July 6, 2009

Hofstra's Ambitions Confront the Economy

Photographs by Lisa Quinones for The Chronicle

President Stuart Rabinowitz of Hofstra U. visits the site of its new medical school, which isscheduled to open in 2011. The school is "a necessary step to a full-fledged university," he says.

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Photographs by Lisa Quinones for The Chronicle

President Stuart Rabinowitz of Hofstra U. visits the site of its new medical school, which isscheduled to open in 2011. The school is "a necessary step to a full-fledged university," he says.

By Jeffrey J. Selingo

Hempstead, N.Y.

Last October, when CBS News's Bob Schieffer welcomed 57 million television viewers to Hofstra University for the third presidential debate, the moment marked perhaps the best chance yet for the university to show off its efforts —with the help of some 4,000 journalists here to cover the event —to remake itself from a sleepy commuter campus into a trendy urban destination.

But just as the university was making final preparations for the debate, another event was