Tuesday, June 2, 2009

West Side Campus?

Others are probably much more familiar with the idea for Chicago State to create a second campus somewhere on the West Side, but my impression was that this plan was long dead due to other needs at the university.  In today’s Chicago Tribune, however, there’s a story about the “pork” projects in the recently passed state budget.  According to the Tribune,  “The new pot of money allowed lawmakers to approve $3.1 billion in projects, which varied from $50,000 for a firetruck in Rockford to $40 million for a Chicago State University campus to be built somewhere on the city's West Side.” 

I’m certainly not completely familiar with all of the various long-term plans at the university, so can anyone enlighten us about this?  What do others think about the idea of creating a second campus?  It seems to me that the current campus has so many infrastructure needs that we should be focusing on meeeting those needs rather than looking at creating an entirely new campus.  

7 comments:

  1. I saw this too. Thanks, Steve, for commenting on it. One thing that immediately occurred to me is this: what is this, segregation U.? That our undergraduate student population is overwhelmingly black could be considered an accident (it isn't; they built three campuses more or less simultaneously, CSU, UIC, and Northeastern Illinois). But to add a second campus on the west side (UIC is a west side campus) and to call it CSU is to emphasize the racial segregation. Why not call it UIC or Northeastern Illinois? Is this related to the idea that CSU belongs to the Chicago Black Democratic Party? These are just thoughts here, no convictions. But it does stink of racism and segregation to me.

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  2. I am a graduate of Chicago State and attended in the 1960's, 1980's, 1990's for two degrees. I recently attended in 2007 and found the infrastructure of the older buildings in need of improvement. Sidewalks are patch with asphalt and the bottoms of campus light pole are rusted through. Ceiling air vents were caked in black soot, the bathrooms were worn and abused, the entrance doors to buildings were not fully functional - either did not open or were very hard to open because of the building's vacuum pressure.
    Yet they built a new library - the old library met their needs, a new student union - the former student union met their needs, a new convocation center which enhanced the university.

    The university has gone historically from Chicago Board of Education control up until 1967 when its name was changed from Chicago Teachers College-South to Illinois Teachers College-South, then Chicago State College to Chicago State University. During the 1960's and through the 1970's the university had a West Side campus. What ever happened to it is another mystery. Now we are going to build a new campus and cannot a viable student population at the main campus. Enrollment is dismal and the location of the main campus what a mistake from its beginning when it moved in the late 1970's. Someone needs to wake up and relocate everything to a new location and return the land back to the railroad. The managing governmental body (Board of Governors?) that oversees this university needs to understand the real estate concept: Location, Location.

    TEMPO Newspaper Editor-in-Chief (1968)

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  3. In response to Tempo Editor: I never knew that CSU had a West Side campus. I tried to verify and explore on the internet but could find nothing. Can anyone develop and explain that history of CSU on the West Side?

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  4. Steve, great observations. How about this one? Is the money ($40 mil) for planning or for construction, operations or what? If it is for planning, why would the university need so much, unless the university was possibly being used as a 'pass through' to pay off political favors owed by West Side politicians. Who will manage the $40 million? Will it be the same person who oversaw the Public Policy Institute, now defunct? If so, we can expect no faculty involvement, which is more curious. It was also mentioned at the President's Executive Council that no one around the table had been notified about the money or the intent. That is very curious indeed.

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  5. Phillip's comment adds to the interest, particularly the part about the President's Executive Council. How is it that no one on the campus can know about a new satallite campus?

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  6. Paul--There was indeed a West Side Campus in the late 60s prior to the move to 95th St. I think it was located at what was once Crane Junior College. We have some material on it in the CSU archives if you'd like to take a look.

    --EJ Carter

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  7. Chicago Teacher's College was located at 68th and Stewart, and then moved to 95th and King in 1973. It was renamed Chicago State University. The new location had good facilities, and students liked the accomodations.

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