Citizens invited to meeting on campus-city connections

Friday, October 2, 2009

GREENCASTLE -- How can the DePauw University campus better connect to the City of Greencastle in ways that enhance the community at large?

Members of the Greencastle community are invited to offer their thoughts on that question and others at a session today in DePauw's Memorial Student Union Building (408 S. Locust Street). The session will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. in the "Fishbowl" (a glass-walled room immediately to the right of the building's main entrance).

Architects from Ayers/Saint/Gross, a Baltimore, Maryland-based architectural and planning firm, will be present to hear your ideas and thoughts about the interconnections of DePauw and the city, how you use the campus, and what might need to be addressed. Today's event is part of a year-long process, now under way, to develop a campus plan.

DePauw President Brian W. Casey calls the process "An important conversation about the ways in which we use our campus, how this institution connects to the city of Greencastle, and the ways in which we might better create community in our academic and social spaces. I view these planning discussions, informed as they will be by the intellectual life conversations, to be among the most important things we do to shape the DePauw of the near and long-term future. Our campus should be a place that enlivens and enriches us; there are reasons to believe, however, that despite the beauty of much of our grounds, our environs do not now fully achieve these fundamental aims. To make sure that the campus supports our work and our community, we must consider how we can best use our current facilities and grounds while imagining how we to meet future space needs."

Ayers/Saint/Gross is unique among American architectural and planning firms in that close to 95 percent of its work is performed for colleges and universities. Recent clients have included the University of Chicago, Emory University, the University of Notre Dame, Franklin and Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Harvard University, Swarthmore College and Wesleyan University.

Members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend today's session.

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  • Depauw doesn't care about the town they have taken over. Depauw will get what THEY want.

    I'm glad this article was posted though, it gives me the chance to bring up the fact that Depauw is allowed as a PRIVATE BUSINESS to maintain a police force with the power to detain and arrest.

    Not much different than if WalMart had their own police. That's probably next though.

    -- Posted by hoop2077 on Fri, Oct 2, 2009, at 9:37 PM
  • I agree that it would have been nice to have a meeting that more townspeople could attend. But the timing also needed to work for the people with jobs that required their attendance. Not just DePauw folks, but the mayor, chamber of commerce president and others.

    As for DePauw having a police force, two points. First, if you disagree with it, ask your representative to repeal the State Laws that allow for private police forces. While you're at it, ask about other private universities (Valpo, Butler, Taylor, Notre Dame, Anderson, to name a few) that also have police officers. Second, would you be more angry if Greencastle funds and resources went to patrol DePauw? DePauw pays for officers that keep the peace on campus. To me, that's better than Greencastle taxes paying for it.

    -- Posted by tims2008 on Sat, Oct 3, 2009, at 12:54 PM
  • I am aware that this is happening all over the country. My point is that they are a private business.

    -- Posted by hoop2077 on Sat, Oct 3, 2009, at 7:33 PM
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