Three years after the cancellation of the East Campus Development project, our campus is once again faced with a massive construction project that defies our university values and harms several aspects of our community.

Oakland University has started to push for a data center to replace the underutilized parking lot P-35. This parking lot is dangerously close to Hillcrest Hall, the Native American Heritage Site, the western Biological Preserve and the nature trail system. 

The initial stages of this project were approved in June of this summer, with administration entering its “design and due diligence” phase during the fall, as they seek for final Board of Trustees approval in April.

Data centers are known for their massive sustainability issues that affect their communities. The data center currently being proposed would utilize up to 26 Megawatts of power, and a closed loop water and chemical cooling system that will need to be changed routinely. Rather than a traditional system of diesel backup generators, administration is looking to use a less efficient natural gas system. 

Did I mention the constant “talking voice level” hum that every surrounding area would have to listen to? As a resident of Hillcrest Hall, I struggle to think I could sleep very well in that environment. Not to mention, anybody walking the trail system would have to listen to this during their walk. 

It could also scare away animals such as our beloved beavers out of the biological preserves. With how much power a data center uses, and with how much water will need to be routinely filtered out of the data center, power bills will slowly spike for the local community outside of our campus and local water usage would be impacted. 

The University claims this will be the first sustainable data center in the nation through its new systems. I would argue a sustainable data center does not exist, as many environmental factors are still at play. 

There will always be waste water, there will always be greenhouse gas emissions that raise our carbon footprint and there will always be sound pollution.

One would then ask “if we’re building this, how would this benefit me at all?” 

The answer is there is little to no benefit to anybody outside of administration. In promoting this project, the university has said it would provide more opportunities for students, through internships and research opportunities. 

That sounds pretty good right? 

That is until you look at how many jobs a data center truly creates. A data center is required to have a minimum 50 members of staff, more than likely going over to about 60-100. Only a portion of these will be promised to OU students, with no guarantee that these internships will be offered on campus. 

The trail system will become even more inaccessible to disabled students, as while there is no ADA compliant lot for the trails, P-35 remains the most accessible lot until the new ADA compliant lot and bridge are built at a later date. The local community, which has had no involvement in the project thus far, will be impacted by the mass water and power usage. 

The few benefits this data center provides are heavily outweighed by the many negative impacts. 

For a university that claims to have sustainability as a main pillar of the Campus Master Plan moving forward, building a data center that does nothing but destroy our campus environment seems very hypocritical. 

And for a student body constantly plagued by spiking tuition and rapidly declining student services, a project such as this feels like a slap in the face.

 It’s time to once again rise up as a campus community to fight back against an administration money-grab that hurts us as a whole. If you want to make your voice heard, continue to show up to listening sessions about the project, show up to Senate and Board of Trustees meetings, and sign on to the petition to stop the project led by Student Congress. 

Now, more than ever, is our time to make sure our voices are heard.