterson and other New York officials announced the first state projects that will be funded—though the extent of Manhattanville’s financial gain has yet to be seen.

Paterson’s first round of initiatives, announced last Tuesday, were all located in upstate New York, centered around 11 road projects deemed “shovel-ready.” These are just the first of many projects expected to be announced by the governor as part of how New York state will spend its $24.6-billion share of the stimulus package. This first-round announcement came the day after state officials announced that only a portion of the 3,400 infrastructure projects identified by New York communities would receive funding. More projects will also be funded from direct federal rather than state-allocated funds.

Though University President Lee Bollinger and other Columbia officials have expressed their desire to attain federal funding for the Manhattanville campus expansion, it remains to be determined whether the stimulus will provide support for the University’s project. Bollinger said in a February University Senate meeting that Columbia was “making a case that part of the stimulus package would be well-spent on Manhattanville.”

The University’s attempt to reap stimulus money had earlier been a topic of heated discussion at an event hosted at the Columbia Law School, where members of local activist group Coalition to Preserve Community—which has frequently spoken out against the expansion—voiced their anger at the notion of public assistance to expand the private institution.

So far, Columbia is still waiting to see if it will be one of the lucky projects to receive funding. “Columbia is examining the stimulus bill to identify projects that may be helped by the initiative,” Columbia Senior Executive Vice President Robert Kasdin said.