<p>Talk amongst yourselves.</p>
<p>I personally don’t see how it’s going to serve as a connection to the Morningside Heights Campus…it seems juuuuuuust far enough to be considered ‘too danm far’</p>
<p>If only there were some way Columbia could build closer to Columbia…underground, perhaps?</p>
<p>This may be an extremely naive question, but why does Columbia need to expand. If the problem is an expanding student population, couldn’t Columbia simply admit fewer people. Instead of an extremely controversial, secondary, and dislocated campus, why not just stop admitting more people–cap the number admitted each year and then you wouldn’t have to build more.</p>
<p>To keep up with the joneses?</p>
<p>Harvard is expanding into Allston and not increasing student size</p>
<p>Penn is expanding into the 25 acres of land bought from the US Post Office and not increasing student size.</p>
<p>Just as colleges were once contained in a single building and expanded into campuses, perhaps the nature of a university is simply changing so that it needs more facilities to encompass its perpetually evolving academic mission</p>
<p>I went to Manhattanville . Did I miss something in the news ??? I was always in the city when I was at M’ville. It’s not that far.</p>
<p>wrong M’ville. M’ville is also the name of the neighborhood north of morningside hgts.</p>
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<p>You’re totally off base. The space is needed for the faculty, notably the science faculty and their laboratories. You need state of the art laboratories, space for all the fancy and space-consuming equipment, etc. The students aren’t the issue.</p>
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<p>They’re squeezing as many buildings on that campus as they can. Soon, it will just be one big building after another.</p>
<p>they could definitely build another building on the asymmetric patch of land in front of John Jay…indeed the original Columbia master plan called for such a building.</p>
<p>That whole area was a football field when Columbia started. And then it was basically a shed that was the old student union before Lerner was built. They can’t put a very big building there – that space is very narrow. And, the buildings would be way too close together and ugly.</p>
<p>JohnnyK – I think you’re mistaken about that. However, the original master plan DID call for a building next to Pupin (where the tennis courts now are). That building (Northwest Corner) will indeed be constructed because of the space crunch, and should start construction next spring. It will become a science building.</p>
<p>If you’re interested about the Manhattanville Expansion, <a href=“http://www.columbiaspectator.com%5B/url%5D”>www.columbiaspectator.com</a> has a whole section devoted to it.</p>
<p>theres no way they can build anything infront of john jay…that would block the amazing view (that i had from the 12th floor) from the rooms facing campus and that would be a complete shame. As for the building next to pupin, it should supposedly be completed in 2007 or 2009…i forget, but either way it’ll be after i’ve left. </p>
<p>Just for the record i’m all for the expansion and yes manhattanville is right next to the current columbia campus.</p>
<p>Ironic that the very “progressives” the university so prides itself on nurturing are now standing in its way of expansion.</p>
<p>You can find a map there showing the original master plan for the Columbia campus. Note the multitude of unbuilt buildings</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.morningside-heights.net/mckim.htm[/url]”>http://www.morningside-heights.net/mckim.htm</a></p>
<p>Who’s to say that expansion is the progressive option? Perhaps from the university’s point of view it is, but from the people of Manhattanville’s point of view? or from a humanist point of view? Progress towards what and for whom? The answers are obvious for Columbia, but only for Columbia.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t NYC and the world benefit from a bigger Columbia that can contribute more?</p>
<p>It would only be a matter of time until gentrification kicked out the lower-income renters anyway…</p>
<p>so columbia is supposed to ignore all the people of manhattanville just because they’re going to be kicked out anyway? where are all those people going to go, hmm? they’ll either leave the city, which means new york would lose not only a cultural remnant but also many of its service workers (m’ville/harlem apartments might be all teachers, firefighters, mta workers can afford) or they’ll add to the homeless problem. columbia needs to work on better partnerships with its neighbors, backing affordable housing in the area and facilitating programs the community can take advantage of.
i do agree that columbia needs to focus on staying small and not build any more dorms. but they also need to compete to stay at the top, and recently they’ve been faltering a bit. they hope that extra science buildings/labs/etc can make them stay on the cutting edge. there is also a problem of faculty housing - lots of faculty are forced to live in jersey or the boroughs and have long commutes, and this repels prospective faculty which the university wants.
