In Surprise Reversal, Stanford Pulls Out of Competition for NYC Science Campus - Goldie Blumenstyk, New York Times

Stanford University has dropped out of the competition to build a new applied-engineering campus in New York City. The decision, announced on Friday afternoon, opens the way for a plan by Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, which have jointly proposed a modernistic, industry-focused research-and-teaching venture on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. "After several weeks of negotiations with New York City, university leaders and the Stanford Board of Trustees have determined that it would not be in the best interests of the university to continue to pursue the opportunity," Stanford said in a statement on Friday. Hours later, in an announcement that is likely to seal the deal for Cornell, the university’s president, David J. Skorton, said that it had received a $350-million gift from an anonymous donor to help it build the new campus. The gift is the largest to the university in its history.