For many University of Massachusetts students, the University was their safety school. In other words, it ranked as a fourth or fifth choice. For others, it was the most affordable school they were interested in, and for a select few, UMass was their first choice. Most students, however, are not appreciative enough of what our beautiful school has to offer and sometimes forget that things UMass students take for granted are not available for many, less fortunate others.

A little while ago, I ventured to New York University to investigate what the perks and benefits are of attending a 40-grand-a-year school. I had to see what makes NYU so special.

The pride of every school rests in their library. Aside for a few freak occasions, the size of a school’s library is a symbol of their prestige, their beauty and how important knowledge is for them. Naturally, one would expect a school that costs over twice the amount of UMass to have a library about twice the size. Thus, I found myself surprised and baffled that NYU does not have a library equal in height to our own – even by half. This was quite the turnoff. Size isn’t everything, but it sure is important.

My eyes already in pain over the hideous abomination of a library, an insult to the very word, I asked my tour guide, a sketchy guy named Shyam, to guide me to the campus pond. Surely a school as grand and expensive as NYU would have such a vital place of leisure and relaxation, such as a campus pond. After all, even Brandies has a pond, although they only have one swan. After seeing that thing that they call a “library,” I set my standards low, expecting maybe only a few ducks.

Sadly, the best my tour guide could do was lead me to a place called Washington Square Park, a breeding ground of disease, infested with pigeons along with the occasional rat or cockroach. This small track of undeveloped pavement, doted with the occasional patch of grass or tree, was quite pathetic.

Upon entering the dorm building, I was approached by a real security guard. An NYPD officer was standing at the front refusing entry to those who did not sign in. This was just one more of NYU’s many inconveniences, as I was in no mood to show them my ID. While waiting for the officer to write down my information, I grabbed a nearby newspaper – NYU’s student paper. This was one of the weakest excuses for a newspaper that I’ve ever seen: My seventh grade class newsletter was more interesting than this.

Neither did they have an equivalent to our amazing UVC-19, as a student run TV station was not in existence. Additionally, there was a lack of a campus radio station, such as our WMUA 91.1 FM, and overall, finding out basic news about what was going on around campus was a tedious chore.

After this ordeal, I hoped that watching NYU students play their rivals in football or hockey could calm me down, but the best that could be offered was watching two NYU students battle it out on their Nintendo game system. This pathetic place didn’t even have their own sports teams. Other than their fencing team, which although popular among many, is not always that stimulating to watch.

Their arts center does not provide popular discounted plays, forcing students to make the long trek to Broadway to see such entertainment. Fall foliage walks were not found, and sophomores were not forced to have a University meal plan, leaving many second year students utterly confused about how to go about acquiring food. I saw one guy sitting on the street corner, with a sign asking for food, most likely a starving and confused sophomore.

Even worse, many dorm rooms get poor reception of Fox, a vital channel for any television connoisseur. Moreover, each suite has its own bathroom with only one toilet, unlike UMass where students are given a choice of four to eight toilets. Perhaps the most important problem with their dorms is the view. Our window views of rolling hills filled with trees is a luxury that NYU students simply don’t have, their window views consisting of ugly gray buildings.

If this was not enough, not only were “Yankees Suck” riots lacking, but shockingly, the majority of students actually liked the Yankees. Going to a university in a city that has over 400 homicides a year must be tough, but going to a university that does not support the 2004 baseball world champions must be even tougher. I, for one, wake up every morning happy to be at such a great school.

Gilad Skolnick is a Collegian columnist.