they cant really build underground because there’s already infrastructure there; i would suggest that they build upward but many of columbia’s buildings are preserved for historical significance and therefore cannot be altered in such a significant way. they need to make a compromise so that they can expand without harming too many of the m’ville residents.</p>
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<p>very nice website…</p>
<p>i’m glad they didnt build all those buildings, would’v made the campus look terrible and would’v obstructed the AMAZING view you get from the campus-side windows of john jay.</p>
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<p>Times change, neighborhoods change, people change, life changes. NYC was full the Dutch … then the English took over … then the Irish, Italians, and Jews started taking over certain neighborhoods… then Russians and Puerto Ricans came into certain neighborhoods. Buildings get built. Civilization changes. Nothing new. </p>
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<p>Elsewhere in Manhattan? Outer bouroughs? New Jersey? Long Island? The same places other people go when other buildings get built.</p>
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<p>Now you’re showing a total lack of common sense. They aren’t going anywhere far–just moving away from the epicenter of NYC. They’re going to live elsewhere in the NY metro area and keep their same jobs. Why on earth would they become homeless if they can presently afford Manhattan rent payments?</p>
<p>And, expansion–such as Columbia’s–creates jobs and helps poor people. Who do you think is going to build the new building? Who do you think is going to clean the toilets and take out the garbage at Columbia’s new campus? Civilization must progress.</p>
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<p>Why? Columbia should be making the world a better place by finding the cures for Cancer/AIDS/etc., finding a way to get a man on Mars, etc. Columbia does a little bit of that stuff for PR, but Columbia is a research university not a charity.</p>
<p>Well put, columbia2002! (thunderous applause)</p>
<p>I should make a caveat. I am totally against Columbia using – or threatening to use – the power of the state to condem Manhattanville properties so that they can acquire land for the expansion. In my book, they’re welcome to buy up the property on the open market for whatever price the market commands. But, that’s where it should end.</p>
<p>A little more news about Manhattanville today:</p>
<p>Dear fellow members of the Columbia community:</p>
<p>As a graduate of Columbia living in the New York area, you may be interested in knowing that today New
York City’s Department of City Planning certified that Columbia’s application for the proposed rezoning
of the old manufacturing area of Manhattanville in West Harlem is now complete. This action launches
the official public review and comment period under the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, also
known as ULURP, that will probably last until the end of this calendar year.</p>
<p>We enter this formal process of public review after more than three years and hundreds of consultative
meetings with community members, civic leaders, public officials, faculty, and students. From these
conversations, we have proposed a design for the University’s long-term growth that is fundamentally
different from that of our historic Morningside Heights campus --creating a new kind of urban academic
environment in which University facilities are woven into existing streets and the surrounding
community. </p>
<p>While our goal is to ensure that Columbia has the space needed to carry out its mission of teaching,
research, and patient care in Upper Manhattan in the decades ahead, we also aim to help revitalize
economic, civic, and cultural life in a project area that has not thrived in recent decades. That
includes providing ground-floor space for local retail and community uses; widened sidewalks; new
publicly accessible green space; and a pedestrian-friendly environment that helps reconnect West Harlem
with the new waterfront park now under construction along the Hudson River.</p>
<p>In addition to taking part in ULURP, we are engaged in productive discussions with the West Harlem Local
Development Corporation to craft a community benefits agreement. Our goal is to use this proposed
development as an opportunity to expand the tangible benefits a great university can bring to its own
local community – including investments in new job opportunities, education, health care, culture, and
affordable housing. </p>
<p>I encourage you to learn more about Columbia’s proposal, and invite you to visit the Manhattanville
Planning Web site, at <a href=“http://www.campusplan.columbia.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.campusplan.columbia.edu</a>. If you saw the May 27 op-ed in the New York Times
by former Mayor – and our professor of public policy – David Dinkins, you know the strong case he
makes for the many mutually beneficial ways Columbia and Harlem can grow together. Today we continue
the process of shaping that future together. </p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Lee C. Bollinger</p>