UB South Campus to be Repurposed

Will they still rent north campus apartments to grad students?

Hmm - looks like the nuclear reactor is gone. I wonder how you get rid of one of those.

Well grad students are more likely to be married, less likely to be into binge drinking, more likely to be responsible tenants, volunteer in the community and even be owners while their in grad school.

So I would say its a good thing...but the thing I never liked about UB and Buffalo State are the long walks between buildings that students must endure in the winter.

Colleges forget that the academic year is fall, winter and spring yet all campus's except for amherst are built for summer. Architecturally Amherst is unremarkable but its extremely convenient during the cold and rainy fall, winter, spring academic years.

Id get rid of the baseball diamonds and put a few more academic buildings into the core campus. The south campus is to sparsely built for the fall, winter spring weather...less space between buildings would make it a more convenient during those bad weather days.

A partnership with the NFTA for a parking garage....where the public and students can take advantage of parknride would be helpful, particularly for grad students that have need to be downtown like law.

Yeah kids just need to put on proper winter clothes... not a big deal.

Oh brownteeth, Im not saying the south campus needs to interconnect the buildings...but maybe circular doors that hard to open and close in wind...might be useful...other than that...as I said...more density on the south campus so there are shorter walks between buildings would certainly make the campus more season friendly since it would allow a choice to walk outside or duck between buildings when its not....but the openness is a serious failing in inclement weather. I like the way south campus looks but Id take amherst anyday.

You forgot to mention:

Phillip H. Smith, president of the SUNY faculty-and-staff union, says the U. at Buffalo's restructuring proposal "would be implemented through a process of basically destroying the university."

UB2020 "seeks to create a private university within the state university," says Deborah J. Glick, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the Assembly's higher-education committee. "The UB2020 proposal has many dramatic changes that I think doing all at once--and maybe doing some at all--are inappropriate."

Certainly the UB2020 push has rankled some key people. Ms. Glick, the assembly's higher-education chair, characterizes the legislation as "a wish list for removing any connection to the state university, except for the money they choose to charge." She has reservations about public-private partnerships and says eliminating contract reviews by the attorney general and comptroller would come "at a time when we are seeking greater accountability and more transparency" from government.

Even if UB2020 clears its legislative hurdle, it faces other challenges. Mr. Simpson says the university needs 1,000 more faculty members to raise its profile to the level of great state flagships, like Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. To get 1,000 more faculty members, though, Buffalo needs 10,000 more students--and New York is in a region that will see flat or declining numbers of traditional-age college students.

Where will those additional students come from? "All over the world," Mr. Simpson answers flatly. But the university already has the highest proportion of international-student enrollment among the nation's public research universities.

and much more at ...

http://chronicle.com/article/In-a-Shrinking-City-a/47531/

dblplusgood - Yes they will still rent apartments on North to grad students. The business and technical grad programs will still all be located on North and thus a demand for grad housing will still exist.

z9icons - Have you even read the UB2020 master plan in its entirety? If not then I suggest you do:
http://www.buffalo.edu/ub2020/plan/phase4.html

U. at Buffalo's restructuring proposal "would be implemented through a process of basically destroying the university."

Actually the plan serves to reverse many of the enormous errors in planning made on both campuses over the past several decades. How is the plan destroying South Campus when its aim is to return it to E.B. Green's original vision by restoring acres of surface parking to green space, removing several "temporary" structures in addition to several other ill-conceived buildings that served as a reminder of the University's build crazy policy of the 60's and 70's, and an opening up of the Campus to the community through the proposed building of a community union, public amphitheater, and transportation hub?

Just because the University wants a little maneuverability within the bureaucratic quagmire that is the SUNY system doesn't mean it seeks to cut all ties.

How can you deride UB2020 and then ask where the students will come from? The increase in demand for an education at UB with come as a direct result of the implementation of the UB2020 master plan.

The entries on the previous post were quotes from an article in the Chronicle of Higher Ed. Evidently, there are quite a few people asking those questions.

http://chronicle.com/article/In-a-Shrinking-City-a/47531/

"Phillip H. Smith, president of the SUNY faculty-and-staff union, says the U. at Buffalo's restructuring proposal "would be implemented through a process of basically destroying the university.""

"UB2020 "seeks to create a private university within the state university," says Deborah J. Glick, a Manhattan Democrat who chairs the Assembly's higher-education committee. "The UB2020 proposal has many dramatic changes that I think doing all at once--and maybe doing some at all--are inappropriate.""

"Certainly the UB2020 push has rankled some key people. Ms. Glick, the assembly's higher-education chair, characterizes the legislation as "a wish list for removing any connection to the state university, except for the money they choose to charge." She has reservations about public-private partnerships and says eliminating contract reviews by the attorney general and comptroller would come "at a time when we are seeking greater accountability and more transparency" from government."

"Even if UB2020 clears its legislative hurdle, it faces other challenges. Mr. Simpson says the university needs 1,000 more faculty members to raise its profile to the level of great state flagships, like Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. To get 1,000 more faculty members, though, Buffalo needs 10,000 more students--and New York is in a region that will see flat or declining numbers of traditional-age college students.

Where will those additional students come from? "All over the world," Mr. Simpson answers flatly. But the university already has the highest proportion of international-student enrollment among the nation's public research universities"

And from Artvoice http://blogs.artvoice.com/avdaily/2009/07/31/open-letter-to-the-buffalo-niagara-partnership/
UB 2020 established as the regional priority for Albany action

"Unfortunately, it’s a plan rooted in the dream that public money should be spent with no oversight. This is a plan? Why not just propose robbing Fort Knox? Both plots are illegal. Only difference is when the UB plan fails, the perpetrators won’t go to jail, they’ll just blame “politics as usual” for foiling their dubious scheme."

Well in the spirit of posting other peoples words instead of addressing the issue at hand here is another tidbit from the lovely Ms. Glick concerning UB2020 that you seemed to have missed z9icons: that it would "allow the president of UB to form private entities like not-for-profits and LLCs without state approval"

God imagine the terrible fallout from UB's unilateral decision to create EOC's and biotech/business incubators throughout the communities they're located in. Spare me.

as an alumni of the dental school, this is a great news. thank God that UB and John Simpson "get it." A healthy city needs a strong medical corridor with students, resident and faculty working together in the same location. Med, Dent, Pharm, PT, etc should all be in close proximity to Buffalo's largest hospitals. This is the right plan.

UB South makes more sense as a campus for Social work and Architecture with its proximity to the city as opposed to Amherst (which is lacking in classic architecture/design and the need for social is less than say the East side).

Smart decisions, and one can only hope its completed by 2020

I just stumbled onto this link while trying to troll through some of z9icon's links for something useful: http://www.upenn.edu/campus/westphilly/index.html

Replace University City in West Philadelphia with University Heights in North Buffalo and the similarities are beyond eerie. After the fatal stabbing of a UPenn faculty member in 1996 Penn took on the task of spearheading a revitalization of the surrounding neighborhoods through partnerships it forged with community organizations, private businesses, city government, and residents.

You would think after the assault/death of students in the Heights area UB would be willing to pursue a similar course of action. As a UB Student and Heights' resident there's nothing more I'd like to see than something similar to UPenn's efforts translated to the University District.

I'm really excited about theses new plans. I visit UB south frequently and it is in desperate need of some love. Getting rid of those parking lots and trailers alone will do the campus a world of good. Great for the campus. Though I have to agree with z9icons, ub really needs to do more for the heights neighborhood. they are the anchor of the community and should start caring more about it. the appearance of the surrounding neighborhood directly affects them