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My name is Tony Dong (Steinhardt MCC ’26), currently serving as the inaugural Senator at Large for Student Entrepreneurs and Workers in the NYU University Senate. I am the Founder and CEO of Arcampass, and a Leslie Founder of the NYU Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute.
My bond with our community is built on shared survival. I have felt the weight of bootstrapping Arcampass with nothing, the sting of age bias, the exhaustion of replacing a team, or the quiet dread of dodging predatory capital. But the days being an early Student Entrepreneur gave me something far more useful than empathy: I had a map. I have spent years hardwiring myself into the core of NYU's entrepreneurial machine -- fighting in the rigorous proving grounds of the NYU Startup Accelerator Program, rooting my Arcampass Techwing, and some personal alliances inside the Tandon MakerSpace, and sharpening my strategic instincts at the Stern Berkley Center. Those experiences gave me a battle-tested directory. I now know clearly where to go, who to talk to, and which doors to open when you hit a wall.
Having an idea in mind is one thing; having a voting seat to speak it out is another. We built incredible things in our respective schools. But we don't have a unified voice in the exact room where NYU writes its rules. I saw the necessity for forming a student constituency for Student Entrepreneurs. I saw the necessity for forming a student constituency for Student Entrepreneurs. In the University Senate, NYU's highest governing body, we now sit at the same table as the President, the Provost, Deans, Faculty, and Admin Representatives.
We envision this position to serve as a centralized liaison, operating horizontally across student peer-powered collective intelligence, and vertically up to the high table of university governance. Its core mandate is to take your isolated pain points and weave them into an internally connected intelligence network. Whether you are pushing for systemic policy changes, or simply have questions about navigating the Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute, the Stern Berkley Center for Entrepreneurship, the Tandon MakerSpace, the Entrepreneurial Club Advisory Board, or the Production Lab, this office is designed to be a pit-stop you can always entrust with.
As the current senator, I am initiating these channels for our community:
- Email: cd3504@nyu.edu
- Direct Office Hours: Come find me at the Leslie eLab (16 Washington Pl.) every Wednesday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and Fridays from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Bring me your systemic roadblocks: funding gaps, infrastructure deficits, bureaucratic red tape etc.
- The Legislative Feedback Loop: Whether it is an unfair cross-school policy or an institutional bottleneck, tell me here. I will put it directly in front of the decision-makers. Please respond by April 30, 2026.
- Entrepreneurial Profile Construction Portal: Tell us here who you are and what you do.
As a graduating senior, my tenure in the Senate will officially conclude at the end of this academic year. In partnership with the Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute, I am formally launching the search for my successor. If you possess the executive capability and vision to inherit this mandate, I invite you to review the comprehensive info package here and reach out anytime -- I'd love to speak to y'all.
