The multiversity today; It's a City

Dan. For 800 years Western societies of turn to universities for the teaching discovery and preservation of advanced knowledge from small beginnings in Bologna and Paris Mina built giant educational complexes to serve not only students but governments industries and the general public as well. The huge American Multiversity these are the subject for this series. The programs were produced in the studios of WY L.L. the University of Illinois Broadcasting Service. Dennis Corrigan is your host for today's program about what's going on inside the multiverse a day today. A university policeman patrolling a campus at night may find that his only company is the

distant sound of a lone piano student practicing in the building across the quad. And an occasional couple walking arm in arm along the sidewalk. Scatter office windows are lit. Drawing a regular shafts of light into the night. One steel and glass laboratory is permanently lighted. It's like an industrial jewel box displaying miles of pipe in cluttered work tables. As he goes along his way the university patrolmen and his fellow officers have one major job. The security of a multimillion dollar institution. This is not something that you would toss away lightly and it does take a number of men to make doggone sure that someone doesn't walk off with it during the night. Along with General Security come dozens of other jobs large and small.

Patrolling a university isn't just a pleasant evening outing it's watching for illegally parked cars. Being on the alert for emergencies noting needed repairs and traffic control is helping an employee who's been locked out of his office directing a stranger to the union building calling a tow truck for a stalled vehicle getting a failing coed to the hospital. A multiverse of the campus is not just a collection of students faculty and administrators surrounded by a town. It is in itself a city a city that shares problems with any city of its size and has a few that belong to academic communities alone. For instance no city administration is expected to provide housing for almost all its

inhabitants. Most Multiversity campuses must provide at least some housing. Many provide almost all student housing. No city administration is expected to feed almost all its citizens and visitors Multiversity is a multiverse that he must supply power heat water sewage and garbage disposal. It must provide police protection either in cooperation with the local community or on its own it must provide fire protection and snow removal transportation services and health services. Mail must be delivered. Crowds and traffic direct communication facilities must be provided. Even the pigeon population must be controlled. And this is only a fraction of the story. A large Multiversity campus is part corporation research center part housing development part School Park Resort. Physically multi-person the campuses are as divergent as their locales in history.

See the Berkeley campus of the University of California sprawls over the hills above San Francisco Bay. The 59 campuses of the State University of New York are located in city and on wooded Lakeside hills. The University of Wisconsin's Madison campus starts one mile from the state capitol and snakes around the shore like window to Indiana University is set a long a wooded stream in the rolling hills of Bloomington. Like many other state universities the University of Illinois is a land grant institution. The campus therefore includes not only the educational and cultural facilities. Conference centers and an airport but six to seven thousand acres of farms as wow. The campus has one hundred fifty five major buildings with more under construction. The planning construction and maintenance of the physical plant of the University of Illinois is

handled by the physical plant Department. It includes such things as the planning and construction of the new Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and the Monday nt yours of light bulb replacement and sidewalk sweeping. It takes two thousand two hundred and fifty full time employees and about fifteen hundred fifty students in part time help to do these jobs. Kretschmer is Campus director of the physical plant at the University of Illinois Urbana campus. We asked him to discuss the work of these Thirty eight hundred employees. We have of course the janitors think the story of a group is perhaps the largest in the number which would imagine approximate about 400 450. Then we have a food service employees in the course of the various crafts. Which include the carpenters in the plumbers and the painters in the steam distribution operators and the sheet metal workers and the Corsair number of other

classifications. Then in addition of course the university is responsible for the. Security function of the university and the policemen and firemen are under the general jurisdiction of the physical plant Department. I believe in terms of the largest single group. It would perhaps be the gender group. This is understandable. Mopping the floors in your house may be an all day job but in a Multiversity it's a full time job. 52 weeks a year. There are thousands of Venetian blinds acres of wind ups every household cleaning job is blown up to gigantic proportions. In terms of building areas there are approximately 7 million square feet of just what we term as academic buildings. In addition we have other buildings such as the

