Surely not all the bells and whistles are defensible, college officials concede, but given the expectations of students who have grown up with DVD players in their own rooms, any campus without, say, a nightclub and a food court is as obsolete as an eight-track cassette.
“These are not frills,” said Daniel M. Fogel, president of the University of Vermont. “They are absolute necessities.”
The University of Vermont plans to spend up to $70 million on a new student center, a colossal complex with a pub, a ballroom, a theater, an artificial pond for wintertime skating and views of the mountains and Lake Champlain. —Greg Winter (registration; will expire) —Jacuzzi U.? A Battle of Perks to Lure Students (NY Times)
And people wonder 1) why students can’t find time to do their homework and 2) why college tuition is skyrocketing. Note that no single college has every one of the extravagant luxuries mentioned in this article — the overall feeling of pandering to the whims of potential students is exaggerated because the author has chosen to focus on the most extravagant luxuries he found. Still, it is amazing. Via Arnzen’s PEDABLOGUE, where I posted a relevant quote from Malcolm X.
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Will, see your own comment on college tution. To have all this stuff on campus does brings down the cost that the indivdidual students faces, say, on a Thursday afternoon when looking for something to do. But somebody does have to pay for all this stuff. Having said that, I agree with you that professors are hardly unbiased on the subject of homework... most professors got where they are because they love the work they do, and because their idea of "fun" is to do more schoolwork.
"2) why college tuition is skyrocketing"
That's for sure.
"And people wonder 1) why students can't find time to do their homework and "
Bullshit. Despite what professors regularly delude themselves into believing, a life with nothing but academics is not rewarding for almost anyone, especially not students. Personally, if I don't find fun things to do, I find it impossible to concentrate on my homework. We aren't meant to live our lives entirely on abstract concepts.
But you're saying "Why do we have all these thrills??" Look at a college campus. What's the stereotypical student recreational activity - Drinking! It's easier to get alcohol on campus than it is to see a movie. Here at Eau Claire, you can walk to the bars, but you have to drive to get to the mall. (You can take the bus, but it only runs until 5pm on Saturday, not at all on Sunday.) It's 1. Cheaper 2. Easier. to go drinking than it is to do any other social activity on campus. It's only the people with extra money laying around that have the freedom to choose among a variety of "things to do". Especially for those of us who are poor (most college students), so we can't afford a car. I think it's great that the university tries to bring down the cost and increase the convenience of non drinking stuff to the cost of convenience that getting drunk has achieved on college campuses.