Recently, the University announced plans to expand southward into an area of woodlands and wetlands. How can UR make the best use of this land?

As an ecologist, any expansion into a wetland raises a red flag to me. What about the flooding capacity of the wetland? Where will the water go if they cover it with pavement? Will they reroute it? Every spring after the snow melts, people go canoeing in the Wegmans parking lot because it was built on a floodplain. I would like to know what the area is (with maps), what it’s currently used for and what they want to do with it. If it’s urban infill, generally that’s okay with me. However, if it serves a hydrological purpose and absorbs floodwater or filters it before going to a recreation area or something, that is concerning. —Erika Mudrak ’03, Madison, WI

Build a Wegmans! —Quong Luong ’03, Washington, DC

The University should find land that is not woodlands or wetlands to expand if they really feel the need for more buildings; perhaps UR could buy up some industrial complex that’s abandoned or going out of business and build a new campus there. It seems destructive to develop on wetlands when having nature around you is such a good thing. I think the University was going in the right direction when they tried limiting class size my year by being more selective. I think the college is getting too big and it is better for the students to remain a smaller school where students can live on campus for four years. —Daniel Rowen ‘04, Brooklyn, NY

I hope that the land will be used in its natural state as much as possible. If it can be used for labs or to offer more environmental and biological courses and programs, it should. More land brings up the question of student population and whether UR should stay small or grow to fill space. More residence halls might be an attractive option, but housing students far from campus segregates the student population and might cause isolation (I’m reminded of when I knew people living in the Graduate Living Center.) —Jackie Borchardt ’07, Casper, WY

I was a French major and math minor; those disciplines don’t take up much space or require much equipment. I never felt like a lack of facilities or space was really a problem at UR, so I don’t feel that more buildings are useful. The only exception to that would be that the music rooms on campus are horrifyingly bad, but I don’t think that a new building is the solution to that problem. —Andie Ho ’03, Houston, TX