Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1956 [PAGE 43]

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BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[July 26

smaller area, perhaps as little as 50 acres. Such an area would require the construction of high rise buildings. A third type of site, such as that adjacent to the Congress Street Expressway and north of the Medical Center District, would provide at least 80 acres of land which would require the construction of intermediate height buildings. T h e unit land cost in this site would probably be greater than the first but less than the second above. In considering a site for an institution to serve a large metropolitan area, three questions are of primary importance. Two of these concern the availability of the site to the anticipated student body. First, from what parts of the Chicago area will most of the students be drawn? Second, how much time will students be willing to spend traveling to and from school? The third question asks: Is sufficient land available, how soon can it be made available, and what will it cost? Answers to the first two of these questions were sought by studying the trends of geographic shifts in the Chicago area population and by surveying the travel problems of students now enrolled at the Navy Pier campus. The first of these studies analyzed the population trends in the Chicago jrea and projected the geographical distribution of population for the period [963-70. The data indicate that: 1. For this period, approximately nine out of 10 students who might attend the University in the Chicago area would have a home address in Cook County; six out of nine would live inside the present Chicago city limits. 2. No site which can be selected will be convenient for this entire student potential. If a site is selected which is convenient for users of C T A transportation, Chicago residents will probably represent more than 60 per cent of the total student body; if a site more convenient for DuPage County residents is selected, their percentage of actual enrollment will be higher and that of Chicago students lower. The second study, a survey conducted among students currently attending the Chicago Undergraduate Division, was to determine travel time, travel expense, and mode of transportation used between residence and Navy Pier. This survey indicates that: 1. The actual one-way travel time reported by students who came by means other than private automobiles varied from less than 10 minutes to almost two hours. Among the group who lived in Chicago, over 80 per cent reported travel time as 60 minutes or less; this figure dropped to about 30 per cent for surburban residents using other than private automobiles. 2. Over 70 per cent of the students depend at least partially on some mode of transportation other than private automobiles. 3. With respect to travel expense, 95 per cent of Chicago residents using other than private automobiles had an expense for a one-way fare of 25 cents or less; most of these were CTA riders whose costs were uniformly 20 cents. Among the suburban residents using public transportation, 35 cents represented the median cost for a one-way t r i p ; this median jumped to 50 cents for the same group when those who use C T A facilities at a cost of 20 cents per trip were excluded. An answer to the third question, which concerns the availability and cost of land, depends upon a number of factors, such as the nature of the educational program, the size of the student body, availability of the site to students, problems of land clearance, acceptance by the community, and so on. As guides to site evaluation, 16 criteria were formulated with the assistance of the Real Estate Research Corporation and the Chicago Plan Commission. Five criteria were considered minimal standards which any site would have to meet in order to permit the proposed Chicago Undergraduate Division to perform its function satisfactorily. In brief, these five criteria are: 1. Site to be within 10 miles of at least 40 per cent of the total estimated student potential in Cook, Lake, and DuPage Counties. Superior public transportation required. 2. Adequate land for construction available. 3. Adequate land for expansion available.