Our Campus

[Bryan316]

I walk past the Mall almost every day, and I'm glad to see it nearing completion. Over the past weeks, they've dropped in the new trees, finished the long pools (and filled them), and this week they laid the bricks. It'll look great once it's done in a few weeks.

[Ibleedgreen]

Screaming Eagle...The sororities no longer have meeting rooms at College Inn. There are new sorority houses on sorority row.

[NM Green]

JDub,

Actually moved again. Back on the mainland just in time for Dodge Ball! Vegas Baby!

GMG

[untgirl04]

There are some very nice improvements under way, but as others said, more are needed. The campus master plan from 2005 (www.unt.edu/untmasterplan) has a very detailed and frequently brutally honest assessment of the buildings and the campus layout. It finds much to admire (the older buildings and the core campus) and much to improve. It's certainly worth reading.

The master plan also superimposes maps of the old campus alignments of the early 1900s over contemporary aerial photos to give people an idea of what has changed. My undergrad alma mater, the University of Georgia, features historic campus maps on the visitors portion of its web site. Visitors can look at a hand-drawn campus map from 1805 that shows a half-dozen buildings, including the oldest, Old College (1801; it's still there). Perhaps UNT could offer some archival maps, too.

In general, the UNT plan calls for closing some streets and turning them into pedestrial malls, which is a really good idea.

Also worth noting: the current Fouts parking lot becomes a parking garage and Fouts itself becomes surface parking studded with trees, available as a future building site. The athletic and rec fields near Fouts remain.

As most know, the new stadium appears at Eagle Point, with the open end of the horseshoe facing the athletic center. The master plan map names it Future Stadium, which I guess means that they expect Mr. and Mrs. Future to write a big check for it in exchange for naming rights.

One change I'd like: to rename as many buildings as possible from So and So Building to Somebody Hall. "General Academic Building" sounds like a community college building (I went to one of those, too, so no snobbishness here). There are many other examples of lousy naming. It's more university-like and historical to name buildings Somebody Hall. Bruce, for example, has much that makes it special (designed by George Dahl, architect of much of Fair Park, the Dallas Morning News building, and others); one of those is the portrait of old Dr. Bruce himself that overlooks the lobby. If they had called it Dorm No. 1 or some such awful name, much of the building's charm would have been lost.

A committee could solicit building name nominations, focusing on people who made extraordinary contributions to the U. I think it would enhance the feeling of the place.

I was actually part of the group that named Traditions Hall... We wanted to name it Normal Hall (since Normal had been in our school name for years and years), but the higher ups didn't want it. We decided on Traditions because we wanted to build a new tradition of active on-campus housing. Our original vision for the hall had a foyer area lined with North Texas memorabilia and all kinds of interesting facts about North Texas. We weren't the final decision makers, but that, at least, was the spirit of the idea behind the name.

[UNTFan23]

I was actually part of the group that named Traditions Hall... We wanted to name it Normal Hall (since Normal had been in our school name for years and years), but the higher ups didn't want it. We decided on Traditions because we wanted to build a new tradition of active on-campus housing. Our original vision for the hall had a foyer area lined with North Texas memorabilia and all kinds of interesting facts about North Texas. We weren't the final decision makers, but that, at least, was the spirit of the idea behind the name.

I personally thought Normal Hall was such a lame name. Thankfully others shared this opinion.

Personally, I like some of the names for the new halls. Tradition and Victory I think are two well named buildings in what they were hoped to represent.

[Green to the Bone]

I personally thought Normal Hall was such a lame name. Thankfully others shared this opinion.

Personally, I like some of the names for the new halls. Tradition and Victory I think are two well named buildings in what they were hoped to represent.

I completely agree. I like the new names a lot. I'm just not crazy about the "Subject" Buildings (General Academic, Chemistry, etc.) and think we would do future students a service by emphasizing something more about honor and tradition, as has been done with the new names.

[scotty474]

I have always thought we could put more in the landscaping. I am glad to see some of the progess being made, especially in front of Willis. That building is so plain.

IMO we need to do much more on the outer edges of the campus since it is what most people see when they come to a game. If I ever come across serious money, count me down for a major contribution for landscaping around our new football stadium. At this rate, I might come across serious money before we get our new stadium!

And whatever we do as a university, plant more oak trees. We won't get to enjoy them to the fullest in our lifetime, but let's leave something for the future Mean Green!

[MeanGreengdub]

I agree with scotty, we need more appealing things on the outer edge of campus so when people drive by it it looks nice. Hopefully the new dorm will spruce up Eagle a little bit because that side looks terrible. The Murch looks awesome from the highway. Can't wait for the new stadium on the other side one day!

[UNT Mean Green]

Landscaping would definitely help the campus' image to those hundreds of thousands of travelers who drive by on 35 each day. I know on the athletics side that since RV showed up, there have been several facelifts/new facilities popping up and all are appealing to the eye. The new football stadium and a new baseball complex would definitely help this. No doubt Fouts is an eyesore, but how nice is it to think that in a short time, the Athletic Center will sit in the South Endzone of a new multimillion dollar football stadium!!! and hopefully have a beautiful baseball facility across Bonnie Brae!