NYU to help Census Bureau collect info

When your RA drops off the census form at your room, make sure to fill it out, or you may face a $100 fine.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the American Community Survey will be sending surveys to college dormitories across the nation in order to gain information for "group quarters populations," which include nursing homes and juvenile detention centers where residents are associated, but often not related.

Tom Ellett, associate vice president for student affairs, explained how this would work at NYU.

"The census staff will receive labels from NYU Housing for each resident," Ellett said. "RAs will be asked to deliver envelopes with census material in it and they will then collect envelopes to RHDs who will then leave for census staff to pick up."

Ellett added that the university is "doing what we can for this important task."

This will be the first time that most NYU students will fill out census information, and many have reservations about releasing personal information. But Michael Gregorio, an employee at the Public Information Office of the US Census Bureau, said the Census is not as personal as people may think.

"It's the same census form that everyone else gets," said Gregorio. "The census is mandatory and you have to answer every question. There are ten questions; it's not as intrusive as people think it is."

CAS freshman Christopher Van Cleave said that bringing the forms to the dorms will be beneficial and will motivate students to fill them out.

"I think that distributing them in dorms has its advantages," Van Cleave said. "If there is one thing students hate, it's wasting time. By providing the forms to us right in our place of residence, we'll be much more apt to fill them out."