Just 25 years ago, the district of Pudong — Shanghai's modern center of finance and the proposed home of NYU's next degree-granting campus — was a vast expanse of rice paddies and peasant fields.
"Now, it's a forest of very tall buildings and broad boulevards," said Rebecca Karl, an associate professor of East Asian studies. "Like Wall Street, but 50 times in size, in tenants and as well as in density."
If NYU's project receives funding from both the district of Pudong and the city of Shanghai, it will build a brand-new campus in the center of downtown Pudong for its second international degree-granting campus.
"It's not a cultural zone, I can tell you that," Karl said, adding that she doesn't like the highly developed area.
Ulrich Baer, NYU's vice provost for globalization and multicultural affairs, said he disagreed with Karl's statement, adding that Pudong is "one of the most dynamic areas in all of Asia."
Stern senior Riley Sistrunk, who studied in Shanghai in fall 2009, said he liked the high-rise atmosphere of Pudong.
"There's ... a lot of construction, so it's kind of a big contrast between the rural farmside, if you go far enough out, and these high rises," he said.
While areas like the Bund, Shanghai's European-style waterfront, are more historic, Sistrunk said he thought Pudong was the future.
"If I wanted to go to what Shanghai is going to be, I'd go to Pudong," he said.
Baer said NYU Shanghai would exist as a "vertical campus," in a building built specifically for this purpose. The campus tower would be a new development and NYU would have a hand in designing it.
Karl, who has criticized the university for its lack of faculty involvement in these plans, said she wanted to know how NYU will treat the migrant workers who would be involved in building the campus. She said that while China has very strong labor laws on the books, the implementation is often relaxed.
"It's really important that NYU be aware of who is working on these projects," Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch Phelim Kine said. "To take steps to ensure that whoever is working on these projects is benefiting from Chinese labor law [in regards to] the number of hours worked, minimum wage, provision of medical insurance and access to that medical insurance."
Baer said workers' rights are definitely an issue NYU will address with its partners, contractors and lawyers as it moves forward in the process, but at this early stage, he couldn't make specific assurances. For Baer, this debate is "the whole point of a global education" as NYU engages in discussions with China and allows both countries to learn from each other.
"We want to be part of a process where we actually start to understand what would be universal workers' rights," he said.
He acknowledged that there are "huge issues in China" but said he wasn't sure yet what workers' rights they will define as necessary.
"I would be cautious to say 'Oh, I just know because I'm American. I know what workers' rights should be,' " Baer said. "I would say that what is necessary is for us to have a level of acceptance of these conditions over there."
Baer added the debate is more nuanced as it extends outside of NYU.
"I'm interested in this kind of criticism level of China, because it's what drives the U.S. economy so far — that we expect things to be really inexpensive here," he said. "And then we turn around and say, 'But they don't treat their workers right.' But, like, you'd be paying for those shoes 10 times as much."
Kine said academic and intellectual freedoms are also an important consideration.
"It's important for NYU to be aware that they are embarking on this educational venture ... at a time of an ongoing crackdown in China on freedom of expression and freedom of association," he said.
Kine said since the run-up to the Olympics, Human Rights Watch has documented a "tightening chokehold" on Internet content, human rights defenders and censorship of state media in China. He described those conditions as the "wider context" for NYU expanding its presence there.
NYU administrators have been adamant that the campus will operate with academic freedoms.
"The campus will operate under full academic freedom," NYU provost David McLaughlin said. "There's not much else to say about it. That's in the agreement with our partners."
Baer also said NYU students in China will enjoy freedom of expression — but was quick to note that at a study abroad site like London, students aren't guaranteed the same freedom of expression they have in America because of Britain's stringent personal libel laws.
"If we are going to engage the world in a meaningful manner, we need to acknowledge — indeed, embrace — the fact that other cultures are not the same as ours: they will have different laws, different customs, different societal structures," NYU spokesman John Beckman said. "If the bar is set such that every place we operate has to be a close replica of Washington Square, then we might end up with NYU in Toronto, and that'll be about it."
But for Kine, the issue is not the cultural differences, but instead the Chinese government's treatment of laws.
"What we see is that the Chinese government ignores, disregards and violates its own laws and the rights embodied in its own Constitution when it comes to freedom of expression, freedom of media, ... which it perceives as undermining the official goals of 'stability' or 'harmony,' " he said.
While there are concerns, Wagner assistant professor of urban planning Zhan Guo still thinks the expansion is a "terrific idea." He said he is excited about the research opportunities such a school would bring to NYU.
"To a public policy school and an urban planning program, China offers a very open and exciting experiment field," he said.
And Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, an associate professor of history, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, said, "If done right, a portal campus in China is not a bad idea."
Ben-Dor Benite said the majority of 19th century expansion into China was done by missionaries who took advantage of China.
"Things are different now," he said. "In my experience of the current NYU project, as with others like it, China is engaging on its own terms and setting the agenda as a strong partner. This, in and of itself, is a good thing."
