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UC San Jose / UC Silicon Valley Discussion

11K views 23 replies 9 participants last post by  DarkEconomist 
#1 ·
It came up in the SJ thread, I'd like to move discussion here.
 
#2 ·
I would prefer UC San Jose to UC Silicon Valley. It would aid in building an international name recognition for SJ. And when people research a university they go to, they would have no trouble realizing its a STEM-oriented UC in the heart of Silicon Valley. It would be a great opportunity for international name branding for San Jose.
 
#3 ·
I also am not keen on a Coyote Valley location. Ever since I read an article by the former Vice Mayor of SJ promoting UCSJ, I have thought that the eastern foothills of SJ would be great, maybe in the open space near the hills in Evergreen. It would justify a light rail down Aborn, off of Capitol, which would not only serve the university, but the massive population in Evergreen that isnt served by light rail. The campus would have an iconic location to build along the hills, with a view of the valley, and also serve as a catalyst for the area to expand on denser, mixed-use development and other developments which usually follow large student populations.
 
#7 ·
I support the effort to put the next UC in Redding. Check out this map--there are no UCs or even CSUs near Redding. Students from the Bay Area have a plethora of UC and CSU options within commuting distance.

https://www.facebook.com/UCRedding/photos/a.1432283337095289.1073741825.1432282160428740/1447628072227482/?type=1&theater

UC Merced isn't full yet. "Until the university receives full state funding for the existing 10 campuses...another brick-and-mortar campus still lies in the future," University of California President Janet Napolitano said in this article from 2016.

Sure a "UC San Jose" could possibly be great for San Jose, but I think it would be better for the state to put one in Redding.
 
#10 ·
I would argue that if Redding is in need of a higher educational campus, it should get a CSU rather than the next UC campus, lest the problems of Merced be reborn. It's more likely that the area would benefit more from a more undergraduate emphasis, rather than the postgraduate emphasis UC's have, which SJ is sorely lacking with SJSU.
 
#13 ·
an evergreen location is interesting. i'm not sure if there's enough land available out there though. it would need to annex the entire EVC campus land, and all the vacant land east of yerba buena. the campus design would need to be compact like berkeley, not spread out like davis. it would also be hemmed in by the greenbelt rules so future expansion could be difficult. there's also the issue of the mcmansion owners nimby attitudes; i wonder if they'd be more receptive to higher education than they have been to higher density.

if VTA were smart, they will eventually bring light rail all the way down capitol and back to 87. there could be a spur similar to the almaden line running down aborn and san felipe to the campus. not sure that's the best use of our resources though. an aborn light rail stop served by bus service would be much more cost effective.

and speaking of almaden, there's a ton of vacant land at the southern end of the valley that could be a perfect fit for a UCSJ. extending the almaden VTA south to campus is short and sweet and would actually get some ridership for that spur.
 
#19 ·
any new campus would need to be developed to house 90%+ of students on site. otherwise the majority of students wouldn't be able to afford to live off campus with the local housing situation. due to that factor, the need for transit to and from the campus is less than everyone is stating here. a campus in coyote, evergreen, or almaden would all be reverse commutes; no major road improvements required. a dedicated shuttle bus to/from the closest transit center would suffice.
 
#21 ·
Politely, I disagree.

We're talking a UC school, here. A whole lot of students will have the will and the ability to live off-campus, especially at the graduate and doctoral levels. At all levels, this school would be competing with Stanford and SCU.

And we have to account for staff, including professors with consultancies, and doctoral students potentially working off-site.

And we're talking about a UC Silicon Valley; part of the selling point would be the proximity to tech, not the distance from it in an isolated, bucolic setting.

Building a car-centric, isolated campus would be out of place, anachronistic, and a misunderstanding of the target audience.
 
#22 ·
roughly 20% of UC students are the postgraduate types you're speaking of. if 1/2 have the will and means to live off campus, you're still looking at housing 80-90% of the university population on campus once you factor in how many faculty need housing too. if you don't provide adequate housing, students are going either go into massive debt to pay for it with loans or spend the majority of their time writing research grant applications whose dollars end up going toward housing the researcher. that's not a recipe for success.
 
#24 ·
roughly 20% of UC students are the postgraduate types you're speaking of. if 1/2 have the will and means to live off campus, you're still looking at housing 80-90% of the university population on campus once you factor in how many faculty need housing too. if you don't provide adequate housing, students are going either go into massive debt to pay for it with loans or spend the majority of their time writing research grant applications whose dollars end up going toward housing the researcher. that's not a recipe for success.
Well, my counter was and is that many of the UG students would also have the means and desire to live off-campus for at least some of the time.

And I still hold that a UC Silicon Valley's selling point would be connectivity to Silicon Valley tech. An isolated site is the opposite of that.

And, because I hold that to be true, even if I'm wrong about the number of students living on campus (which, of course, is entirely possible and I don't hide that) it still makes sense to have a highly transit-centric campus. With LRT, 381, and BART, a Milpitas site provides that mobility and connectivity.
 
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