housing division the residence halls and which are operated by the housing division. Elana union in this heavenly Hall and other offices what we term auxiliary service space. And that goes about 4000000 so together there. We have about 11 million square feet of building space and of course in terms of ground space we have approximately 600 acres 600 acres and this 600 acres is not farmland it's part of the campus proper and includes quads walks picnic grounds and bus stops. Mr Kretschmer department is responsible for their maintenance. Yes we have a special grounds crew with an landscaping Department which are responsible for the maintenance of the building of the ground.

In one year this grounds crew cleared snow from over one hundred and seven square yards of paths and walks. They have over a million square yards of lawn to mow fertilize water and rake. They planted 5000 flowers involved and over 400 trees as each year goes by. There are more and more of these jobs to do. Mr Kretschmer pointed to rapid expansion as a major problem for his department. Well I would say the biggest problems we've had in recent years of course is the rate of expansion of the universe the tremendous growth in the inverse of these new buildings and various other. Project's the big problem here course is one of staffing these buildings with the proper type of personnel recourse along

with staff covers other problems such as parking and traffic. Also we have whenever a building is constructed there are we have to bring utilities generally speaking from the central power plant and that results in many of the streets being in campus areas being constantly torn up. Some people say they don't know whether we ever will have the campus where it is without some definite area being torn up because of various can construction. But as I say when you build a new building we have to bring the necessary services to it. Just as the cost of running your home is rising so the cost of operating a Multiversity is rising too. Mr Kretschmer the cost of operation has been.

Skyrocketing of course in all areas of maintenance building operation just as in construction costs. And it becomes our responsibility to find ways that we can perhaps keep these costs at a minimum. And this comes about in the number of ways of trying to find more automation more ways that we can provide auto automation and mechanization and eliminate it or eliminate the need for personnel or makes this personnel more productive. Big staffs and big budgets do not eliminate small annoying problems. Things like the dishwasher that breaks down the night you're having 12 for dinner. It happens at a Multiversity too. When you have a large again we quickly

more things can happen and they always seem to happen at the inconvenient times when either the facility is in peak use or else that some time when no one is available to take care of it. The physical plant department at the University of Illinois repairs things. It's part of their job. But sometimes the requests are puzzling or unclear. Mr Kretschmer cited several examples. For example here it was in the report heating problem it's cool and of course we always receive the one people stuck an elevator in and another one here lights out in hall. Can't find switch. It when the freight elevator working like a yo yo. And here is one that I can readily understand that wind blowing in Windows and secondary thing very

cross. There are approximately 30000 students on the Urbana campus of the University of Illinois. A sizable Multiversity campus but certainly not the largest. In addition the Multiversity has responsibilities to governments industries and the general public. The result is a campus that requires its own bus line its own mail service its own police department and now its own fire department and its own automobile and bicycle registration system in an institution this size even small problems can become enormous. Over two hundred and fifty thousand pounds of campus mail were handled in one thousand sixty seven eighty one hundred pounds of paper clips and over 6000 boxes of staples were bought Deweese office work six hundred and fourteen staple remover were bought to take other papers apart or take the problem of getting from one part of

the campus to another or even finding a place to park. Once you get where you're going progress is being made. But the situation has gotten to the point where some employees have refused a new job including a pay hike just because they would have even more trouble parking near the new job. Most students walk to class if they have time. Some take the university operated busses others students and faculty prefer to use bicycles. And the university provides for this too. With many highways called Bicycle lanes there are at least three kinds of bicycle lanes. The old fashioned two lane Gein the better divided kind and the brand new divided Parkway cut with trees or bushes between the lanes. Size brings many problems that are only indirectly connected with educational

