Letter to the editor: A University Is Not a Shopping Mall
Last Friday, I had to get an X-ray at Ascension hospital in Rochester Hills. Coming home, I drove west on Walton Boulevard toward the Oakland University campus. It was late in the day and traffic was heavy, especially near the corner of Walton and Adams. People were headed home from work, and shoppers came and went from the intersection’s three developed corners: the Tim Horton corner, The Village corner, and the Trader Joe’s/Busch’s corner.
Like most people, I don’t like how built up Rochester Hills has become—people move here because of its green spaces, its leafy avenues, its good schools. Which is why, when I descended the hill and neared the intersection, I was glad to see the great forest on the OU corner. That forest reminds us of the history of Oakland University, which had its first incarnation as forested lands belonging to the Anishinaabe people. The grassy expanse, which lies between the forest and the intersection, reminds us in turn of Matilda Wilson, who devoted herself to the exploration of farming best-practices and dedicated the land to future generations of Michiganders.
Matilda Wilson donated her farm to the state to create a public university. A university is not a shopping mall. It’s a place where people go to learn more about the world and themselves. They attend to prepare for a career and, in that process, they build a community. As members of the Oakland University community, it is up to us to tell the administrators, who want to plow up the meadow and woods to put in another shopping mall, that we don’t want or need it. There’s plenty of shopping in the area. Indeed, on the Walton and Adams corner, there are empty storefronts. Why build more?
One of the great things about the meadow and woods is the fact that they announce themselves as something different. When we drive toward them, we know at once that we are not arriving at yet another shopping area that could be anywhere in the over-developed landscape of modern America. Instead, we find ourselves approaching an institution that respects itself as a space of possibility, a space that leaves room for imagining the needs of future people, as well as the needs of its current students and community members.
One important thing that the forest and meadow help us to imagine is how we will address the current climate crisis. This crisis most recently sent a tornado spinning through the town of Gaylord. It is torching the country’s western states, with fires of such intensity that, last summer here in Michigan, smoke burned citizens’ throats and turned the sun red. It is clear that the campus community needs to join President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz in her Grizzlies Healthy Planet Initiative (GHPI), which “encourages OU to adopt policies that support a more healthy and sustainable university.”
Oakland University has invited comments and questions about the proposed East Campus development here. But let’s join our voices together and say publicly, here in OU’s student newspaper, how we feel about putting yet another shopping mall on the corner of Walton and Adams.
old school OU alum • Jun 15, 2022 at 11:37 AM
It saddens me to read about the potential development of the Walton and Adams corner of East Campus. As a person that has lived in the area since the mid-70’s I’ve seen many changes to the area and most especially the campus of Oakland University. Not all of the changes have been good. I implore the university to save this last shred of undeveloped area at that corner. If money really is an issue for the university and a motivator for development, the administration should consider not spending $150K+ on consultant fees for a project that may ultimately end up going nowhere.
Susan Strunk • Jun 6, 2022 at 1:32 PM
I am an alumna of OU and I live near Walton and Adams. The University ‘spotlight[s] the Walton-Adams Corner’ to ‘maximize the value of its campus-edge land’ which ‘lacks a compelling gateway district.’ If this language doesn’t align with the present motivation of local, governing bodies to erase all memories of bucolic land and put in anything which it could derive a quick buck from, I don’t know what does. I am discouraged and upset that the local community that I enjoy is at the reigns of decision-makers with short-sighted planning skills.
anon • Jun 5, 2022 at 6:14 PM
Most definitely we need to utilize those spaces. Otherwise, where would the revenue stream for the new presidential suite with gold toilets come from?
Theresa Rowe • Jun 3, 2022 at 10:49 AM
Excellent commentary. How very sad, in an era of online shopping and empty storefronts all over the Rochester/Troy area, the university would consider removal of valuable and important green space to create yet another row of empty stores. It was very sad to watch Oakland University change from a beautiful green campus to an ongoing, never-ending construction zone surrounded by parking lots during my 30 years there.
DLT • May 29, 2022 at 3:03 PM
My family moved north 28 years ago to the neighborhood behind the Busch’s shopping center and as local residents — with three OU graduates — we are also not happy about all the development in the three corners of the Walton and Adams intersection. I would hate to see the final, wooded OU corner cleared for yet more “upscale, boutique” shops when there are already several empty storefronts nearby. Progression is one thing, but enough is enough.
Greg Rivard • May 27, 2022 at 2:05 PM
Well said Annie.
