The New York University (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts Asia opened in Singapore back in 2007 to much elation — here was a highly prominent name in the world of creative arts opening their first ever branch campus abroad. College alumni included the likes of Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, Philip Seymour Hoffman and helluva lot more huge names in Hollywood and Broadway.
Eight years later, the graduate arts school shut down, deemed as a failed project in NYU’s global plans. Citing budgetary problems, Tisch Asia ceased operations following a series of unfortunate events — failure to enroll enough students, alleged financial irregularities and the dismissal of college president Pari Sara Shirazi on grounds of embezzlement.
NYU owed Singapore upwards of $9 million (loans from the Economic Development Board), and nothing could be done. They announced their pending closure in November 2012.
As you can imagine, students reacted in utter shock and dismay. A photographer even managed to capture the students’ immediate reactions to the announcement.
In the wake of the collapsed venture, multiple lawsuits have been thrown in the direction of NYU. Dismissed founder Shirazi sued the school (and lost) over defamation and breach of contract. Faculty and staff members of NYU sued the school over excessive retirement plan fees.
More recently, three students from the Singapore campus are suing NYU, alleging that Tisch Asia was an “educational scam”, reported New York Daily News. They claim that their exorbitant tuition fees didn’t match the quality of their education — they believe they got subpar faculty, inadequate equipment, limited access to fellowships and a dysfunctional building.
Basically, the former students (who paid as much as USD165,000 for their masters of fine arts degrees) were unhappy that NYU didn’t live up to their promises of ensuring the same quality of education assured for their counterparts in New York.
Buzzfeed found out further details of the suit, including claims of a cinematography professor who didn’t know how to use a modern camera and one occasion of a professor in New York teaching the class via Skype. They were also unhappy over the under-qualified Singaporean adjuncts teaching the classes.
The lawsuit also alleged that the Tisch Asia building off Kay Siang Road was simply faulty. Water ran sporadically, air conditioning went off for days at a time, and furniture was inadequate in the early days of the campus’ renovation.
NYU denied everything. University spokesperson John Beckman assured that Tisch Asia held a “robust, graduate level program in the arts” and had a number of students winning awards. Calling the school a success artistically, he explained that the school failed financially due to providing students with “an excellent education that cost more than tuition dollars brought in”.
“And even after the unsustainability of the finances became clear, NYU continued to keep the school open until every student we admitted had had a chance to graduate,” Beckman said. “This suit is wholly without merit, and we expect to prevail in court.”
