Boos for the Big House

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Former dean Beckley, on the other hand, is very optimistic. “It’s going to be more livable and more humane,” he predicts of the campus of the future. “There’s already a real effort to make residence halls places of learning, because, as we’ve discovered, students learn not just in classrooms but everyplace. More buildings will have coffee shops and Wi-Fi and places to hang out—and more people will hang out. The university will become a more human place, and I’m looking forward to it.”

“The university really does have a long-term vision for the future,” argues Quinn, who’s worked on a number of projects there. “Just think about North Campus. The best thing the university did was open up North Campus in 1956. It gave them a place to expand to in the future.”

Strickland, the urban designer, confidently forecasts that “Ann Arbor’s future is very strong precisely because it’s home to a great university. One of the things this country continues to do well is higher education, and the university will continue to draw people from all over the world.