In 1987…

In 1987 an administrative group at New York University called AA about helping them start a meeting to deal with the problem of alcoholism on campus. Intergroup asked some old timers to do some 12th step work, by attending the meeting and help set up the group. The University put up flyers all around campus. Our group’s very first meeting was held in the Mental Health Center in the Washington Mews just off of University Place. About 7 people attended the meeting. The old timers continued coming and the group was off to a solid start.

The group wanted to have a name that echoed the location, NYU, but couldn’t indicate that the group was affiliated with the University directly. So, they used the initials, and came up with the name "Now You Understand”. Because of the time of day the meetings were held, the standing joke early on became that NYU really stood for “Now You’re Unemployed”. About a year later the group moved to the Loeb Student Center. By then there were more than 20 members in the group.

They sat around an oval table, surrounded by big glass windows overlooking Washington Square Park. The group was still under the NYU umbrella, but it wanted to be more a part of the AA community by being on the Intergroup meeting list. The University didn’t want the publicity and was uptight about ‘outsiders’ entering the building. After many meetings with the administration, the school finally permitted the meeting to be listed. Guards were instructed, to allow people other than students to enter the building and directed them to the 4th floor for the meeting.

The first written history…

The first written history we came across was in the G S O Archives. It was a New Group Information record that was dated Sept. 8,1989. It shows that a new group had formed called the N Y U Group of New York. It held closed meetings on Mondays and Thursdays at 12:30 and then on Wednesdays at 5:30. Then on September 28th the paperwork was finalized and the GSO formally established the group. Sept. 28th, 1989, became our official group anniversary date. From the beginning, our group represented the diversity that was inherent in Greenwich Village itself, old, young, gay, straight, all races, religions, and genders. There was always this exceptionally diverse group of attendees, which lent itself to the tolerant and welcoming atmosphere. During that time,(the 80s & 90s) and being that the group was downtown, it saw and felt the height of the AIDS crisis. Many AA's were "showing up" for their fellows. There were no parameters to the program.

Then in late 1999, we moved to another NYU building on Washington Place and Mercer Street. We spent 9/11 in that room. And in the days that followed that room became a home away from home for many of us. Our doors stayed open and first responders came in throughout the day, taking a break from the pile. We stayed there until the Fall of 2004. Our group was growing in numbers and we needed to make another move.

This time our group found the Bronfman Center on 10th Street, and began holding daily meetings in its upstairs meeting room on the 5th floor. The groupcontinued to grow well into the millennium. The management of the Bronfman Center has always been supportive and understanding, especially when they offered us the use of the second floor when we actually outgrew our meeting space on the fifth floor.

The group couldn’t help but notice a continual rise in drug addiction. People were becoming addicted to prescribed medications as well as street drugs. Then finally around 2004 after many announcements and much discussion at business meetings, it was decided to insert into the meeting scripts the phrase ‘we welcome conversations about drugs as well as alcohol’. It became one of the first AA groups in NYC to make that a regular part of its Group Conscience.

The meetings became so large, it was decided to begin having two meetings a day, and a regular schedule was established that was broken down into classic AA formats. Every type of AA meeting is conducted at NYU. Our meetings range from 30 members to over 100 on any given week day. We continued to grow our fellowship and on Oct. 3rd, 2016 it was decided that we would have a 3rd meeting every day at 11am. They are open beginner meetings based on AA literature and focused on the newcomer.

Then in April 2018…

Then in April 2018, the Bronfman Center asked our group to find a temporary home for 11 weeks during the summer months. A prestigious Judaic Studies Program was coming to New York and going to be using the entire Bronfman Center. So after 14 years at the Bronfman Center we needed a new temporary home. We found it across Washington Square Park, at the Assembly Hall at the Judson Memorial Church. Our group settled in and many, even those die hard alcoholics that got sober at the Bronfman Center, loved the new space.

We went back home to the Bronfman Center in the fall, but repeated this routine in the summer of 2019. The Judson Center became our summer home. Then in March of 2020 our world changed and we were all in lock down. Lindsay and Justin, met the challenge, set us up, and before we knew it we were zooming. Of course we miss being with each other in person, but so many of our fellows who had gotten sober at NYU were now able to join us again. Members from across the country and all around the world express their gratitude about being back at an NYU meeting.

People always comment, especially at anniversary meetings about the energy and the love they feel at NYU. It’s palpable. Many are nostalgic for our old home The Bronfman Center. It was so beautiful with all the woodcarvings, the fireplace mantle, and those beautiful windows that we weren’t supposed to touch. And the light, that beautiful sunlight that entered the room. All those elements created an atmosphere that nurtured the love that this program promotes. But much more than our meeting hall, we know that it’s all about our members and of course this program.

Many people, credit this group for their sobriety. The beautiful energy of our group endures no matter the location. So it’s with an enormous amount of gratitude that we say, we are blessed, to have this program, and this group, in this time. And that’s our story so far.