Learning Resources

Abstract: Temporary facilities are commonplace on the American campus and have been for many years. To determine the nature of such facilities in use or being added by colleges and universities, the American Institute of Architects' Committee on Architecture for Education, the American Association of Junior Colleges, and the Association of University Architects in 1970 conducted a survey of the phenomenon. An analysis of the results, supported by the Council of Educational Facility Planners, Educational Facilities Laboratories, and SCUP, as well as by AIA and AAJC, was conducted by David S. Haviland, associate professor and director, Center for Architectural Research, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. This article is adapted from Mr. Haviland's analysis of 160 responses to the survey questionaire (50 of which reported no use of temporary facilities).

Abstract: Building cost escalation has forced up the price of new campus housing to the point that, under conventional planning and construction methods, dormitory space can cost as much as $10,000 or more per bed. Given such costs, many institutions find it difficult if not impossible to finance new housing without raising student rental charges to prohibitive levels. In response, a number of institutions have sought ways to provide housing at substantially lower cost. One solution is the so-called "turnkey" approach, in which a developer plans, designs, and builds new housing to meet the institution's specifications at a predetermined, fixed cost. This article describes the successful application of the turnkey technique at three institutions--the Universities of Rhode Island, Vermont, and Delaware.

Abstract: The concept that innovation and change in curriculum and teaching patterns will affect the arrangement and utilization of physical facilities is hardly novel in 1972. But perhaps nowhere has the principle been demonstrated more dramatically than at Colorado College in Colorado Springs. The college, with a faculty of 125 and a student body of 1,650, in September 1970 adopted a comprehensive plan that involved an almost total revision of the concepts of a course, a classroom, a contact hour, a unit of credit, scheduling procedures, and definitions of academic and non-academic space. This article is adapted from one by Dr. Glenn Brooks, professor of political science and assistant to the president, and Malcolm Ware, administrative assistant to the dean, describes both the planning process and the ultimate results. The original appeared in Higher Education Facilities Planning Manuals, published by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.

Abstract: No institution, public or private, has gone untouched by the current recession in higher education. But the fiscal crisis clearly is more severe in the private sector and perhaps nowhere more visible than at that giant among private institutions, New York University. Faced with a deficit of more than $10 million for 1971-72 and the prospect of a $14 million shortage next year, the university is selling one of its major campuses and, at the recommendation of its Task Force on the Financial Emergency, abandoning a cost-cutting scalpel in favor of the meat axe. This article, based on the task force report and interviews with Dr. James M. Hester, NYU's president, and other key administrators, attempts to analyze the NYU crisis--and the proposed remedies--for whatever value they may hold for other institutions.