Illustration by Moonie Sohn/The Gazelle

At a fundamental level, NYU Abu Dhabi is divided — by languages, backgrounds, majors and interests, not to mention ideologies, politics and creeds. Whether you believe the rhetoric, often more than a tad narcissistic, surrounding the NYU’s global network, it is hard to imagine that the explicit challenging of these boundaries, the task of creating a community with some kind of common ground, was not envisioned, anticipated and supported by NYUAD’s creators, staff and students alike. With the first class inching closer to graduation, the question must be asked: How successful have we been at building a new, complex and supportive community here in the UAE?

Academically, as a university ought to, we have excelled. Between NYUAD Institute events, lecturers delivered by guests from around the globe and deliberately small class sizes, we have united in our thirst for knowledge and fostered a deeper sense of curiosity. It is hardly a surprise that a community facing the challenge of simultaneously living and developing a new kind of university education has developed a tendency and tradition of questioning itself. In the context of a truly global composition, this is still a notable achievement and a tradition that we must continue. One might easily envision an alternative version of NYUAD with a less competitive academic culture, a version in which the student body and faculty alike settled for copy-pasting other tertiary institutions’ models of teaching and learning rather than seeking to challenge established pedagogies. Indeed, with the inevitable expansion of NYUAD’s student body, the dynamics of our learning environment risks dilution or alteration. However, as the foundation has been set deep in NYUAD’s psyche, these changes will now take place within the established context of open academic discussion — a genie that is not easily put back in the bottle — and a tradition of critical inquiry that is unlikely to be undermined by mere changes of numbers or location, even if this tradition is primarily confined to the classroom or the Sama bubble.

On a broader level, our community has also been shaped by the ad-hoc development of Student Interest Groups, development that reflects the environment of Abu Dhabi itself as much as its students’ interests. It is hardly surprising, for instance, that NYUAD lacks a SIG devoted to gardening or agriculture and entirely fitting that the Karting and Economics and Finance SIGs are well attended. But there is one group in particular that has really stood out for its devotion to community at this fledgling college: the NYUAD athletics department.

Perhaps it is unsurprising that a practice that seeks to fundamentally test one’s own limits and the limits of the human body respects no boundaries of heritage, culture or language. For this reason, sport is often referred to as a universal language, next to music and art. Still, it is worth noting the success of a department that has sought not medals, trophies or headlines, but to nourish a sense of community in sport. In the context of podiums, medals and records, the NYUAD athletics department has managed to cultivate an ethos of inclusion, as opposed to an elitist or exclusively competitive culture that puts results ahead of community. A community in which the true competition at Wadi Bih is for best-dressed team, all participants cheering each other on. We are a community united by sun, sweat and sand — a truly inclusive community to which we are all indebted and by which NYUAD has been permanently shaped.