Where to comment? • May 26, 2022 at 6:13 PM
Annie, you mentioned a link where people can comment on the proposed development, but I went the the site and didn’t see it.
Annette Gilson • May 27, 2022 at 12:17 PM
This is the website — https://oakland.edu/EastCampus/
[email protected]
But I would suggest you also make your responses public so we can all see the public response!
Steve K • May 26, 2022 at 4:16 PM
Great. Let’s talk about how OU’s first incarnation was Anishinaabe land. It was not OU’s first incarnation. All of that was pre-OU. Matilda Wilson colonized it, and OU is the second wave of that colonization. The land before OU was not an incarnation. Rather, Matilda Wilson, followed by OU, replaced it.
And a university is totally a shopping mall. It is an intellectual shopping mall. Students show up and have their choices of majors and classes. They pay more for some classes and campus experiences than others, all driven by their choices and preferences. Like malls, the university is predicated on part-time labor of people without the job security afforded tenured faculty such as yourself.
Like a mall, it even has a food court.
Annette Gilson • May 27, 2022 at 12:20 PM
Steve, yes, I know, universities have been moving that way more and more. I for one would like us to remember that we are an institution of learning designed to develop the whole person. And I agree that it’s unfair that only a small proportion of professors are tenured.
This is an article speaking to the lostness that many students currently feel, and I think it’s due to the feeling that universities are too much like shopping malls: https://www.chronicle.com/article/students-are-missing-the-point-of-college?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_4354771_nl_Academe-Today_date_20220527&cid=at&source=ams&sourceid=
Yousef • Jun 6, 2022 at 6:19 AM
Dr Gilson. As a recent parent and current student it is hard for me to see the value in a university education in the classical sense. It is my understanding that the university was intended to create well rounded individuals capable of critical thought and reasoning while focusing one one major field of study. It seems to me this primary goal is almost a waste of time and money for a majority of the curriculum. If I want to learn about African tribal culture, greek philosophy, or debates about the Abrahamic God’s existence i can simply listen to a podcast, youtube video, or oral book. for 10-50 bucks i can buy a book and listen/read it and effectively get the same educational value or at least 80 percent from it as if i had taken the class.
Given how astronomically expensive it is to go to school and how cheap alternatives are i dont see a justification for mandating large sections of the curriculum. The value i see in a university is the training of individuals for highly specialized skills such as doctors, nurses, lawyers, and engineers. As a parent who is now saving for my childs future education why should I not reconsider unless i see reform?
Annette Gilson • Jun 16, 2022 at 1:20 PM
Dear Yousef,
This is a deeply sad letter. I understand what you’re saying — it is crazily expensive to attend college, and I don’t think it should be. I think college is a time to explore the world and to learn in greater depth about different subjects that spark your interest. The idea is that, by going to class with a prof who has been studying a given subject in depth for most of their lives, and to be in the classroom with other students who are also focused on the subject, that something happens that is different –really different– from sitting by yourself and learning about a subject alone. The hope is that the teacher guides the students in conversation and thought, and that the teacher also learns from the students, who are the next generation of our community.
In my classroom, I learn a lot from students and also (I hope) share with them what I’ve learned over the years. The great thing is that you and your classmates are the people of the future. It’s important to be a part of a community when you explore the issues that are of a concern to you. We already live and learn so much in isolation, in silos, that it’s hard to be a part of a lively discussion of new ideas and issues. In a general ed class I’ll be teaching this fall, we’re going to read literature of displacement. That will include fantasies such as Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, as well as immigrant stories and cultural crossings within the larger US society. I haven’t taught the class yet, but I am looking forward to students’ own take on their experiences of cultural displacement, of crossing into different subcultures, of meeting people who are different from them and exploring new ways of seeing the world.
Given the great troubles we face as a world, with rapid climate change and extreme political polarization, I think college is a place where we can learn to be open and to appreciate points of view that are different from our own. Where we can come together to decide how best to move forward, for ourselves and for future generations.
Thank you for your thoughtful letter. I think this exchange between us is enabled by Oakland University, by its existence as a place where people can engage with each other respectfully, where we can learn what others’ value and try to understand the challenges we face as a community. And I have always said that the cost of tuition is prohibitive. Here are some thoughts about how we might go about addressing that particular problem that our community faces:
Below is an interview with Gina Raimondo, the former governor of Rhode Island, who made community college free there. She is now U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
Raimondo points to the increase in minority enrollment after the program began. It seems to me that students would be drawn to come here to OU if we show them we are trying to make their lives easier, by attending to issues that might seem minor to us but make a big difference in their lives –such as last-dollar scholarships described at the end of the excerpt. If OU could work more with students to make the cost of college affordable, then maybe you and other students would feel differently about attending college.