pursuits. Some of these problems are the kind that keep administrators worrying not only about the incidents but about the publicist as well. A Multiversity campus is like a city. It has on occasion labor relations problems scandals riots and just as the crime rate in our country has been rising. So the campus crime rates have been rising at the University of Illinois Buff's of university property were up 30 percent in one thousand sixty seven assaults were up even more. Changing habits changing ideals changing goals all I reflected on the Multiversity campus staunch conservatives and flower children use the same classrooms. The new attitudes of students and faculty are one problem discussed by Joel blace supervisor of security and traffic at the University of Illinois our number of years ago. Our students came to the university between 20 30 years ago. Students came

to a university hours or any other one with a feeling in mind that they were complete neophytes and support as education is concerned. They were willing to listen to their professor and to others at the University hoping that in four years they would leave university with a degree and be completely educated. Our young people today are changed quite a bit. They don't follow this path at all they want to be shown they want to identify themselves with various groups various ideas. They want to develop ideas of their own. This is not to say that that's not good I think it's very good. I think it's a sign of changing times and I think we don't change at all times. But it's rather hard to keep up with Joe Blaze then went on to discuss other problems facing the university police. I think the apparent Countrywide and I think this is probably

true Countrywide is a good word growing resentment evidence by our citizens of the United States to any type of restriction or story is a real real problem. The day is long past when people accept things just for what they're told. Of course we've always been a nation that's started out that way we started out that way way back in the Revolutionary days when we didn't want to be told things. And I think this is good. But unfortunately many of our people resent any type of authority. Even though this authority may be for the overall good. This I think is the real critical area. We tend I think to be a little more selfish than we were years ago. In any densely populated area. Fire is dangerous in a Multiversity

environment. Laboratories and libraries add to the problem. In Him laymen fire training instructor for the University of Illinois Fire Department pinpointed five major problems facing his department with a major proud you here have been this campus is the fact that we have a very large campus which we all know crabby about 30000 students plus and this gives a sort of a transient population. In fact a lot of students are here just for short periods. We don't have time to orient him and do this or sometimes your carelessness fires are started. Also we have sometimes I got to say this here a student in fact Lee epically in regards to fires people have the opinion that fires will never happen and never have them really and it's going to have to be other fellas So this is a cause for sometimes student apathy. We also have construction primers as in these high rise buildings like Florida N-O residence hall and sometimes the it's a little bit in excess Well as far as going our fire trucks close to these here are some of these buildings are eight 10 stories

and with the reach of our snorkel when our elevated letters we can only reach about seven storeys and high so this does cause a difficulty although it hasn't arisen yet we are well aware of these crimes and also we have a very densely populated area in some areas and I Street residents. Again Florida Gregory Hall Sherman hall and these two are quite a crowd. As far as really a response to a fire alarm. Another thing last but not least is that there are traffic crimes encounter special and Green Street mantra street when we respond to alarm. And this is very premise specially between 10 of the hour in the hour when the students are changing classes. Sometimes it's almost impossible to get through the streets at this particular time. Areas such as the rare book room in the library require special attention and the rare book room there are special crimes there because number one the security

have doors whereby you not to get out very readily. And also ahead the prime of these very precious read books that are not to be harmed in any way or mutilated. And this is why the wide discretion of water is very important. Also before we get to the fire before we are called you'll find smoke detectors and he detectors in some of these rooms which sound off the alarm and even the barest minimum of smoke these alarm systems are accentuated. And then we receive the alarm. Meanwhile if we are able to get there in time we can gently remove the burning material and or extinguish it with our small fire appliances and try to avoid the use of water and this is one of the problems that we have to use discretion he was the water in alone then and also. Mention to. There are some chemicals in some laboratories whereby if you use water and the chemicals that are burning it will only educate the fire. So here again it takes training and knowledge by the firemen as to what

