Re: Re: well what about the developments popping up in the shannonside ?

The construction of buildings on the far side of the Shannon had more to do with colonial outreach than it had with developing the campus for the betterment of the student community. There really were a number of places where development could have taken place – many of the car parks that exist in UL could have been planned as basement carparks under some of the buildings and a multi-storey carpark would have cost no more than the huge bridge they have just put in place. This was part of UL’s desire to have a river flowing through its campus come hell or high water, so to speak. It was determined to have this feature and now it has it – what it has lost is any sense of a coherent university campus. Indeed, the trans-Shannon development shows very little understanding for what a university should be about – ie creating an atmosphere in which students want to learn, develop and socialize. Having students walk from one side of the Shannon and back twice or three times a day will not help that. I estimate that the walk from the main library building to the far side of the Shannon is about 15-20 minutes and if you have to go to the farthest building on the far side of the Shannon, you can add another 10. It doesn’t make sense, but does support my theory that UL thinks a university is about how many nice glossy buildings you have rather than about educating students (and I am speaking from experience).