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-be-a-modern-democrat-and-win/
RAIMONDO: I’m proud of the fact that we just became the fourth state in America to make community college tuition-free.
DUBNER: What kind of residency requirement is there afterwards? If I get a free community-college degree from you and then I move immediately to Massachusetts or California, do I have to pay you back?
RAIMONDO: We ask them to make a pledge that they’ll stick around for a couple of years. So yes, the deal is, you have to go full-time, because we want people to graduate. You have to keep up a minimum grade-point average, can’t get into trouble, got to be in academic good standing. And we want you to live in Rhode Island for at least two years after you graduate.
DUBNER: Tell me how many students either are taking advantage, or you expect to take advantage, of this first-year, free community college. And then I want to know what it costs the state, and where the money comes from.
RAIMONDO: We know that this year, on account of the scholarship, the first-time, full-time students, is up 43 percent over last year. That is 43 percent more kids this year than last year. And one thousand five hundred enrolled with this scholarship. By the way, an interesting fact: Hispanic enrollment, enrollment of Latinos, is up 70 percent. African-American enrollment is up 52 percent.
DUBNER: Which I guess is, among other things, a really good indicator that cost was a huge barrier for certain groups, right?
RAIMONDO: That’s exactly it — cost is the reason. In America, four out of ten kids drop out of college. And cost is the number one determinant. People make life-determining decisions, often over a very small amount of money. Like the S.A.T., to give a perfect example. One of my initiatives is, this year, we’re putting the S.A.T. during school, not on a Saturday, and we’re making it free for everybody. The number is skyrocketing, how many people are taking it. And I sit with kids and ask, “Why didn’t you take it before? This will change your life.” They say, “Where am I going to get the 80 bucks, Governor? Where do you want me to get it?”
This is another thing that motivated me with the Promise program. Kids drop out every day over 400 bucks. I ask, “Really? Honestly, you dropped out of college over 400 bucks?” It might as well be $40,000, because they don’t know where to get it. Let me tell you how we are paying for it. It’s less than $4 million a year. It’s about three and a half million dollars a year. By the way, our total budget is $9 billion. And where are we getting it? We are prioritizing it. It’s coming out of our budget. I found the money in a balanced budget. It’s not that much money.
DUBNER: Three and a half million, for 1,500 kids, though. That sounds like super cheap tuition.
RAIMONDO: Well, do you know why, though? The way we’ve structured this, it’s what they call a last-dollar scholarship. So in order to get the scholarship, you have to apply for all federal aid you’re available for, like Pell grants, for example. You have to apply for any kind of other scholarships. And then there’s often a gap of about a thousand bucks. So the average size of our scholarship is — is not huge— it’s a thousand bucks, 2,000 bucks. Because they get their Pell money, we’ve seen a huge increase in the Pell recipients because now that people know they have a shot at going to college, they are more likely to apply for Pell. And they’re not leaving that money on the table.
Yousef • Jun 22, 2022 at 1:17 PM
Dr. Gilson,
Very good point. I will not contest the quality of education will definitely be better in a university as opposed to self guided learning. I think you’re also correct in saying much can be gained by conversing in the environment you discussed (classrooms). But the marginal cost for this experience in the face of alternatives seems to not be worth it.
When I was an undergraduate a quarter of my classes were not immediately relevant to my major. This amounts to about 50K/200K spent on my education. If i can get most of the facts of the matter about the topics i paid exorbitant sums of money for essentially free where is the equal exchange of value?
Unfortunately I think the primary source of value a university provides is a credential. Most career paths require some degree related to the job field for you to be taken seriously but i believe could be done by someone without one.
I feel Universities are alot like cable TV, we only watch a few channels but are required to pay $100/month for all of the channels we never watch.
Laura Landolt • May 26, 2022 at 4:13 PM
I couldn’t agree with you more, Annie! Thanks for sharing.
Robert Anderson • May 26, 2022 at 11:59 AM
Well said. Thanks for speaking truth here.
Jeff Insko • May 26, 2022 at 11:41 AM
Thank you for this thoughtful, elegant, and important commentary, Annie!