The Smile Politely Editors are comprised of Justine Bursoni, Seth Fein, Joel Gillespie, Doug Hoepker, Brian McGovern, Ryan Neaveill and Dan Schreiber. They, along with the website designer Mason Kessinger and founding Editor-in-Chief Chris Maier, decide to highlight certain events going on in Champaign-Urbana in a democratic fashion, without bias, in order to best bring to you the finest information on the entertainment around town.
As the site of the main campus of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana certainly qualifies as a college town in a fairly pure sense. There's certainly not many other geographical reasons for our fair cities to be anything more than the seat of an agricultural county.
There's a certain eclecticism that comes nearly standard with being a college town (unless you're Terre Haute). It's a special atmosphere that lends itself to greater diversity and tolerance than would normally be found in similarly-sized towns.
But how does C-U compare to other college towns? From Olympia to Gainesville, Berkeley to New Haven, there are hundreds of municipalities in this land which contain an institute of higher learning. We are merely one. In your opinion, how do we rate?
Comments (5)
Sunday, August 10, 2008 7:29 PM
Compared to other Big 10 universities, we're about in the middle. Bloomington and Ann Arbor are the top 2, followed by Madison. The university has a large impact on the cities, but Champaign is becoming too commercial to be "academic" while Urbana still retains that charm. Just compare the difference walking 8 blocks east or west of the quad. Urbana's quaint streets, the Urbana Free Library, Strawberry Fields, etc., make it more interesting.
Sunday, August 10, 2008 9:57 PM
I haven't lived in NC long enough to feel like I'm qualified to make many comparisons, but I can say it's rather interesting to see all the similarities between CU and Chapel Hill.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:31 PM
I don't think Bloomington is better than Champaign-Urbana. It's a suburb! That's why I came to college, to escape the suburbs.
I've never been to Ann Arbor but Madison is great. However, I love CU and as a college student here, I'm going to have a hard time leaving. (I might not, for a while).
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:59 PM
Hey Elle -
Unless you are referring to Bloomington, MN, I am not sure what exactly you are talking about?
How is Bloomington, IN a suburb? There is about an hours drive between Indy and Bloomington — and it's farmland.
If you mean Bloomington, IL — well I couldn't agree with you more: C-U crushes it in every area aside from corporate greed. But how would B-N be considered a suburb? Of what city exactly?
Confused...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008 4:19 PM
C-U seems like your typical college town. The campustown area is separate from the downtown area which can discourage non-students from venturing there. From my experience, it's probably in the top 3 of the Big 10 as far as towns.
Ann Arbor is No. 1, more for the integration of the downtown and other civic institutions into the campus area, something that seems to be lacking in C-U. The one distinctly college thing that C-U has that Ann Arbor doesn't is a vibrant year round bar and late night activities outside of the university aimed towards students. I'd also give C-U the edge in terms of safety as well. Compared to Ann Arbor, C-U seems to be safer at night for people who work late or want to have some fun.