David Van Zandt on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show”
The New School is hosting a party in late January, and everyone’s invited. That’s how Brian Lehrer put it, anyway, as he welcomed President David Van Zandt to his WNYC show on Monday, January 13. Lehrer was, of course, referring to the opening of the new University Center on January 25, and the celebratory events accompanying it.
Under construction since 2010, the University Center will be the focal point of the university when it opens later this month; an enclave of social innovation and creativity. Lehrer was interested in how the UC reflects a new transformation for an ever-dynamic New School.
President Van Zandt had the answer: “The mission of the new building is to help us integrate our academic programs,” he said. “It’ll be a hub of collaboration, where we’ll be able to have Parsons students interacting with Mannes students and Eugene Lang students and so forth.”
This inter-divisional mixing is one of the building’s primary purposes; it is designed to serve as a hub where students from different disciplines can interact. “This University Center has the student experience at its core,” he said, alluding to the open and communicative stairs, ample studio, practice, and study space.
Listen to the full interview, which also delves into greater themes of higher education and more, here.