It's a good thing for all parties that the Mercatus Center is not part of Rutgers. Prestige is important, but prestige must be accomplished while also finding good fits for the atmosphere of the school. 

Der,

I agree with what you are saying from a perception standpoint. It is just ironic that the Koch brothers are so taboo, yet groups with direct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood can fund about 25% of the Mid East Studies Department at Columbia and the intelligentia out there views that as "refreshing" or "open-minded." 

I won't even get into the funders of their Political Science Department and International Relations programs. 

And more to the point, after your initial application process, the foundations have very little to do with what you work on. It's not like they take the money back if you publish something they might not agree with. The point is, the politics of the brothers aside, being affiliated with any one of their institutes need not be a stifling experience. 

I won a fellowship from them last year, but declined it, as I didn't need it because of Duke's general largesse for PhD students.And if you follow the rules to the T, you are *technically* not supposed to double dip. So any awards won outside of the university is usually supposed to result in an equal amount deducted from your home university package...to me, it wasn't worth the hassle to actually accept the thing.  Things being what they are at Rutgers, you bet I'll be firing off another app in the fall for 2013... 

A lot more people know about the Koch brothers and Super PAC involvement than the Muslim Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood's most recent public feat was winning a democratic election in Egypt, and the President declaring Christians brothers and sisters. So not really going to turn many heads in the US (and I'm not weighing in as to what happens 6 months from now because no one knows, or past acts). It's all about what's in the news now, and it's not good for the Koch brothers. They can have a gay pot parade, it doesn't change the amount of money they threw at people like Scott Walker or others who don't share that agenda. 

From my perspective as an undergrad, the only overlying sentiment at Rutgers is apathy, albeit with a strong liberal-ish PC bent from the administration. Then you have a vocal progressive minority, and a handful of people like the Centurion crowd that like to hold affirmative action bake sales and such.

---

Originally posted by Jonny S:
I don't see how Rutgers is different from the majority of universities. Do you think anyone at GMU besides the economics (admittedly, a bastion of conservatism/libertarianism at most schools, along with sometimes engineering) and law faculties are pro-Koch?

From my perspective as an undergrad, the only overlying sentiment at Rutgers is apathy, albeit with a strong liberal-ish PC bent from the administration. Then you have a vocal progressive minority, and a handful of people like the Centurion crowd that like to hold affirmative action bake sales and such.

---

This post was edited on 6/27 1:02 AM by cyrock3

To me, this mindset--not saying that you necessarily are advocating for it--is the most frustrating aspect of college campuses. I will grant you all of the civil rights issues, but short of those, a University, as an entity, shouldn't have *positions* on anything. It should be a place where people can debate issues and foster both sides of the debate. 

One would be hard pressed to call Richard Posner a "conservative" in this environment. Yet, in the past, one could easily consider him to be the most sound mind in support of conservative philosophies. 

On a different note, one could also consider this to be a major problem facing Romney today. All Obama needs to do is a co-opt a sound conservative talking point, and the Republican Party will automatically line up against it. 

This post was edited on 6/27 10:45 AM by cyrock3

See the individual mandate, cap and trade, and a good third of the stimulus for details.

Is RU a liberal university? Absolutely. Very much so. Some of RU's most noted departments, like women's studies, are generally considered liberal. RU draws mostly from NJ and NY, two of the most liberal states. RU has also been a hotbed of liberal activism, perhaps not the extent of Berkeley or Michigan, but RU was lumped in with those in terms of activism at various times in history.

Most public colleges are liberal though. University of Texas is considered to be pretty liberal, and it's in one of the most conservative states. 

That said, I don't agree that conservatives are necessarily turned away or shunned at RU. I never had a professor prevent them from airing their grievances (which they did probably more so than liberals in my experience in college and law school), the Centurion and the college Republicans are active, and not only that, but their activism included tarring notable alumni like Paul Robeson, about which the University did nothing. In law school (where the climate may have actually been more liberal than RU, despite the school being Catholic) the Dean exercised special protection over the Law School Republicans bulletin board, which was under siege during the Bush years. I knew someone in that club, and it had about 5 members, but it was still given protection over and above the other groups to make sure they still had their say. 

RU can and should hire conservative professors. I think they would be at odds with many students in the liberal arts topics but that is what the University is about. Let them have it. I just don't agree with any group, the Koch brothers, the Muslim Brotherhood, or anyone else with extremely controversial and public viewpoints, funding entire parts and schools of the University. We have enough bad (and nonsensical) publicity as is. 

I have to imagine that the new place would accept meal swipes, otherwise no one with a meal plan would use it.

But where Brower is an all-you-can eat cafeteria, the new place could be more upscale, cook-to-order, a la carte.

