Upon the beginning of this semester, NYU students found out that the university would be retracting our access to the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite and its programs. There was no formal announcement or email informing us of this decision prior to the beginning of the semester, giving students no time to make necessary adjustments as they had their portfolios and work saved to those Adobe accounts. There would be no way to access those files after the subscription was discontinued. 

Students majoring in design or taking classes that focus on other creative practices use the Adobe programs on a daily basis. Additionally, most of these classes will require the use of the programs at some point in the semester. NYU only gave the students free access during COVID to compensate for the inability to use the facilities on campus as we became completely remote. Since reopening the campus, students are now expected to only use the computer labs at select NYU locations.

The issue with this expectation is the locations are limited in capacity, they are not accessible to everyone, specifically commuters and those further away from campus, and it interferes with the flexibility of our already busy schedules. Furthermore, in the event that a student is unable to access these facilities because of COVID, they would be unable to work at these locations and would be limited to their options on their personal computer if applicable. Although design students pay a $400 studio fee, it is only for access to use the studio during class time. This issue also goes outside of design such as dance classes that require a $100 studio fee to use the dance room, also owned by NYU. Essentially, they pay to use a NYU classroom.

There is a consensus among students that we should have access to the Adobe Creative Cloud because without, our only alternative is to pay ourselves ($20 monthly for the first year, $30 monthly after), pirate these programs which is not ideal, or find alternative software that is not taught in class. This is not asking for a lot, we only want access back to the programs we were given during COVID as the issue has not gone yet. Assuming COVID is no longer a pressing issue to justify taking away the programs is irresponsible and puts students at a disadvantage and greater risk. 

If you are an NYU student or part of the NYU community, please consider signing. Thank you for your time and consideration. 

- Frederic Chen & Kiana Menguita, class of 2022