Talk:College town

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shouldn't Claremont, California (home of five colleges) and Northfield, Minnesota (home of two) be on this list? I don't know enough about the actual demographics of either town to add them myself; if someone tells me they're not real "college towns" and were left off for a reason I'll believe that. But the omissions seemed glaring to me. AJD 17:24, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Town by town queries

[edit] Durham

Durham, NC isn't a classic college town by any stretch of the imagination, despite being home to Duke University. (Believe me - I wish it were!)

I noticed that myself just now upon perusing the list. Durham, NC-Chapel Hill metro area has 450k+ residents. Duke is a university of 13k. This isn't anywhere near enough to be a "college town". More than that the city itself just doesn't "feel" like a college town, unless you are very close to one of the campuses. Treznor 18:17, 7 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Eau Claire, Wisconsin

I've removed Eau Claire, Wisconsin from the list, as it's not actually a college town, despite its perception as such by the [sometimes rather egotistical and somewhat isolated] imported student population. It is far more a classic market and industrial center... Its leftwing politics are a reflection of Wisconsin politics as a whole, not of the university's presence. Tomer TALK 17:59, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Response To Above: I've re-added Eau Claire to the list. Tomer, you really should not let your political views impact entries in the Wikipedia. Eau Claire by most definitions certainly is a college town.

^^^please sign your entries; I don't see at all how User:TShilo12's comment about Eau Claire had anything to with his personal beliefs or politics. It was plainly stated that the politics of the college dont have an effect on the town as a whole. There was absolutly no mention of his own politics or how they would affect his placing of the town on the list. And to whoever put Eau Claire back, when reverting a removal, please indicate why it deserves to be on there, other than stating that it fits the definition- that was the argument, so pelase support your side, not just state the topic of the argument.--Ricksmith77 00:04, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and largest city in the state. I've never visited, but I would think those two facts alone would mean that it's not a "college town" as this entry defines the term.

Response To Above: The current definition on this page would include Boise.


[edit] Columbus

Is Columbus, Ohio a college town? Its the state capital and as big as any other city in the state.Havardj Jack 21:30, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Evanston

What about Evanston, Illinois (Northwestern University)? Like the guy at the top of the page, I don't know enough about the demographics of the town, but it seems to me to be home to a disproportionate number of Northwestern University Students.

[edit] Arcata

Why was Arcata, California, home of Humboldt State University, removed from this list? Since nearly half the town's population is affiliated with that institution, the removal seems odd.

[edit] New Wilmington, Pennsylvania

I believe that New Wilmington is a college town, home to Westminster College. As of the 2000 census, the population of the town was a little under 2,500 people. During the academic year, this number rises by nearly 1,600. The vast majority of employees of the college live in the town, and, on average, more than 10% of the local high school enrolls there after graduation. Shall I add it to the list? Cdean 05:12, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Waterloo, Ontario and London, Ontario

I really don't think these deserve to be called college towns. London is the 10th largest city in Canada and Kitchener-Waterloo is the 11th largest, and that's not including the temporary universtiy residents. The fact is the area the universities are in are extremely small and closed it. It is a deisservice to call these college or university towns when most residents from each city have nothing to do with the university. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.95.8.15 (talk) 22:53, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Studentification

I've created a new page for studentification (which used to redirect to here) because I think it's worthy of an entry of its own. Note also that studentification is not only seen in college towns, as they are defined here; studentification (at least in the UK) is often seen to affect a smaller area of a city that is otherwise not over-run by students.

[edit] Terminology - "Town-Gown Relations"

User:Treznor changed this section title was changed to "Town Relations" with a comment "Not sure when it became town-gown relations, changing to Town Relations". I have reverted it to "Town-Gown Relations" because I believe it is the correct term to describe the relations between towns and their university neighbours. In response to the query about "when it became Town-Gown", the section has been called Town-Gown since it was created on 6 Feb 2005 (over a year ago).

A quick google for "Town Gown Relations" (with quotes) brings up 25000 results, and all of the results on the first page look like they apply to this subject. A search for "Town Relations" (also with quotes) also gave me 25000 results, but out of the first page only two looked revelant.

I hope that clarifies the matter. Jamse 18:23, 12 February 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Definition of Town

Because the article even states that the term "college town" is greatly influenced by American college towns, shouldn't the true definition of a town be that of the American definition, which is its legal status of a city government. In the United States a town can be as small as 100 people or as big as a few hundred thousand, depending on the state's granting of its ncorporatoin status. I know of a number of villages that are well over 100,000, yet of cities one-tenth the size. So if we are going to define a town in the article, shouldn't we use a more definitive term, rather than an opinion developed that has nothing to do with its actual definition?--Ricksmith77 00:04, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] World View

This article has been tagged as not presenting a world view. I think the issue here is at least in part due to the use of different terms around the globe. Viz:

In the UK, for example, the last two are relatively common, the first two are not. I get the impression that this is reversed in the USA.

So, what to do about it? We could merge them all together into one massive article, but I'm not sure how helpful that would be. I think it's likely that the issues actually are different in the different cases. Most UK studentified areas, for example, wouldn't count as college towns, because they are neighbourhoods rather than whole towns.

Incidentally, the above articles are interlinked in their "See also" sections. Perhaps it would be useful to have more prominent links between them in introductions?

Basically, I saw the tag and thought I would kick off a discussion. I don't have a specific suggestion. What do others think? Jamse 12:45, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

____

I have deleted Bath as it is a campus university and not a 'college town' whatsoever. I'm also not really sure that York counts either, but I'll leave it for now.

[edit] Removed Newton, Waltham MA, USA

Both fail the "difference between 'college town' and 'town with college' test. Neither is dominated by a campus. I grew up in Boston, and went to grad school in Athens GA, so I know the communities and I know what a real college town is. I doubt Worcester belongs, but I have no direct experience with the city. From all reports, Northampton and Amherst are definitely in. MarkinBoston 17:21, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UK examples

As others have noted, the idea of a College town does not fit countries other than the USA. The examples of UK towns has some very odd examples. Some such as Nottingham University and Manchester University are just parts of a town that has wider significance. Durham is a cathedral city of some significance and certainly not just a college town. There are problems here. --Bduke (talk) 11:36, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] What in the world are the criteria here?

Why is Durham, N.C., listed (population 200,000, about 20,000 students), but not Syracuse, N.Y. (population 150,000, about 20,000 students)? Why aren't archetypal college towns like Austin and Columbus, homes to two of the largest universities in the country, listed, while Fairfax, Virginia, the site of a large school, admittedly, but essentially a commuter school, is? What, in general, determines whether a city is listed or not? The list seems to have been entirely created by random accretion and deletion. There should be some sort of criteria for this. john k (talk) 13:59, 20 May 2008 (UTC)