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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Radar mag disses Drexel with "Ugliest Campus" tag

Drexel University has been branded as being America's "Ugliest Campus" by Radar magazine.

The magazine's September issue, in its "America's 50 Worst Colleges" piece, says that Drexel's "cracked sidewalks, decrepit classrooms, structural blight megatons of gray concrete and a giant, looming smokestack will leave you wondering what brutalist fiend slapped together this sorry excuse for a campus."

The piece goes on to quote unnamed students trash-talking the cleanliness of the campus and the classrooms, and discussing allegedly being mugged on campus.

"The information you are prepared to validate through publication is years, if not a decade, out of date. If you visit our campus, you can quickly see for yourself the report is false," begins a statement from Philip Terranova, a vice president of the university.

Terranova refutes Radar's report with details of $500 million in improvements or construction projects since 1995 and also "a significant investment in campus security to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors."

He cites other errors: The school has 21,000 students, not 13,000 as Radar states. "Spreading demonstrably false reports, under the guise of calling it gossip is something we hope the Daily News will not assist. More than that, Radar is not a magazine deserving of the Daily News' attention." Oh, well.

Posted by Dan Gross @ 9:13 AM  Permalink | 83 comments
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Posted by dww2001 09:29 AM, 08/20/2008
utleyrules, in this case I actually agree with you. Schools spend way to much money on appearances and ridiculous amenities and jack up tuition to obscene rates. Frankly, give me a solid degree that will take me far rather than some pretty buildings anyway. And much like the neighborhood its in, the aesthetic of the campus is improving rapidly.
Posted by dartvader 09:33 AM, 08/20/2008
Sorry, it's pretty ugly. And any school that's beautiful is spending too much on architects and not enough on instructors and financial aid. It's like eating at a stephen Starr restaurant... your $25 entree is an $8 meal and $17 worth of cheesy decor.
Posted by xxx 09:43 AM, 08/20/2008
Lots of 'on campus' muggings at drexel and Penn. Although, the on-campus crime statistics will not revel the true problem because both schools are private and do not consider the sidewalks as campus property. Get mugged in front of the engineering building @ Drexel, you'll be lucky if a Drexel security patrol even looks at you.
Posted by dan19148 09:56 AM, 08/20/2008
Why even reprint this? My 9 year old nephew for the first time showed interest in going to college one day mostly because we took him thru a walk thru Drexel campus to see the big kids, etc. and the dragons.
Posted by dcomputer 09:57 AM, 08/20/2008
I am a graduate from Drexel and the campus was never great looking but it has a huge amount of improvements already done and more being done since I was there in 96. I think that back in 96 was one thing and today it is a completely different campus.
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Posted by demarco 10:19 AM, 08/20/2008
That comparison is right on dartvader. What the heck is Radar magazine anyway?
Posted by Jack Daniels on the rocks 10:57 AM, 08/20/2008
I graduated from Drexel a couple years ago. The chicks there sure loved the cafeteria.
Posted by X210 11:52 AM, 08/20/2008
Get a degree from Penn State it's a third of the cost, ranked much higher by US News and Princeton review and you will become a member of the largest alumni network in the world. Not to mention a beautiful state of the art campus which becomes the third largest city on the state on football weekends.
Posted by X210 11:52 AM, 08/20/2008
Get a degree from Penn State it's a third of the cost, ranked much higher by US News and Princeton review and you will become a member of the largest alumni network in the world. Not to mention a beautiful state of the art campus which becomes the third largest city on the state on football weekends.
Posted by bsbombo 11:54 AM, 08/20/2008
It wouldn't be half as bad if Drexel weren't next door to UPenn, with its gorgeous architecture, gorgeous girls, and on-campus Ann Taylor Loft, Gap, Starbucks, cereal bar, airport, outlet mall, shiatsu massage parlors, jai alai courts, oxygen bars, sushi bars, wine bars, you get the fricking idea.
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Posted by btv22 12:31 PM, 08/20/2008
Drexel could spend 1 billion on thier campus and it will still be ugly. Because they'll have to stop half assing thier new projects. Have you seen the law building? It is just like the Lebow business school. They both stink in that location. They are on Market Street, there should be a pedestrian aspect to them. Thay are set back with grass. Its like they are trying to compensate for not having a suburban location. GET OVER IT DREXEL! The reason Penn has Ann Taylor, Gap etc is because they placed COMMERCIAL spaces on thier properties. It doesn't take a genius...
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