Writer: UAlbany Should Be More Like Cornell

I've previously expressed my disdain for the Capital District, based mainly on trips to the area for hockey games. I haven't spent much time on the UAlbany campus, but one local resident penned an Op-Ed column yesterday in the Schenectady paper to argue, essentially, that UAlbany and Albany should become more like Cornell and Ithaca.

Peter Huston tells us that he attended Albany as an undergraduate 20 years ago, and recently entered a graduate program at Cornell to study Chinese history. He abandoned this plan when, after three years, his Chinese skills were still not considered proficient. Now back studying for another degree at Albany, the author realizes that Albany is no Ithaca:

I miss Ithaca and I miss Cornell. And I think, despite the many strengths and advantages the University at Albany has to offer, it might benefit from implementing a few changes to produce a warmer academic environment.

Huston discusses the arrangement of chairs and seating areas around the UAlbany campus and determines that "I have yet to find a place where one can sit where it is socially acceptable, if not expected, that one will say hello to the strangers at the next table."

It's unclear why Huston thinks Cornell is better in this area, but I believe that Cornell's dining halls and cafés do a good job of promoting social interaction. (Think about the big tables in Ivy Room or the close quarters in Libe Cafe.) Outdoors, the weather is poor enough for most of the year that people won't sit around and chat.

Moving to broader issues, Huston proposes creating a Collegetown-type area near the UAlbany campus:

[UAlbany] forces people to physically be either in or out. To leave campus is literally a half-mile walk, at which point one will find oneself on the fringes of your standard suburban sprawl with little to see. By contrast, many colleges border an area specializing in goods and services for students, including clothing, books, coffee shops and cheap restaurants. Often these become tourist destinations. Might such a zone, something similar to Ithaca’s college-town neighborhood, make a good economic development project?

This is the logic behind the movement to construct a Collegetown near the UConn campus in a relatively rural part of Connecticut:

The town of Mansfield hopes to gain $3 million to $4 million in property taxes annually from the project, said the town manager, Martin Berliner.

“That’s very important in a state that doesn’t provide for any other tax sources for municipalities,” Mr. Berliner said. “But also as important is providing a sense of community that we don’t have now. Providing the downtown will help the university continue to move forward.”

Huston closes with a hope for an Albany which will retain graduates:

At Cornell, some spoke of “the Ithaca syndrome,” where Cornell graduates would take jobs as waiters or salesclerks so they could continue to live in this interesting college town. To an Albany university student, however, the very idea of an “Albany syndrome” where people postpone their career simply to remain in the Capital Region would produce cynical laughter. Should it? If so, perhaps the university and the region should discuss changes.

I'm sure that New York state budget cuts have left Albany administrators with plenty of things to worry about, but I hope that Huston's piece doesn't go unnoticed. If college administrators are looking for an example of a popular Collegetown area, then Ithaca provides a great example.