4th
Bermuda, Bahama … Columbia?
The Columbia Chronicle - link
Originally published: February 13, 2006
The old adage in real estate is “location, location, location.” And a huge part of what makes Columbia’s campus attractive to prospective students is its location: the urban setting of Chicago’s South Loop area. But The Chronicle’s analysis of the buildings owned by Columbia raised a few questions about plans for the school’s future.
As part of Columbia’s Master Plan, the college will seek to sell off all of the property it owns south of Roosevelt Road. The idea is to lock the campus’ location into an identifiable college area bounded by Roosevelt Road, Michigan Avenue, and State and Van Buren streets. On the one hand, the move will reduce the distance between various buildings at Columbia and place all of the students in a closer setting.
But on the other hand, the plan should be alarming to anyone concerned about the college’s future. Would getting rid of the property really be the most efficient use of our space? For a college with an open admissions policy, which is creating an ever-expanding student body, reducing the number of its buildings doesn’t seem to work in Columbia’s best interests. Already being crowded in by the rapid development of condominiums appearing in the area, making the campus even smaller would actually diminish the school’s presence.
The property Columbia would still occupy outside the proposed limits is beyond the travel benefits offered by a U-Pass: The school still has its presence in Los Angeles at CBS Studios for arts and media students seeking a hands-on study environment in the entertainment industry for a semester.
That location outside Chicago makes sense.
But why is Columbia occupying the Center for Black Music Research’s Alton Augustus Adams Music Research Institute, located in St. Thomas? (Yes, in the U.S. Virgin Islands.)
While the college could turn a profit by selling its investments in Chicago, it could also very well end up locking itself into an area in which meeting the demands of accommodating more students could become a costly nightmare.
Many of Columbia’s buildings are extremely old, making future maintenance costs an issue for a school that is still figuring out an effective way to raise funds.
But beyond money, the experience of attending college in a major American city has defined the Columbia experience for years.
Students seeking a traditional college experience in Illinois can opt for more rural locations like Champaign or DeKalb, but going to school in Chicago’s Loop area is supposed to offer students an opportunity unlike other, more boring cities.
With that in mind, a contraction of Columbia’s campus takes away a very significant part of what defines our school. In the end, reducing our presence in the area takes away an element of the college that nobody can put a price on.
