Winning over Manhattanville

This spring, a new chapter will open in the life of Manhattanville.

Between March and May, the New York State Court of Appeals—the highest court in the state—will hear an appeal of the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division’s December 2009 ruling that the Empire State Development Corporation could not use eminent domain to seize private property for Columbia’s planned Manhattanville campus.

For both critics and supporters of Columbia’s expansion, the upcoming ruling may appear to be the end to a debate that has raged for years. But the court’s decision won’t be an end—it will be a beginning.

Even if eminent domain is removed from the equation, Columbia isn’t likely to set aside its plans for a $6.5 billion campus north of 125th Street. As University President Lee Bollinger said in the wake of the Appellate Division ruling, the anti-eminent domain decision will “not hold us back.”

If, on the other hand, the Court of Appeals overturns the lower court’s decision, Columbia will face an easier path to acquiring the final properties in the 17-acre expansion zone. Either way, though, the University will expand northward—and it will do so into a community suspicious of, if not openly hostile to, its presence.

If our new campus is to thrive in Manhattanville, it must thrive along with the residents of that neighborhood. When the planning, preconstruction, and legal wrangling are behind us, we will still have decades of development ahead. If Columbia is to realize the potential of its new campus, it must also realize its promise to the residents of Manhattanville. To do so, the University must increase the transparency of its development and strive to make the new campus an integral and useful part of the community.

Whether you’ve been a student at Columbia for a year or a professor for 40, you have an investment in the development of Manhattanville. You may be gone from Morningside Heights when the buildings go up, but whether you donate money, send your kids here, or just write in to the alumni magazine, you will remain a Columbian.

And as a stakeholder in this project, know that the fight will only have been worth fighting if Columbia proves to the people of Manhattanville that it can grow into the area, not overrun it. Otherwise, we’ll have won the neighborhood but lost the neighbors.