11-06-2017, 10:57 AM
This insatiable appetite for physical expansion makes me wonder how land-challenged universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, U Chicago etc. manage to keep up without tripling their size every couple of decades. Leland Stanford Sr. gave the university a priceless gift by dedicating so much land--but given the surrounding infrastructure there is only so much development that can be supported before the University becomes surrounded by a ring of gridlock. Certainly building more housing on campus should be top priority since it reduces the problem; I am skeptical about creating more buildings that will employ more employees from off-campus.
One wild card in Stanford's future--the long term implications of high speed rail if it should ever get to Palo Alto--but who knows if that will ever happen. Certainly Palo Alto opposes it and its long term fate after the retirement of Jerry Brown looks very uncertain. But the prospect of faculty taking the train to campus from LA is intriguing, as is a 20 minute commute from San Francisco. At best, a generation away.
One wild card in Stanford's future--the long term implications of high speed rail if it should ever get to Palo Alto--but who knows if that will ever happen. Certainly Palo Alto opposes it and its long term fate after the retirement of Jerry Brown looks very uncertain. But the prospect of faculty taking the train to campus from LA is intriguing, as is a 20 minute commute from San Francisco. At best, a generation away.