Comments on: North, South and the missing campus between them

By: Paul Schrodt

Paul Schrodt — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 02:58:59 +0000

Brittany: There’s no “Writing 101,” but you don’t exactly mold your classes just how you’d like them. Medill, Weinberg, etc. all have distribution requirements for courses that don’t have anything to do with one’s major — it’s just that they’re all different. Why, then, doesn’t *everyone* take one social science/English course that’s really interesting taught by a great prof.? It could change each year. Sounds like a great idea to me.

By: Brittany Petersen

Brittany Petersen — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:35:22 +0000

“There are endless distribution requirements but no core curriculum among majors or schools to foster a sense that, after all, everyone undergoes the same basic process.”

I agree that it might be nice to foster some NU campus-wide pride, but I don’t think the varied academics are really a problem. As a tour guide, one of the things we boast about to prospies is that there is no “Writing 101″ or something that everyone has to take. You can mold your academics to your interests. I like that part of the system and I don’t think creating one class that everyone would have to take is the right way to go about it, though I suppose it might be the good if you want to create something people would could bitch about together.

By: Zack M.

Zack M. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:38:47 +0000

Anil, We don’t have one essential desire – we have two: Location and Quality. Why make a small improvement when we need a large one? We would cause more trouble to move the student center now and in a few years move it again. We shouldn’t move it temporarily; rather, we should find a permanent location and ensure that the new student center is built with its purpose in mind.

And I didn’t suggest tearing anything up. You did.

By: Anil W.

Anil W. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 22:50:14 +0000

Well, Zack, considering the Kellogg’s current facilities are a lot nicer than Norris currently is, I think we can still call it an improvement. If the essential desire is location, find me another spot that is more central to undergraduate traffic on campus than the area around the Jacobs Center. Would you want to build over Deering Field, one of the nicest plots of green on our campus, or perhaps tear up Garrett? Didn’t think so.

By: R.J. O'Hara

R.J. O'Hara — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 21:19:17 +0000

“Or, the university could adopt a housing system roughly based on those of Oxford or Cambridge, as Stanford, Harvard and Yale have done, pooling students across divisions to create cohesion.”

This is the comprehensive, cross-sectional residential college model, being adopted by more universities every year (and found at the best in the world). It’s an international movement that Northwestern could join:

http://collegiateway.org

http://collegiateway.org/news/2007-new-york-times

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Collegiate-Way-collegiatewayorg/7013796777

By: BMac

BMac — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:38:59 +0000

The problem with Norris is that it’s not the worst thing ever, just overall sub-par. The food is alright, Norbucks is nice but not big enough, the Student Involvement offices upstairs are great but not nearly large enough to accommodate everyone, and it’s location is latitudinally acceptable, but so far off center it’s just not practical.

If it was absolutely HORRIBLE, the administration would have a lot more reason to re-build, but the issue at hand is that it is just marginal enough, just barely acceptable, that they can justify keeping it around.

By: Zack M.

Zack M. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:50:07 +0000

Anil, that’s a stupid idea. The student center should be rebuilt altogether and not merely displaced to an older building.

By: Anil W.

Anil W. — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:35:08 +0000

Kellogg is supposedly building a new building closer to the lake, near Pancoe or something. Once that is complete, they Allen center will go back to the undergraduate schools. That would be an excellent spot for a new student center.