There’s no singular campus experience,
but there are a few moments that are iconi-
cally “Michigan” — walking through the
Diag, studying in the UgLi, going out to the
less-than-pristine bars on South University
Avenue. Until recently, I had never noticed a
common thread between these scenes, but
now their similarity strikes me: all of them
take place on Central Campus.
The fact that when we think of Michigan
we think of Central Campus is unsurprising.
There’s a reason students joke about having
never been to North Campus, and why incom-
ing freshmen assigned to live on North try to
pay thousands of dollars to swap dorms with
someone on Central. Everything we envi-
sion as “The Michigan Experience” revolves
around Central. Why would anyone sacrifice
Ann Arbor’s indescribable energy and its his-
toric, vibrant Central Campus for the dated
’50s architecture and suburban sprawl that is
North Campus?
Much has already been said about the
shortcomings of North Campus. But for better
or worse, it’s part of the University, and as the
campus continues to grow, we’ll be increas-
ingly looking toward North for extra space.
But how did North and Central develop
such distinct characters in the first place?
And how might we envision a better North
Campus?
***
In my final year as a University under-
graduate student, I figured it’s finally time
to immerse myself in the illusive, evergreen
acres of North Campus. My plan was this: to
spend a whole day on North Campus and to
try to appreciate and evaluate it on its own
merits, not just in contrast to Central.
I’d like to think I’ve spent more time on
North Campus than the average student
whose classes are all on Central. I never lived
in Bursley or Baits, but over the pandemic, I
would frequently drive to the Ford Robotics
Building to study, since it was one of the few
buildings on campus that was open into the
late hours of the night.
During some of those study sessions, I
found myself walking through the woods
behind Bursley, getting takeout off Plym-
outh Road and exploring Pierpont Commons.
However, I had never spent more than a few
hours on North Campus and had never truly
immersed myself in it.
So, in an effort to understand what it was
really like to live and learn on North Campus,
I devised a way to better understand the space.
Admittedly, spending a day on North is
nothing compared to living there. Before
embarking on my north-bound excursion,
I decided to speak with some of the folks
who’ve previously made North Campus their
home.
Information senior Huda Shulaiba lived in
Northwood Housing last year, despite only
having classes on Central, because it was more
affordable for her than signing a year-long
lease on Central. Since Northwood is being
demolished, Shulaiba moved onto Central
before the beginning of this fall semester —
but said she would’ve moved to Central even if
she had the option to live in Northwood again.
“Northwood was great, but a lot of the
things that make college life fun don’t really
happen (there) because everyone else is on
Central,” Shulaiba explained.
Despite feeling some social isolation there,
Shulaiba admitted that “I always love talking
about living on North because I love having
lived on North. But sometimes I don’t want
to talk too much about North because then
everyone will go up there. It’s nice and peace-
ful, and I want to gatekeep it a bit. Central is
great, but it can be so overstimulating. But you
can go back up to Northwood, and you get that
bus ride to switch off school-mode and switch
on home-mode.”
Riding the bus up to North, I felt that men-
tal shift Shulaiba was describing, albeit in
reverse. As the Commuter North approached
Pierpont Commons, I felt a refreshing sense
of clarity and focus. Equipped with three
practice exams for my upcoming midterms,
a coding project I hadn’t started and a list of
buildings my friends in engineering had sug-
gested I visit, I set out to experience North.
***
Maybe the mainstream culture of the Uni-
versity does not lie at North Campus. Howev-
er, fiscally and academically speaking, North
Campus has been, and will continue to be, the
future of the University.
In 1947, the University purchased 267 acres
north of the Huron River — the land that
would eventually become North Campus — in
anticipation of the post-WW2 boom in higher
education. The rapid increase in enrollment
also coincided with the rise of STEM posi-
tions in the workforce and a desire for higher
education. Plans were soon made to gradually
move the College of Engineering to the unde-
veloped site, and new buildings to house the
School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the
School of Architecture and Urban Planning
followed less than a decade later.
Construction plans were then scaled back
in response to shortfalls in the state’s budget
in the 1970s. Since then, however, North Cam-
pus has continued to grow without interrup-
tion, although not without complaints from
students that North isn’t “integrated into
campus,” that the commute between North
and Central is too long and that living there
will negatively impact their social life.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022 // The Statement — 2
BY HALEY JOHNSON, STATEMENT CORRESPONDENT
‘The grid in the green:’
Envisioning a better North Campus
Read more at MichiganDaily.com
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Scenes at and around the North Campus Grove Saturday, October 22.