Last week, 5 students from NYU Shanghai attended the NYU Global Leadership Summit at NYU Abu Dhabi. Sophomore Tyler Rhorick explains and evaluates the Summit, reiterating the need for NYU Shanghai to be involved in the larger Global Network. Started last year as a collaboration between NYU Abu Dhabi Campus Life and the NYU Leadership Initiative, the NYU Global Leadership Summit brings leaders from across NYU’s three degree-granting campuses to a common space to discuss the challenges inherent to leadership. This year, the Summit, titled “Exploring Ethical Dilemmas,” took place from 17th to 22nd March 2015 at NYU Abu Dhabi’s new campus on Saddiyat Island. Attending from the Shanghai campus this year was Lathika Chandra Mouli, Jose Antonio Cabrera Sanchez, Gu Sheng (Shawn), Yanghe Liu (Lily), and myself, Tyler Rhorick. This article is a discussion of what seemed to work well, what didn’t, and what we all can learn from this experience, as students of NYU Shanghai. Let’s start with what worked well. While the title of the conference was “Exploring Ethical Dilemmas,” a more appropriate title might have been “Exploring the Global Network University,” as one of the most salient aspects of the Summit was getting to meet fellow NYU students studying at different portal sites. It was by making these connections with peers that most participants of the conference were able to get a new perspective on their current leadership initiative and a clear idea of what needed to be done moving forward with their project. These encounters also inspired collaboration between the sites and leaders. For example, Lathika Chandra Mouli, one of On Century Avenue’s current NYU Global Content Editors, was inspired by the conference to propose a restructuring of On Century Avenue’s NYU Global that would include “Humans of the GNU” modeled after “Humans of New York” and “La Familia,” which would be include voices from the NYU Global Sites and be in collaboration with NYU Shanghai’s Breaking Barrier Initiative. But, what about the actual conference? Starting each day at 9 am and ending around 8 or 9 pm, the conference was full of lectures and discussions; but what was the actual value of these activities? Though this is a topic that members of the conference still remain divided on, some of the participants argue that the lectures and forced discussions stalled the magic of the conference, which was getting to know each other. These participants would have preferred more free time and less structure as a means to engender real connections across the participants. There was also the jet-lag problem where most students had traveled across oceans and time zones to get to the conference. Because of this, many students had trouble keeping up with the rigorous schedule, as they struggled to stay awake across sessions. Looking into the future for this Global Leadership Summit, it might be better to allow students to rest up by having fewer activities, so that the activities they attend can be attended in full attention and not in a struggle to stay awake. So what can we learn from this conference? We should learn is that there are students in the Global Network University that are eager to work with us and include us, but we just have to be willing. We should also acknowledge, however, that on the other end of the spectrum there are students who have yet to realize that we exist. With this said, it is important for NYU Shanghai as an institution to find new ways to interact and communicate with this larger community we are a part of. Some of these interactions will happen easily, some will not, but it is something we have to start, at the very least. This is something especially important in this time of year when we are about to elect a new Global Director, who is responsible for making these connections. The candidates of this position are Alexandru Grigoras, Jose Reyes (Sevi), Lillian Korinek, and Diem Hang Pham (Hang). Be sure to talk to each of them before you vote. This role is more important than you might think. This article was written by Tyler Rhorick. Send an email to [email protected] to get in touch. Photo Credit: Tirza Alberta