Why Are So Many Good Colleges in Such Crappy Neighborhoods?

It's partly because of the nature of a college community: transient student tennants don't exactly invite upkeep on the part of either tennants or landlords. There's less of a sense of community in these neighborhoods as well, since people are moving in for set periods of time. Also, big schools like Penn that have hospitals in urban areas are notorious for inviting blight. It's at least partly due to the lack of integration between massive hospital complexes, lecture halls, etc. and the streets--which are pretty empty after 5 PM anyway. This doesn't really account for the city of New Haven, however. That's a bigger problem than just the immediate neighborhood around Yale...

(Can you tell I took urban studies classes in school?)

As opposed to my old campus which was often busier after 5 (well 7 cause the meal hall hours) cause their was no where else to go.

Columbia is on the precipice of a couple of sketchy blocks, but in general that area is beautiful -- all these classy, tony old buildings with doormen and dramatic awnings.

Otherwise, most Pacific universities tend to be in really boring, safe areas. Hell, University of Washington's U-district is "dangerous" compared to most west coast universities I've visited.

1) Columbia- Lived in a dorm at 120th and Amsterdam for two years. The dorm itself was a vermin-infested hellhole (actually, I'm surprised it hasn't collapsed yet), but I have a love-hate relationship with it because there were so many cool friends I met there, all living in the same shitty place. The Columbia area south of there is pretty nice, particularly that main strollway connecting Amsterdam and Broadway in front of Loews Library on 116th. The area north of my dorm going towards 125th looked a bit less safe, though I must say I never had a bad experience there. Morningside Park (to the East of where I lived), though...the times I walked through it, looked VERY sketchy. Maybe I'm totally offbase, but I just didn't see myself hanging around there for a long period of time; definitely wouldn't do it after dark.

2) New Haven- Grew up in that area; it seemed a nicer place to live many, many years ago, back when there were the two 'twin' department stores: Malley's, which closed in the early-mid 80s (if I recall), now demolished, and Macy's, which closed in the early 90s (still there, boarded up). During the early 90s recession it seemed like a total ghost-town, all the stores were out of business and out of business...It seems to have recovered since then, they re-opened the hotel there (formerly "Park Plaza", now "Omni"), and cleaned up the Broadway/Yale Co-Op section, for example, getting rid of Demery's, which never failed to depress me during my high school years (even if it's just an Au Bon Pain now).

New Haven still kicks ass with pizza, though! For me, it's Pepe's...others go with Sally's, still others with Modern on State St.
None of my New York friends believe me... :(

3) U District--seemed generally okay to me the 5 years I lived in Seattle. The University Ave./45th St. section has its fair share of panhandlers, etc., but still seems pretty safe overall. I know people who have gotten accosted by drunken eccentrics in the surrounding areas after dark; also further down 45th is where Layne Stayley passed away. Still, never had a bad experience there, myself...

It could be worse. They could all be in Jersey.

Seriously, I asked my dad that question, figuring as an Old Chap (TM) he'd have some perspective. And he didn't, but he DID point out that many of the areas in question were NOT hellholes when the schools were placed there. The schools keep u ptheir areas for obvious reasons, but it's not like these tony schools are giving money back to the non-educational part of the community to fix those bits up, so a neighborhood can collapse and rise, like most do repeatedly, with no change to the schools.

wow, Martin, really?? When is this going to happen? And what will the merged college be called?

Duke is in a pretty crappy neighborhood, yes, it's in the most horrible setting I've ever seen for a uni. A big frat scene in order to avoid attempting to find anything good/legal to do in Durham. University of Maryland is pretty much in a shithole as well (and a sniper to boot).

A good number of colleges/uni's are in the more urban or crowded areas of cities or towns...where things can get grimey.

haha Julio, as if the students have any more say than we staff!

that has a chance with the way things are going.

''haha Julio, as if the students have any more say than we staff!''

its unfortunate really.

She's right, Sarah Lawrence is gorgeous but smackbang between Bronxville and Yonkers, which is WASP on one side, bighaired Camaro-driving men on the other. Latter group fond of driving by the college and yelling 'Dykes!' even if they're yelling at men, or trying to run girls off the road they're walking on, which is where I learned I could key-vandalise cars in motion using the dorm key in knuckle method. By the time the assailant/driver realised there was a big scratch down the side of his vee-hickle, my friend and I had legged it back to safety.

of course, in my first month living in center city philly, i witnessed a pimp beating a prostitute under my dorm window, a crazy 8 foot tall woman destroying a mcdonalds counter with a steel hammer, and a man who told me if i ever walked on "his side of the street" again, he'd kill me. oh well.

I remember when you told me this story, and I still can't fathom any other scene that would trigger such extended jaw dropping yet, I'm ashamed to admit, makes me laugh uncontrollably.