equipment chemicals and or water we should use on these various burning materials. The large size of the university makes fire protection a major job. Mr Layman in view of the fact that we have regular inspection periods we recharge extinguishers and I might add that you're practically about twenty eight hundred extinguishers in the various buildings on the campus and each one these buildings that are inspected by us and recharged if and when necessary. We can't keep a complete record a complete log of each x nature and as I repeated before as I said we have about twenty eight hundred extinguishers and also we have to take a very elaborate check and control of our fire alarm system. We have approximately about one hundred seventy five fire alarm boxes in various buildings in fact in all buildings which are checked weekly and this is almost a must because you must have this direct communication right through the fire department where the source of my being. And to along with us here there are some 360 abilities which we as

firemen inspect for fire hazards and also to note the various plans as far as what we call a pre-planning. As far as making entry into a building and evacuation of the fact we staff and students whichever may be the planning that Mr Layman described is necessary on every large Multiversity campus especially in densely populated areas such as high rise dormitories. These towering living quarters are seen on an ever increasing number of campuses. They are a necessity though not always a popular one. B.L. Kretschmer points out that these buildings have several advantages. I think if you have a relatively small campus and plenty of way and perhaps everyone would prefer a residence hall of three or four floors. But if you expand and as you become a larger campus

there are two problems. One is the availability of land and even if you have the land available you can stretch out so far that you have a problem with the students being able to go from a residence hall to their class areas. Consequently we have gone to the high rise residence I was actually in terms of student living areas and the campuses have expanded too much in the last even 30 years. The high rise residence halls are. Very good from several standpoints They course are. They provide a natural living group. Most of them we have around 40 to 50

for this. Maybe a few more. And this is what we consider a normal in the 80s are of a number for a what we term a living group where they have their own organization their own activities recreation social services program dormitories are not merely places to sleep. In addition these buildings have areas for study and recreation and cafeteria services. Efforts have been made to make dorms convenient and pleasant places for students to live. This is no small undertaking. Consider the food problem. The University of Illinois purchases food while the residence halls snack bars the line our union the hospital and other groups through its central food stores offices at two and a half million dollar operation and buys frozen french fries by the carload and over eight tons of spaghetti each year.

Any educational institution that serves 30000 students government and the general public must influence the community around it and the influence is not confined to jobs University purchases and real estate prices. Comedian Bill Cosby remarked during a recent campus visit that university was an island in a sea of pancake houses. This of course exaggerates the situation but he has a point. Citizens in a multi versity community are influenced by student needs and wants businessmen operate restaurants clothing stores baton graffiti shops jewelry stores bookstores drugstores record stores all catering to students. Hundreds of families and widows rent rooms and apartments to students. The large size of a Multiversity allows it to assume responsibilities that

other smaller institutions and organizations could not afford. For example the University of Illinois I was a pioneer in higher education for the handicapped. It had the staff and financial resources to take chances on the severely handicapped the paraplegics the Spastics the blind the deaf. It is assumed the responsibility of providing physical and clinical facilities they needed to make the most of their intellectual talents. Today many other universities are adopting the procedures and facilities developed by the rehabilitation center at the University of Illinois. The large Multiversity campus is a city with city problems like fire protection police protection crime rights population explosions racial tensions communication problems and it has problems of its

own. Student housing food purchases special transportation needs class scheduling. Just to name a few. However large Multiversity s offer many pluses as well. They have art museums natural history museums concerts Mort's events community services job training programs the campus policeman making his rounds is one aspect of our modern Multiversity. The giant institutions of higher education we've built to serve not only students but our entire society. They are cities developed for teaching research and public service. Their purpose is to lead our nation into the 21st century. During the primetime hour for the second program in a series about what's

going on inside the multi-verse City today next week at this time we'll hear from undergraduate students on what am I doing here. Your host for today's program was Denis Corrigan The music was performed by the University of Illinois some 20 Orchestra under the direction of Charles Delaney. The program was produced and directed by Louise Geissler is in the studios of WRAL the University of Illinois Broadcasting Service. This program was distributed by the national educational radio network.