Designing the American Campus
EDLD 199 - CRN 14839
Fall 2002
A University of Oregon Freshman Seminar

Optional Big(ger) Project

Updated 10/21/02
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I'm going to give you the opportunity to take on a larger project, with my assistance, in exchange for not being required to do most or all of the rest of the short out-of-class projects (about one per week for another four weeks or so). . Those not doing the "big(ger)" project might be subjected to an in-class essay quiz related to campus history and to the readings.

To undertake one of these projects, you must:

• Choose a subject (one listed below, or another approved in advance by me). Week 1
• Form a group. I expect group work, with at least three students per group for these projects. Week 1
• Get my approval of the group and the subject, and claim it with a message to the e-mail list. Week 1
• Frame the questions. I have samples below, but you are not limited to these. Week 1-2
• Meet with me. Week 1-2
• Do the work. At a minimum, this must at least some original source research. It may include in-class group work possibly with "expert" visitors. To be determined
• Write it up. To be determined, but well before finals.
• Possibly present your findings briefly in class. Also well before finals.

SUBJECTS with teams identified

Dormitories Brandon Helton, Evan Sitka, Jon Bowman
question: what aspects might be a major issue for the UO in terms of recruiting, retaining, and educating students?

• room size
• building size
• location of common facilities
• convenience and access, interaction & shared facilities (and group size)
• elevators (or lack of)
• differences between complexes... good? bad?

Function and efficiency Linday Lott, Lisa Mockler, John Knorek, Bob Patterson
question: How does function affect the placement of activities and programs on campus? Does this have a visible effect? Is it a positive effect? Does this in any way relate to the history of campuses as intentional (utopian) communities?

The invisible campus Chris Hermann, Erin Walsh, Ryan Newman
question: How does the invisible campus frame and form the visible? Will the virtual campus make the physical campus obsolete?

• utilities
• virtual communities - networks - virtual campus?

Extra curricular activities: greeks, athletics, intramurals, etc. - Kristin Williams, Whitney Scott, Cody Galloway, Sallie Lofland
question: How essential are these to the life of the university? How do they influence the layout and design of the campus?

History [no takers]
question: where does campus form come from? How was the UO's first quadrangle planned, and by whom? How does the history of the UO fit into the context of the evolving American campus?

Maintenance [no takers]
question: How does maintenance (or lack of) affect the impression on visitors and prospective students? Is there a hidden cost to lack of maintence? Is it possible to over-maintain buildings and systems? If so, how can that threshold be determined?

Architecture & style [no takers]
question: Does the UO have a style? Can it be defined? Should it be enforced? How does this style relate to the expectations of "campus"?

Transportation of people [no takers]
question: How does the movement of people to and from, and within the campus affect the layout and design of the university? What advanced strategies might be available to make progress on this long-standing problem (paraphrase of Clark Kerr: leadership in a university is not challenging if you can provide football for the alumni, parking for the faculty, and sex for the students).

Crowding/capacity/growth [no takers]
question: How is the "right size" of the UO determined? What is that size, and how does the UO plan to stay at that size? What are the implications of being significantly smaller? Larger?