Multiple campuses, one experience. Michael Crow wants it and, with two groundbreaking ceremonies on the West and Polytechnic campuses for new residence and dining hall facilities, he might soon have it.
A groundbreaking ceremony on the West campus on Wednesday represented the beginning of a new freshman life along Thunderbird Road. New residence halls and a new dining facility will give incoming freshman something to look forward to on campus. College students want to be around college students.
“Wherever you attend ASU, we want you to have equal access to the services and the learning environment that you can have anywhere else,” Crow said.
Students want to live in Tempe because they got to live with thousands of other students going through the same experience.
The downtown Phoenix campus greatly benefited from the same type of changes. Taylor Place gave students a place to study, relax, walk five minutes to class and “socialize.” Students grouped together found ways to have fun, found great places to eat, and built relationships for the future. Now the downtown campus has a loyal following. They are proud to be students in such an urban environment. The West and Polytechnic campuses could experience that same growth.
These campuses aren’t going away either.
Budget cuts have heavily affected ASU, but private investors have kept the Universities growth alive. Not all 70,000 students want the Tempe experience, which is why the downtown campuses’ popularity has grown. Classes are smaller and it’s easier to find new friends. There is less of a chance that students will be overwhelmed outside the Tempe campus.
The argument that both campuses are too far away is a fallacy with the constant expansion of the Valley. The West campus isn’t located in a vacant desert.
Maybe the fall of 2012, when both facilities will be finished, will mark a new era for the two campuses.
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