BC has a chain gang?
By adamg - Wed, 07/16/2008 - 8:47am.
Michael Pahre reports from a community meeting at which BC officials defended buying up apartment buildings off campus and such:
... Now BC's director of public affairs, Jack Dunn, increased his rhetoric again by saying Tuesday night that the housing on part of their Chestnut Hill campus is so dense that to find denser housing "you would have to go to a prison." ...
For some reason, residents didn't buy that argument; Pahre provides the numbers to show that BU, which nobody has yet compared to a prison, actually has a higher student density than BC.
In other news no one
In other news no one complains about BU students living off campus in Allston, Brighton, Brookline... BC gets no love.
Really?
No one?
But is BU expanding outside its current campus? That seems to be the crux of the issue with BC (also see Allston expansion, Harvard).
BU's density is so high
BU's density is so high because they pride themselves in their prison-type housing. The famous Warren Towers (that monstrosity on Comm Ave across from the College of Arts building), is famous being the largest non-military dormitory in the country. It houses over 1800 students.
I once visited Deer Island
I once visited Deer Island on behalf of an architectural firm. I saw cells larger than the room I shared in Xavier (CLX) Hall as a BC freshman. Critical mass has been reached.
Pahre, as usual, takes a
Pahre, as usual, takes a minor issue (here, an offhand remark by Dunn) and puts together a thesis on it for his blog.
Off-hand remark? No, actually seemed premeditated
Rob,
I'm guessing you weren't in attendance last night, but you'll have to correct me if I'm wrong on this account.
Dunn delivered this line about a prison by winding up as if he thought he had a well-prepared, humdinger of a sound-bite that would silence all critics.
It only produced groans and some laughter.
Off-hand remark? No way.
I'll answer your questions
I'll answer your questions once you stop censoring my comments on your blog.
Has he been to UMass?
I had a single room at UMass that was 9.5 by 12 feet, slightly bigger than a prison cell. A good deal of the room was occupied by a closet. There was also a rumor that the Southwest area was a) designed by prison architects and b) is one of the most densely populated places in all of New England.
Uhh...
We used to call Warren the "Trident from Hell." (Unsubstantiated) Rumor had it that it was designed after a women's prison model.
BU's campus is also
BU's campus is also significantly larger than BC's so you can't compare the two in that regard.
The campus style and layout
The campus style and layout between BC and BU is also starkly different. There really isn't any more room to place additional dorms. The neighborhood activists make their case for more housing on lower by demanding BC to keep Edmonds Hall (with its wonderfully crumbling foundation!) and the current Recreation Complex (with its 20 treadmills for an undergraduate population of 9,000). I guess, you know, building a dorm on land you already own (hmmm, St. John's) is completely and entirely unethical.
Converting 2000 Comm Ave to
Converting 2000 Comm Ave to dorm use will require no new construction and get the students out of apartments on the residential streets with no reason to enter them since they'll have no friends there. This is the solution for the neighbors.
Ethics of BC
There is no ethical component here. Edmonds Hall is in Newton and the people of Newton are richer and more litigious. The reason BC is trying to overflow into Boston is that the people aren't as rich and the politicians are in the bag with the colleges.
So it has nothing to do with rights or land, it's purely a matter of power and that BC can push its power harder on the people of Brighton than the people of Newton.
As for the athletic center, that was your decision to go to a Division 1 school. I invite you to go to Tufts or Emory to see what facitilities you could have at BC if you ditched your money- and space-hogging teams and kept St Johns as greenspace. Do they let you on the ice rink? Instead BC students want bleachers for the support of semi-pro athletics. You make your choice.
you are wrong in every single point
wellbasically:
It's nice that you are confident in your words, but you are mistaken in virtually every point you make.
Edmonds is in Boston. The reason BC wants to expand on its own property is because that is the only space available for them to do so. There is no room on the main campus (also Boston) for them to build.
It has everything to do with rights and land. They have the right to try and build on the land that they own! The city will be better for it, and they will realize that soon enough.
Regarding the Division I & Athletics comment: yes, BC lets students on the ice. And they also let local teams play on it too, from student athletes in high school to adult leagues. The same for the stadiums that we do have - BC is very generous in giving up their space for the community at large.
Athletics at Boston College are funded on their own - they depend on revenues generated and fundraising to pay for scholarships and operating costs. Tuition does not go to the Athletics program, and the most most recent building (Yawkey) was 100% independently funded.
Get your facts straight.
Slight differences
And prisoners don't tend to leave their cells and have drunken parties with each other and throw up on the abutters lawns.
No, they just riot and kill
No, they just riot and kill prison guards and each other.
Unless it's a local sports
Unless it's a local sports team victory.