UB: Why We Are Where We Are, Why We Are the Way We Are
Prof. William R. Greiner
University President Emeritus & Professor, Law School
July 23, 2008
UB Reporter Article on Lecture
One of Buffalo’s urban legends is the claim that the university’s north campus should not have been built in Amherst and that there was a preferable site “downtown” “on the waterfront.” In their leadership roles at UB, Professors Headrick and Greiner were often drawn into that conversation only to discover that neither they nor others interested in the subject had much factual background about the decision to locate in Amherst, or even had any knowledge regarding the size, shape or location of the “downtown” site. A related topic of conversation, though usually less heated was—and is—why does the North Campus have its somewhat unusual design, for example, the long linear “spine,” the remote Ellicott complex with its dungeons and dragons appearance, and the lack of a central place for campus gatherings. Throughout our years of administrative service we had enough such conversations that we vowed, when time would finally permit, to do the research necessary to answer the questions we always asked or were asked but to which no one seemed to have the answers. When we both found ourselves back in full faculty status, we set out to do the work, and assembled the results in a little book, entitled Location, Location, Location: a Special History of The University of/at Buffalo. This talk will be based on the work done for that publication and will provide some answers to questions about campus location and design, and hopefully, stir up some lively conversation about how best to understand our past and make it a platform for a better future.
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