Talk:John Sexton

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[edit] NPOV dispute

I find this article strongly POV. "as an outlet to his bombastic ego"? Come on. Someone should rewrite this in a more detached way. "most of the publicity is because of the labor disputes"? Can this information be verified? -- 69.86.198.210 21:18, February 2, 2006

Still strongly POV after the removal of those phrases in describing the GA strike. Needs a rewrite. --Ejk254 18:39, February 6, 2006

OK; I moved the bulk of information about the strike itself to "Graduate Student Organizing Committee" and rewrote the stuff that directly concerns Sexton for NPOV. Is the dispute over? -- 68.161.113.18 14:18, February 8, 2006


Haha, I fixed the article and someone wants to talk about it. There's nothing to talk about. It's incredibly biased. The graduate student strike is barely relevant to the subject; Sexton has done a lot more. -- 216.165.33.132 00:00, February 8, 2006

"a contract that would have kept a union in place in name only"

Purely opinion, that's not objective.

"The threats to blacklist the strikers for future funding and teaching positons has outraged the academic community and threatens to scupper Sexton's vision of an "Enterprise University" at NYU."

Blacklist is not the proper term, it's just rhetoric tossed around by the strike's supporters. (Blacklist is entirely appropriate: strikers are banned from future work due to their political views regarding unionization. That's a blacklist, and it was implemented by Sexton. It ought to be part of his biography) The academic community is hardly outraged - SOME people in it might be, but the community itself isn't. (Nearly 10,000 academics have signed a petition expressing "outrage" with the penalties Sexton is administering. If we can't come to an agreement about the term academic community, perhaps we could state the facts: nearly 10,000 academics have signed a petition condemning John Sexton for his union-busting tactics." The signers are listed on the GSOC website)

parentheetical comments by 24.185.82.153 at 00:42, February 23, 2006

"In December of that year he was attacked roundly at a Town Hall meeting for his administration's threats against GA strikers and his ambitious plans for NYU development in the historic Greenwich Village neighborhood. Sexton's discomfort was palpable, and the Manhattan Borough President elect, Scott Stringer, exited the building as an apparent response towards Sexton's vitriol towards his own employees."

John Sexton is a fairly important man - you honestly think this tiny event is relevant to his biography? (The longest strike in the history of graduate student organizing in the U.S. is hardly a tiny event, it ought to be included in his bio, as he is the one actively trying to bust the union) It's relevant if you're pro-strike and only concerned with his involvement in the strike, yeah. (No, it's relevant if you care about NYU or Sexton's role in shaping it.) But not for an encyclopedia (with biases this guy would like to see included). Same with the Blackboard issue (why? it grossly overstepped all bounds of commonly accepted academic behavior and is remarkable in the course of the university and Sexton's actions as president). -- 216.165.33.132 00:04, February 8, 2006

parentheetical comments by 24.185.82.153 at 00:42, February 23, 2006
He's primarily "important" because he's the president of NYU, and since becoming president, labor relations struggles have been a major theme of his term. It's a very relevant topic. Now if there were a separate article about the strike, there could be less about it on the Sexton page. -- 68.161.113.18 01:40, February 8, 2006
See Graduate Student Organizing Committee --mtz206 19:16, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

One of the external links is "sexton's blacklist"??!!! Are you kidding? Mr. Sexton has a long list of accomplishments and one of the highest of which is the fact that he was Dean of NYU Law and President of New York University, yet there is only 3 lines barely mentioning that, and 4 lines talking about his troubles with organized labor activists and the community activists, and no mention of his accomplishments as President. Whereas those points are valid and should be included, I doubt they are his most important accomplishments in the eyes of the general public (only if people like you silence others who are trying to get the word out about Sexton's egregious actions as university president), they're only important to the biased striking graduate students (talk about POV!). I think this whole article needs to be re-written. Ejk254 13:17, February 15, 2006

parenthetical comments by 24.185.82.153 at 20:32, February 23, 2006

[edit] GSOC Debate

It seems fairly obvious that this article has gotten a lot of attention in recent months because of the labor dispute at NYU. While this is an important event for those involved it doesn't really merit a detailed discussion in Sexton's article.(Are you kidding, he's spending millions of NYU's dollars busting the union! It's absolutely relevant. No problem including other information about Sexton's term as president, but there is no reason why a detailed account of Sexton's actions regarding the strike should not be described in his biography, especially actions that are unprecedented or extremely uncommon in academic history. If other folks want to a do a more detailed account of his activities as dean of the law school, go for it, it too would presumably be relevant). As an NYU undergraduate I can testify that the strike is barely a blip on the radar of most students' experience (thousands of recitation hours canceled, hundreds of classes moved off campus by supportive profs, daily picket lines, politicians and visitors boycotting the campus, frequent labor rallies, the trash isn't being picked up at some buildings--For non NYU folks who want to know more, check the archives on the nyunews.com website--or the NY Times, Chronicle of Higher Ed, Inside Higher Ed, The Nation, or the New York Sun). Much more relevant is the dramatic rise in the rankings of NYU's law school over the past 10 years, which occured under while President Sexton was dean. As such I object to the assertion that his Presidency has been "marked by disputes with organized labor" (216.165.27.68 17:16, February 15, 2006

parenthetical comments by 24.185.82.153 at 20:32, February 23, 2006
It seems fairly obvious that this article has gotten a lot of attention in recent months because of heated labor dispute at NYU. This is an important event for those involved and the entire community. But much more relevant to amoral strivers like me is the dramatic rise in the rankings of NYU's law school over the past 10 years, which occured under while President Sexton was dean--although military recruiters on the law school's campus were purging it of its reputation as a hotbed of public interest legal training. unsigned comment by 24.185.82.153 at 00:42, February 23, 2006


The Wiki Nazis like Zimmer are going to allow "huge baseball fan" and other syncophantic language but not a serious mention of the GSOC strike?--I mean seriously people...POV is one thing, an overview of Sexton's role in the future of graduate work in the academy and the facts about how NYU under Sexton is (mis)handling the longest GA strike in history is quite another.

Also, participants should know that the heavy-handed editing being visited upon this page has been the subject of an article in the NYU newspaper, the Washington Square News. --unsigned comment by 24.185.82.153 at 23:27, March 2, 2006

It is incorrect to characterize the editing of this page (or any Wikipedia page) as a single user "allowing" particular content to exist. It is the community of users who collectively shape an article's content. Please refrain from personal attacks, Also, please create an account and sign your posts. --mtz206 18:54, 10 March 2006 (UTC)