Greiner Defends Choice of Amherst for Campus

Former UB president William Greiner defended on Friday the 40-year-old decision to place UB in Amherst rather than in downtown Buffalo.

Greiner, who has been researching the subject of UB's 1960s expansion, stood by the controversial campus choice, saying the options of expanding on Main Street or moving to the waterfront were impractical.

The issue has long been a touchy subject in the region, with some citizen action groups in Buffalo going so far as to blame the decision for a large part of the city's economic decline. Greiner said he's had to endure criticism his entire 13-year tenure as president for a decision made long before his service as president began.

Greiner said, however, that when the history of the university is taken into consideration, UB's move to a large suburban campus outside of Buffalo made sense.

"Those that want to enter that discussion, look at the sites that were considered," Greiner told audience members at the Center for the Arts.

Greiner began with a history of UB in terms of its location, beginning as an inauspicious medical school borrowing space in area buildings and in local hospitals. He highlighted the fact the school started with completely volunteer faculty and also noted the role Niagara University played in the growth of an early UB.

"In 1886 and 1887 the medical school formed at Niagara University became a part of UB, and the law school formed at Niagara became UB's law school," Greiner said. "We actually owe a great debt to Niagara University."

Greiner continued to follow the slow progression of UB from a professional school on High Street to the formation of the College of Arts and Sciences in the heart of downtown Buffalo's Niagara Square.

"A group of women - and remember this is a university dominated by men - a group of women gave the impetus for the formation of the College of Arts and Sciences," he said.

"UB owes its existence to philanthropically energized women," he added, referring to a donation from Grace Knox in 1909 that allowed UB to move to the current location of South Campus at Main and Bailey.

The heart of Greiner's discussion, however, lies in the 1960s. In 1962 UB became the flagship university of the new public SUNY system.

"(Then-president) Meyerson's idea for expansion was to about 15,000 students," Greiner said. "(Governor) Nelson Rockefeller encouraged UB to expand to 40,000."

Greiner said with pressures like that, moving UB to a waterfront location was not feasible, especially with the site available at the time, where Erie Basin Marina and LaSalle Park are located today. Greiner said those that feel UB abandoned the city hold onto the waterfront campus idea, but forget about the plan to expand the existing South Campus to include much of the University Heights area and the Grover Cleveland Golf Course.

It is that expansion from the Main Street campus in which Greiner expressed disappointment.

"I think we missed a great opportunity to build a great medical center on the corner of Main and Bailey," he said.

Greiner detailed several design plans for the Amherst campus, and said the Amherst campus best fit the academic plan envisioned for UB.

"UB was designed according to an academic plan on both campuses," he said. "Because of these decisions we are one of the more land-rich universities in the United States."

Greiner said his research on the subject would culminate in a paper and possibly would be released as a book entailing the history of UB, its move to Amherst, and the process and discussion surrounding it.