Bat Dorms, Sorority Bunks, Student Neighbors - Around the College Town
Links related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of Oct. 7 - 12.
Note: each week Around the College Town will feature a list of links from stories I am reading that are related to urbanism and higher ed, often combining both. This will include a brief commentary on each link. These may grow into future articles by me. Submit a link if you think it fits.
Teaching College Students to Be Good Neighbors - Inside Higher Ed
UNC has a program to teach students to be good neighbors. That’s good! Students are rowdy and are also still teenagers or early 20s, so they may not know any better. But I have to wonder if the neighbors around the university should also have training. Why is it always on students?
Arizona State U. Goes West - Chronicle of Higher Education
We are not in the age of higher ed contraction, we are in the age of higher ed conquest. Here’s a story on Arizona State’s brigade into California to save a dying college in Hollywood. It has not gone well.
ASU adding tuition surcharge, closing Lake Havasu campus because of budget cuts - Arizona’s Family
Relatedly, ASU has already had growing pains from the expansion campaign. The university just announced that it will close the ASU Lake Havasu campus after this academic year. I will be visiting this campus soon to report on the closure and try to understand the community and urbanism it leaves behind.
Bats infest NAU dorm - Fox 10 Phoenix
Speaking of Arizona, what the heck is going on there? Bats in the belfry dormitory. Dorms seem to be a huge area of contention for higher ed these days, more than ever. Time catching up to the previous growth in building?
Simmons College owns student housing for first time in years - Courier Journal
Speaking of dorms, this HBCU finally has its own dorms. Bet on universities that are thinking in long-term gains. E.g. if you see an institution off-loading property, it might be over. Building new dorms, could be good sign, but with caveats that I will get into in a future article.
Why Do Sorority Houses Have "Cold Rooms"? - House Beautiful
Finally, Zoomers are discovering ‘Cold Rooms’ in Greek houses. These are bunk rooms where the entire chapter sleeps. Very old style of housing. Likely, many have long been rebuilt or converted into smaller rooms. But interesting that the tradition lives on and TikTok is chronicling the phenomenon. Fun.
That’s it for Around the College Town, Oct. 7 - 12.
Ryan- I’ve always wondered about some of the little details from generations past that just seems to go over newer generations. And this would be on the list: “Zoomers are discovering ‘Cold Rooms’ in Greek houses. These are bunk rooms where the entire chapter sleeps. Very old style of housing. Likely, many have long been rebuilt or converted into smaller rooms.” Such an interesting Venn diagram we live in—where there are overlaps between two generations but definitely things amiss. I appreciate this journey into your thought process.