Mike - posted 2/01/08 @ 9:35 AM EST

“Read between the lines. The housing market in Sacramento is in the toilet. What better way for a developer to create more business than “donate” land to a university, then cash in by developing around it. Drexel will be the anchor store to this development. These developers are masquerading as philanthropists. This deal smacks of Cheney and Haliburton. Can you read between the lines? Drexel is big enough and its acceptance rate way too high for it to be regarded as a prestigious university. Papadakis said several years ago that Drexel should be ranked in the top 80 national universities, he hasn’t cracked the top 100 yet. Drexel needs more quality than quantity. Improve on what you already have!”

Andy - posted 2/03/08 @ 3:35 AM EST

“I’m gonna have to agree with Mike on this one! How can you open another campus when the one you already have is less than perfect?! I don’t really see that campus being very profitable since it’s in a very rural area. Also maybe I just see Drexel as a more “urban” institution but I don’t really see a rural campus fitting in with the Drexel culture. On the upside there is the potential to start a brand new campus from scratch but then again how far could you go with it in such an unpopulated area?”

The previous were two comments in response to an article in the February 1^st issue of the Triangle called “Placer County officials to visit.” The opinions held by both of these individuals is very negative and I think unfairly so. Mike’s first complaint is that Drexel is being duped and that the housing market is down. However, the housing market wasn’t in the toilet, it was actually really high, when the Placer County officials came to Drexel. Also, I think that this deal is just as good for Drexel as it is for the developers. They get the ability to develop their new campus with much of the cost already paid for. Sure, the developers of their choice will be obvious, but Drexel gets to sell hundreds of acres to raise funds for its building, making the amount of money that Drexel may have to take away from its Philadelphia campuses.

Mike’s next comments are just slander against Drexel. Drexel is regarded as a prestigious university. Its acceptance rate is too high, but it has been steadily going down and will continue to go down. In this week’s issue the Triangle reported that in 2008 there will be over 25,000 applications submitted for 2,500 spots. As Drexel’s ranking increases and its reputation grows with events such as the debate and table tennis tournament, Drexel will need to accept less and less students. We haven’t cracked the top 100 universities yet, but being in the top 110 is very amazing, considering there are over 3,600 institutions of higher learning in the U.S. Also, two other Pennsylvania campuses with California presences are the University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon. I think that Drexel should strive to be in as many categories as possible with those schools.

As far as Andy, all he seems to care about is the new campus not being in an urban location. That doesn’t matter for most universities which are in rural locations. Penn State seems to be doing just fine. They are going to be recruiting students from all along the west coast, so I don’t think it will be a problem “go with it in such an unpopulated area.” Drexel as of right now is not perfect, but its not like it will be stretching itself thin. The California campus is going to be only for certain Business concentrations, not even for engineering. It will only supplement Drexel and make its brand more nationally known.