It is not enough for colleges and universities to teach any more. The director of external relations at the University of Pennsylvania says, there is a "responsibility to contribute to the landscape in the most positive way it can." Universities must also be land planners.
According to www.insidehighered.com a recent survey by College Board showed that admitted and undecided students listed 'boring' commercial district as a leading reason for choosing another school.
I remember when my son was being recruited by different schools. When I asked him about the school, more often than not his response was "the town was so boring." But, what about the school?
The state of Connecticut, apparently was so embarrassed by the University of Connecticut campus that they did NOT want students to take tours.
Since 1995 some $2.3 billion has been pledged to spruce up her public colleges. One project is a 15-acre development with a price tag of $175 million to build a center with 800 housing units, 75,000 sq ft of office space and 200,000 sq ft of retail space - all for the purpose of attracting some world-class researchers?!
UPenn has a 10-story-high project in the works - 150 suite-style apartments, 40,000 sq ft of retail and and....And we wonder why the little schools can't compete, why it costs so much to go to school at such places.
Since when did education become NOT about education and more about appeasing the students, present and prospective?
What do you think?
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I'm not too interested recreation around my school because I'm there to study and its only for a year anyway. But if I were persuing some kind of long term schooling I would chose whichever school offered what I wanted and from those I would chose the most exciting city for sure. You can't be at the school all the time.
Posted by: Anonymous | September 14, 2006 9:36 AM | Permalink to Comment