northwestbend

This article plays right into the hands of OSUC's marketing strategy. I have yet to hear more than 3 people voice their not wanting this school here. It's about the location. Residents want the school! And I wish that folks would mellow their west side resident jabs. There are a number of people living on the west side who care about the impact on their neighborhood, who don't have a ton of money. They work hard, raise thoughtful children, and just want this to not get away from us. Yes, people spin things, but be careful not to lump those who don't deserve it into your pile of "anti-intellectual" throw aways. It does nothing but create a greater gap amongst us and we all deserve to have our opinions considered, no matter WHO we are. Every opinion heard is a chance to learn something you may not have considered yet. Or to disregard something else. Just listen, read, really think about it and move forward. As for this write up. I attended and worked at SOU (formally SOSC) for a time. I also currently have friends who are in leadership roles there and extended family who serve as professors and administrators. All of that said, it's been fascinating to hear each and every one of them say how foolish it would be to cram this campus onto the west side, how much it will prevent any sort of well funded, highly desirable specialized programs and how it would impact the surrounding neighborhoods so negatively it would quickly change them. Campuses of this sort need space. Students need space. If they didn't, they'd head to the busier cities. Students choose (when they can) based on environment as much as academia. We could be providing students a much different experience on the east side and that may be a better decision. Nothing is right or wrong here. We can only look closely and thoughtfully at everything on the table and see what solution we can find. I'm not a supporter of the site, not because of my home value but because of traffic, lack of housing for students, lack of jobs on the west side, and the overall experience I think they'd appreciate having. There's a solution here but it won't be found if we are distracted by OSU trying to convince us that we are either for the site or against the University being here at all. That just insults those who are truly trying to make sense of it all.