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September 9, 2010
Hmmm...this definition of "college town" seems inadequate
Something on the Ticker at the Chronicle of Higher Education*:
The index considers 222 metropolitan areas with student populations of 15,000 or more to find the 75 "best towns and cities" and ranks the areas based on 12 factors, such as cost of living and diversity.
The problem is that they start with a hard number, 15,000 students. Surely the definition of a college town is not based on an absolute number, but on the proportion of students to permanent residents. Therefore they end up considering places like New York. Now part of Manhattan is starting to feel like a college town, what with all the NYU flags everywhere, but really! The thing about a university in a big city is that unless you behave obnoxiously (and I mean NYU and Columbia's land deals) no one pays much attention. The report also identifies San Jose as a midsize college town. I may be revealing my non-West Coast bias, but the only school I know of in San Jose is San Jose State. The report's example of a small college town is Boulder. Now i think of Boulder as a college town.
*I visit the Chronicle's website infrequently because almost everything of interest is gated for subscribers only.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at September 9, 2010 7:07 AM