On the UB Web site, South Campus is described as "picturesque" and boasts that Buffalo is "a big city with a hometown feel."
What the Web site fails to mention is that the State University of New York at Buffalo will soon be a relic of the past, and high school juniors will eventually be sending their college applications to SUNY Amherst.
It seems to be an unspoken goal for the UB administration to slowly phase South Campus out of existence. As construction pans out for The Alfiero Business Center next to Jacobs Hall, off-campus housing across from Sweet Home High School and the famously slow-moving Lee Road Project, it has become obvious that UB is not concerned with instituting any plans to revitalize South Campus.
Expanding North Campus in the cleaner, safer Town of Amherst was a good idea for the last 30 years. Now it's time to spread the wealth.
Unfortunately, with every announcement of a new project on North Campus, UB officials are forgetting that three miles south of Amherst, there is another campus gasping for its last breaths.
I can understand the UB administration's reluctance to expand South Campus through the University Heights district; there are bums every two blocks, most basements are infested with rats, the crime rate is high and the entire area looks like the set of "Boyz N the Hood."
In addition, many of the buildings on South Campus are ancient and dilapidated; Clark Hall seems like it hasn't been worked on since Calvin Coolidge was president.
However, since thousands of students live on or near South Campus, the university has an obligation to improve the area with the same zeal it has brought to North Campus. By ignoring South Campus, UB is letting a golden opportunity for improvement slip through its fingers.
Whether the UB administration knows it, South Campus is where the party is. Thousands of students live there and hundreds more come down every weekend. All of the house parties are on South, and all of the bars are on South. Despite the squalid living conditions, UB students have made University Heights the closest thing UB has to a "college town."
There is a heartbeat in University Heights that does not exist on North Campus. This heartbeat consists of thousands of college students just looking to party and have a good time. UB needs to respond to that heartbeat and expand South Campus.
If UB put half the money and effort it's planning for North Campus into South, the possibilities would be endless. The property value around the South Campus section of Main Street cannot be very high; the entire University Heights area is a ghetto.
The university could build a real student union on South. UB could create a Lee Road-type stretch on Main Street. The university could build modern lecture halls and apartments on South Campus. UB could take that stretch of Main Street and help transform it into a young, urban community.
Unfortunately, these ideas are nothing more than wishful thinking. I am a senior at UB, and I can honestly say University Heights and South Campus are pretty much exactly the same as they were my freshman year. Meanwhile, project after multi-million dollar project is announced on North Campus.
Various UB officials - such as Vice President of Student Affairs Dennis Black, and former President William Greiner - have stated many times that UB is not "abandoning" South Campus.
Maybe they know something I don't.
I still believe the UB administration has a choice. They can either seriously devote some time and effort into revitalizing South Campus and perhaps University Heights, or change their "official" stance and just admit that despite previous statements, UB has no intention of seriously undertaking any projects aimed at improving the quality of life on South Campus.
The way I see it, UB is clearly choosing the latter.
Welcome to SUNY Amherst.
