New university proposal

[Phillip]

Last semester when I was at UTA, I proposed in one of my urban studies classes that there be a new university in Dallas on the site of what is currently Lakewood Country Club. The school wouldn't be a big one but something along the lines of SMU--a medium-sized private university on a decent-sized (if slightly small) piece of land. (All the mature trees are already there, with the current golf course.) The Lakewood area seems like it would be a decent college environment, and Lower Greenville is just a stone's throw away. Gaston is also a nice street with a lot of nice pre-WWII homes past Abrams and a high density all the way to Downtown. I feel that this part of town's been underutilized--there's a lot of upside around, including Baylor Hospital. I doubt Lakewood Country Club would be willing to give up its site to some Dallas bigwig who wanted to put a school there, but man would it be a boon for the city. What do you guys think?

[jsoto3]

I'd rather see a university take up several blocks somewhere (anywhere) downtown.

[sogod]

Those are both good ideas, and for a metro our size we should be able to do both.

[mrgrieves]

My family belongs to Lakewood .They have a waiting list to join right now, so things are going well for the club, and it has been there since the '20s. I think downtown would work better.

[gshelton91]

The golf course is great we need more of them not less in the city.

I think a better place for a new university would be adjacent to fair park. before the university was going full blast they could make use of the buildings in the park and it comes with a great basket ball arena and foot ball stadium. also soon will be on the DART line and easy access to Exposition park and Deep Ellum

[Spjz]

Our problem in North Texas is not too few universities, but too few research centers. UTA, UTD, TCU, SMU, UD, DBU and PQ could play a bigger roll in research and development.

[vman]

I'd rather see a university take up several blocks somewhere (anywhere) downtown.
A university utilizing many of the vacant buildings and parking lots in and around the Farmer's Market/Southern end of downtown would be awesome.

[Lakewooder]

The golf course is great we need more of them not less in the city.

I think a better place for a new university would be adjacent to fair park. before the university was going full blast they could make use of the buildings in the park and it comes with a great basket ball arena and foot ball stadium. also soon will be on the DART line and easy access to Exposition park and Deep Ellum

My thoughts exactly Greg - plus it should be of a nature which would encourage at risk kids to go to college.
Another option would be to tie into Baylor and Deep Ellum somehow.

No way would Lakewood Country Club nor the neighborhood allow its destruction. And it was opened in 1912.

[Maverick]

Our problem in North Texas is not too few universities, but too few research centers. UTA, UTD, TCU, SMU, UD, DBU and PQ could play a bigger roll in research and development.

I agree. There are plenty of universities. (If PQ makes the above list, I wouldn't omit Texas Wesleyan.) In fact another university of dubious need, UNT Dallas, is coming on-line (in however number of years it takes to meet state requirements for FTE students).

UT Dallas and UT Arlington are working like gang-busters to become major research centers. That's their primary strategic focus, IMO. They lead the pack, and will pull-away further in the years ahead. UT Dallas' progress is pretty well summarized on this site; however, UT Arlington did $40 million in research in 2007, and the goal is to bring it up to $100 million within a decade. To help achieve this, in 2008 alone, UT Arlington will break ground with construction of $170 million of new research space: $110 million new engineering research building, $15 million expansion and renovation of present engineering lab building; $10 million new civil engineering research building, $34 million for Center for Structural Engineering Research (the latter in Dallas County at the corner of I-30 and MacArthur...the university's first physical presence in Dallas County).

[mjblazin]

If the target is at-risk students, then we should build more 2 year community colleges. Those recent DMN articles about the average to above average students piling up $60-100K in debt to get a degree left me with the conclusion that many or most students have no ability to evaluate cost vs. benefit. A sadder factor is that these stories were about graduates. What about the huge numbers of students that dropped out after several years of expensive education?

I mention it because community colleges are the best fit for the educational need, but are not the image that most urbanists associate with the college footprint. I expect most have images of Boston with lots of quality schools and resident students milling about in a so-called "vibrant" setting. Community college students are usually transient, don't have time for outside activities, and probably have minimal interaction with immediate area surrounding the campus. The campuses are usually utilitarian.

[Phillip]

If the target is at-risk students, then we should build more 2 year community colleges. Those recent DMN articles about the average to above average students piling up $60-100K in debt to get a degree left me with the conclusion that many or most students have no ability to evaluate cost vs. benefit. A sadder factor is that these stories were about graduates. What about the huge numbers of students that dropped out after several years of expensive education?

I mention it because community colleges are the best fit for the educational need, but are not the image that most urbanists associate with the college footprint. I expect most have images of Boston with lots of quality schools and resident students milling about in a so-called "vibrant" setting. Community college students are usually transient, don't have time for outside activities, and probably have minimal interaction with immediate area surrounding the campus. The campuses are usually utilitarian.
Boston was certainly the image I had. While the Metroplex has plenty of universities, most other cities have quite a few more. Dallas shouldn't be a one-college town. It doesn't need to be like Boston, but at least have more than just SMU in the urbanized area. My proposal was to have a private non-sectarian college for those above average students on the Lakewood site. There's only one elite university in Texas, Rice. Most of the other top students either are faced with going to a big state school, which Texas has a lot of, or going to college out-of-state. The thing about the Metroplex is that there are a lot of big schools--UTA, UTD, UNT, Tarleton, TWU, etc. And all the small ones we have are all in the suburbs--University of Dallas, Paul Quinn, DBU, etc. The only two "real" mid-size private universities we have are TCU and SMU. Atlanta's got our number on this front. In fact, no city in Texas (Houston's the closest, though) has what I would consider an adequate number of private, in-town universities.