Just two years after the financial crisis prompted across-the-board spending cuts and a University-wide construction freeze, on Monday Cornell won the right to build its approximately $2 billion proposal for a tech campus in New York City — likely the most expensive project in the University's history and its most substantial expansion in recent memory.

Cornell administrators have emphasized that the University can handle the obligations surrounding its new NYC tech campus without diverting resources from its Ithaca campus, confident that the new applied sciences school will generate an outpouring of philanthropy and corporate research contracts. These new funding sources, coupled with student tuition and government grants, are expected to ensure that the Ithaca campus does not shoulder the weight of the new institution.

Even if these funding sources prove insufficient, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made clear at a press conference held to announce the decision Monday, Cornell will still be held responsible for footing the bill.

“It’s binding,” Bloomberg said, referring to the University's agreement to build the tech campus. “Keep in mind, if we’re going to commit this land, turn down other people who wanted it and invest $100 million, you don’t do that unless you have a binding commitment.”

Skorton acknowledged the tremendous sticker price of the project and that some members of the University might worry about its impact on the budget of the Ithaca campus.

“It’s going to be many, many billions of dollars over the decades in which it’s envisioned,” Skorton said of the campus, which is not expected to be completed until 2037. “You can understand how people would be concerned about this very substantial focus on New York City.”

Skorton, citing the $350 million donation to the tech campus announced on Friday, emphasized that the University believes it can match its expenses with the new revenue streams without siphoning off resources from the Ithaca campus.

“[Provost] Kent Fuchs … made it very clear at the beginning that the funding for this new established campus would be separate and not mix funds with the Ithaca campus,” Skorton said. He added that students at Ithaca and others believe that, rather than detracting from the University, the tech campus “will add [to the University] — that all the ships will rise at Cornell.”

Precisely how professors in relevant fields will interact with the new campus has not been determined, said Simeon Moss ’73, deputy University spokesperson. Moss said that while some professors located in Ithaca may teach in New York City, the new campus will “have its own staff, its own faculty.”

“There won’t be faculty moving down there so there are fewer faculty in Ithaca — that’s not going to happen,” Moss said.

The new campus is expected to house about 250 professors; by comparison, there are 248 full-time professors in the entire College of Engineering. Moss added that the University had not determined the costs of hiring new faculty for the campus or determined the rate at which faculty would be hired.

Echoing Skorton, however, he said Cornell was confident in its ability to pay for the project.

“We’re responsible for the construction of the campus, and we feel that we’re going to be able to have the funds available to do that in the time frame we set up,” Moss said. “We understand we can do this and make it work without diverting resources from Ithaca campus.”

In interviews on Monday, professors in the College of Engineering and other members of the University seemed confident that the administrators’ prognostications would prove accurate.

“One could look at it as a potential competition for resources, but it’s also a way to increase resources to the University,” said Prof. Richard Schuler, civil and environmental engineering. “I think everybody will win.”

Prof. Philip Liu, civil and environmental engineering, also expressed optimism about the new campus, but noted that it must be stewarded carefully to prove successful.

“It’s exciting as an opportunity but there’s a lot of risk involved. It will require a tremendous amount of resources to develop this campus,” Liu said. “[Senior administrators] really have to be able to manage resources ... [they] cannot take resources from one campus to another campus; it’s going to be a really exciting and challenging to put this through.”

Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95, director of information technology policy, said Cornell was thinking ahead by expanding shortly after, or perhaps during, a period of financial constraints.

"If you want to be a winner over time, economic recession is not the time to retrench. It is the time to move forward and make investments,” Mitrano said.

Mitrano added that the school “will be a success — a success for Cornell, a success for New York City and a success for the United States.”

“Everyone is excited beyond words about what this augurs for the University,” Mitrano said. “I know it sounds over the top, but this is one of those moments where over the top enthusiasm is called for."