How can USF get rid of their "commuter" image?

[Cow Pie]

Based on the power point presentation, there is considerable organized effort at ensuring that

alcohol permits and zoning restrictions are going to be in place to ensure there are no 'club' type

establishments going up anytime soon. I think the best you could hope for would be restaurants

but that doesn't seem to fit the desired business for 'the college strip'.

Until some serious 'urban renewal' takes place....pursuing a club is pushing the boulder uphill.

Well I have plans to build a bar if an when a stadium is built on campus... I'm sure many others with similar plans have the same modus operandi.

[ctbrown24]

Based on the power point presentation, there is considerable organized effort at ensuring that

alcohol permits and zoning restrictions are going to be in place to ensure there are no 'club' type

establishments going up anytime soon. I think the best you could hope for would be restaurants

but that doesn't seem to fit the desired business for 'the college strip'.

Until some serious 'urban renewal' takes place....pursuing a club is pushing the boulder uphill.

Well I have plans to build a bar if an when a stadium is built on campus... I'm sure many others with similar plans have the same modus operandi.

Do this now. 

[USF c/o 2010]

Hello everyone!

I'm a new member here and I hope to add my input to these forums over the coming months. On this topic, I agree with the university's position in making all freshmen live on campus. There is no experience like living on campus. Secondly, I think think we need more of a tradition and more of a love for this university to achieve this. I say this because a lot of people it seems are like "I'm only at USF because..." we need to get rid of this and pronto. We need to only look to people who are like "I want to come here because I wanted to come here."

We can no longer be the college that satisfies people's second choices. This Tier-1 Research University needs to be the example that will not only be the number one university in Florida, but this great nation as well. If this means requiring everyone to live on campus for all 4 years to achieve our overall objective, then so be it. 

[Oldsmobull]

^^  Going from a "commuter" image to a "penitentiary" image might not help USF!

[Cow Pie]

I have an idea... ANY student that wears another University's garb in class should receive mandatory double homework.

This will be a huge step towards fixing the problem.

[Bull_Gator]

I have an idea... ANY student that wears another University's garb in class should receive mandatory double homework.

This will be a huge step towards fixing the problem.

Agreed. But haven't seen this near as much on campus lately.

[Jihme]

I have an idea... ANY student that wears another University's garb in class should receive mandatory double homework.

This will be a huge step towards fixing the problem.

Agreed. But haven't seen this near as much on campus lately.

i agree. i bet it's light years ahead of where it was even just 6-7 years ago.

[Cow Pie]

I have an idea... ANY student that wears another University's garb in class should receive mandatory double homework.

This will be a huge step towards fixing the problem.

Agreed. But haven't seen this near as much on campus lately.

i agree. i bet it's light years ahead of where it was even just 6-7 years ago.

Its getting better, I only see about 4-5 USF students wearing other Universities apparel a day, as opposed to 5 years ago when I started working at USF... back then it was about 10-15 students a day I would see.

Still if teachers did this and the University supported them doing this then it would send a strong message to incoming freshman that you need to be a Bull or don't bother enrolling. There are plenty of community colleges in Florida that take plenty of students that wear gayturd, Nole, and Cane apparel every semester.

[BoozedUpBull]

Most universities in metropolitan areas have a large number of students from the local area.

In all the great college towns, the majority of students come from other areas of the state and/or out of state, and almost all freshman live on campus.

For this to happen at USF, the administration will have to require all freshman to live on campus and to actively recruit students from outside of the Tampa Bay area.  Once that happens, everything else will start to fall into place.

[atl86bull]

The answer to getting rid of USF's "commuter" is to build a USF Village similar to what UCF put together a couple of years ago.  USF could develop the North East corner of the campus and transform it with new dorms, retail space and a football stadium.  If UCF can make it work why can't USF???

Here is an old article describing the initiative:

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/10/14/news_pf/State/UCF_finds_its_ameniti.shtml

UCF finds its amenities are academic

    The Orlando college is setting the standard for state schools with its attention to student life.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER, Times Staff Writer

Published October 14, 2007

ORLANDO -- Ashley Winholtz, 18, rarely strays more than a short walk from the fifth-floor apartment she shares with three other college students.

"Everything is right here," said Winholtz, a Tampa native. "It's like a town in itself."

There's a new Starbucks and Barnes & Noble bookstore next door to their just-built apartment tower. A sleek basketball arena and concert hall sits across the street. Winholtz and her roommates attend football games at the 45,000-seat stadium a short walk away, and when they get a craving for pizza or ice cream, restaurants are less than a block beyond their front lobby.

Soon, a post office, a pharmacy and a convenience store will open down the street- near the hair salon and the English pub.

Yes, you read correctly: the English pub.

Here on the north end of the University of Central Florida's suburban campus, on a vast swath that was mostly grass and asphalt three years ago, administrators of the state's second-largest public institution are trying to shed their "commuter school" label by building a community from scratch.

"With our student body, we want to have a lot of things for them to do on campus," said Bill Merck, vice president for administration and finance. "We want living here to be a good experience."

To that end, UCF is using more than $300-million in bonds to create a town center where students can live, eat, study and revel in college traditions like football. The last of four dorms opened last month, housing a total of 2,000 students. The stadium hosted UCF's first-ever home game on campus last month, after playing for years in downtown Orlando's Citrus Bowl. Students already have a nickname for this new part of campus: the Towers, a nod to thefour seven-story, apartment-style residence halls that anchor the area.

No other state university in Florida is building these kinds of amenities on such an aggressive scale, and the move carries a double-pronged advantage for UCF. It entices more students to live on campus, creating a more traditional college environment. And it gives UCF a distinctive edge over universities like Florida International, the University of South Florida -- even the University of Florida.

Concert arenas, restaurants and swanky new dorms don't have anything to do with an institution's academic caliber, but the fact is, they matter to today's graduating high school seniors. When students tour a campus, they're as curious about the gym as they are the academic programs. Most would rather live in a new dorm than an old one, and the more restaurants and social venues, the better.

College administrators know this is what students want. Just look around the state.

USF is using a $54-million bond to overhaul its 47-year-old student union. When it's finished next year, the new 250,000-square-foot Marshall Center will feature a food court, a 100-station computer lab, a TV lounge, retail space, and a sports grill.

President Judy Genshaft promises, "It is going to knock your socks off."

Earlier this month, Florida Atlantic University trustees approved a financing plan for a 30,000-seat football stadium project called "Innovation Village," which will include on-campus housing and retail space.

But UCF is out front in the amenities race, say some students who toured Florida's public universities.

"My top two choices were USF and UCF, but I chose UCF for the campus appeal," said Sabrina Rivera, 18, an economics major from California. "It just feels more alive here."

Even a flagship university like UF, with its ivy-covered buildings and more than 150 years of history, doesn't appeal to some students as much as the smells-like-fresh-paint perks at UCF.

Winholtz considered UF but decided she preferred "all the new stuff" at UCF.

"At UF," she said, wrinkling her nose, "everything is so old."