Also - I hate the jumbotron idea. Way to ruin a classy gathering area with a tacky idea like that. If you are going to show movies or whatever, then come up with a roll down screen and a projector, so that its not there the 95% of the time you aren't showing anything useful.

Probably something similar to the Cook cafe that they have now.  

The food is better - mostly cook to order and you can use meal swipes but sometimes you have to wait 30 minutes to get your meal.

This post was edited on 6/28 11:05 AM by S_Janowski

Also, I kind of like the jumbotron idea. Buy a fat sandwich, sit out on the lawn, watch an away game or a movie. Can also be used for inaugurations and the like. 

As for the jumbotron - I don't think its a bad idea to have some way of showing games or movies. I just think that sintalling a jumbotron is tacky. Set up a nice flat wall for projections, or a screen that can be deployed and then stowed. Have a little ingenuity so your school doesn't look like a times square office building.

I don't like the idea of a Times Square billboard or stadium scoreboard in the middle of an academic campus.

But I also understand the desire to have some sort of video display on 21st century buildings.

If done, it needs to be something that is built into the architecture, instead of looking like something slammed on the side of a building. And it needs to be something that is easily replaced or eliminated as technology changes.

I think this is a good point. Its like you go to your doctors office and they still have an old CRT tv bolted up in the corner of the room. 10 years from now we will probably have more or less screens that themselves can be rolled up - no need for a projector.

I agree though that it can't be cheesy, I don't want to be looking at Times Square over there. It's got to be tasteful. I think it can be done. Generally no university projects have been "tacky" in the past few years. 

---

Originally posted by lawmatt78:
The question is what facets of the city you're trying to emulate.  Times Square is tacky and garrish, among other things.

There are so many quality public spaces around the city and the world that one could look to, rather than lazily emulating Times Square.

---

---

Originally posted by J.L. Gotrocks:

---

Originally posted by lawmatt78:
The question is what facets of the city you're trying to emulate.  Times Square is tacky and garrish, among other things.

There are so many quality public spaces around the city and the world that one could look to, rather than lazily emulating Times Square.

---

Agreed. I'd look to Bryant Park before Times Sq

---

Open space will have to be a Rutgers initiative. 

---

In my ideal world, NB/Rutgers/JNJ would, among other things:

1) Open up Kilmer Park, which is currently fenced/gated and rather unwelcoming.  (This is an outdated strategy for urban parks)
2) Slice off a triangle of the JNJ property at the corner of George/27 for a nice green public space in the middle of the city.  There would still be a buffer between the JNJ compound (which is inappropriate for an urban area to begin with) and the street.
3) Incorporate public space and ample outdoor seating/dining into the Ferren Mall replacement
4) Consider an elevated green space, spanning across George Street, on the site of Records Hall (See UVA South Lawn project for inspiration)

---

2. Wieder Ja!  This to me is a no-brainer.  1 I've actually lounged/read on the property near the corner of Albany & George sts. and it suits that purpose to a T. 

3. Dritte Ja!  this space i would model along the lines of 9th ave. & 14 st. in the meat packing district of manhattan, just on a     smaller scale (with space for bike lane). I would couple this with the intention of extending the pedestrian area all the way to     Bayard with the elimination of the crappy buildings across from the courthouse on spring st. I'd make it a natural pedestrian     thru-way     lined with restaurant/bars with the replacement buildings on the ferren deck property high-rise/high density     office/residential/academic occupied.

4. THIS MUST BE DONE REGARDLESS!  getting rid of the pedestrian grade crossing between the river dorms and the quad 

    would not only help to increase CA's cohesiveness but also decrease auto auto/pedestrian accidents and congestion 

    in this area.

5. Move RU administrative offices out of Winants Hall and Old Queens (to busch or on rt. 1 perhaps?) and convert/revert them           to student use. Rutgers has a great public space ready and waiting for student use on the original campus that students     aren't encouraged to use because they have no reason to visit the area.  Imagine taking a rutgers history class in Old     Queens or being an Honors  student and living in Winants Hall.

I've long said it would be nice to have a few seminars in Winants and/or Old Queens.  Students rarely set foot on the most historic part of campus, and I think that's a shame.  Meanwhile, I don't see why something like Scarlet R needs to be there, instead of, say, Livingston.

The project includes a public plaza that in some way would incorporate the grease trucks in their current location on College Avenue, Paladino said. The plaza would include a mammoth high-definition screen that would show Rutgers teams' away games and movies, Paladino said. "Imagine watching football games on Thursdays nights or watching movies with a bunch of your friends," he said. "Part of what is missing in New Brunswick ? unlike a lot of cities ? is we don't have a lot of extraordinary public spaces.