Since NYUAD’s beginnings, a string of critical journalism has continuously questioned the motives and potential of a major American university satellite campus in the United Arab Emirates. The past few months alone have produced a handful of feature articles critiquing human rights and gender relations in the United Arab Emirates, NYU president John Sexton’s management of NYUAD and the Global Network University, and the fundamental notion itself of expanding U.S. colleges overseas.

The latest of these, a piece published online on May 3 in New York Magazine by Lisa Miller, approaches the school from a new angle: that of an American NYUNY student studying abroad for a year here in Abu Dhabi. Miller first describes the mismatched expectations and realities of junior Jessica de Oliveira’s experience at NYUAD, later introducing fellow NYUNY visiting student Bailey Theado as well as NYUAD students Daria Karaulova and Mastewal Taddese.

The article undoubtedly lacks taste, most egregiously exemplified by Miller’s descriptions of the mixed-gender fitness center and the women’s gym: “one staffed with hot, muscled trainers and another for women only, in case scoping hot trainers is against your religion.” Her tone and language are bitingly sarcastic. Beyond her style, however, is the substance of the piece, and where the controversy is tensest on campus. Is Miller inaccurate in her portrait of the university and of the city? Did she unfairly misrepresent her sources to advance an agenda against NYU or the UAE?

I argue that these points can be, to an extent, irrelevant.

More than I care about how Lisa Miller reported on NYUAD, I care about how we are dealing with her article as a community. Whenever such critical commentary emerges, it seems that we rally around an opportunity to defend ourselves against every charge a journalist levies. Questions and disagreements surround very basic issues of the university’s existence. Its extraordinary financial support from the Abu Dhabi government serves as just one example. But these issues are often buried under outrage and cries of erroneous or unjust reporting. We focus on the details: who was quoted for what, whether cited policies are indeed existent, whether a date or statistic is precise. And amidst all of it, we can miss the bigger questions.

Whether NYUAD students exist and interact in a “bubble,” whether Abu Dhabi is a valuable and rich place to study the culture of the Arab world, whether we as students are profiting from or working to change injustice and inequality in this country — these are very real and important issues. And rather than reflexively denying or minimizing a systemic problem leading to the point of view expressed in a given article, we must identify and address these problems. It is not acceptable to simply dismiss someone’s opinion as ignorant. We have an obligation to treat concerns and dissent seriously, especially when they come from a member of our community.

It is a testament to how fiercely we love this place and the extraordinary education we are receiving that we want to shield it from every possible argument. Yet one of the essential tenets of an undergraduate education, especially one in the liberal arts, is the development of critical thinking. This extends to our estimation of the institution itself. NYUAD is not perfect, no matter how many times administrators, faculty or students describe it as utopic. It has room to grow, which is a beautiful thing. I have confidence that it will continue to raise an international bar of excellence for higher education in the years to come.

To me, bad press such as the New York Magazine article poses an absolutely critical opportunity for us to examine what we are attempting to do with this university. The commitment to attend NYUAD is not a commitment to unconditionally support everything the university or the country does or stands for. It is possible for us to simultaneously love and support this place while challenging it to be better. Inelegant and unflattering as Miller’s journalism is, it serves as poignant reminder of this challenge.