"I spent 4 years at UM and never set foot in Detroit"

[Detroit_uke]

The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor has a total of 42,716 students....Undergraduate - 27,407 .... Graduate students - 15,309.....someone needs to brush up on their math. There are more undergraduates

[wolverine]

Ann Arbor really was a bubble and there was little reason to venture outside of it. Alot of out of state students came in not knowing much about Detroit. They were definitely curious, but not comfortable enough to go there on their own without someone who knew all about it. I rarely heard other student say "I'd never go to Detroit, I heard it's awful." Rather, the lack of knowledge of the best places to go or someone to show them around.

Since I've moved to Chicago, Milwaukee gets the same treatment. New out of state residents aren't all that familiar with it despite that it's a short drive or train ride away. They don't realize how great it is and how much there is to do until someone takes them there and shows them around.

I wonder if U of M could offer an event or program that gives students a tour of Detroit visiting places like the DIA, Eastern Market, Campus Martius, SW Detroit, etc.

I know not a single one of my friends from out of state that was disappointed when I first took them to Detroit. Since then, nearly all have returned on their own for a visit.

Well, I think there are some practical considerations here on why Ann Arbor students might not visit Detroit, what with Detroit's lousy transit and the way Ann Arbor is this bubble with everything you'd need.

But there's something else at play too that's much less innocent. Many Ann Arbor residents and business owners hate to be associated in any way with Detroit. And I mean hate it. They are not at all interested in being lumped in with Detroit in any way.

Which is weird, because, as a west-sider, I'd go to Ann Arbor pretty often, if for no other reason than the cool records stores like Wazoo, Schoolkids', etc. Although the kids did strike me as soft and what little grit Ann Arbor had left over from the hippie days was being shined away.

Oh, and Ypsi is the new Ann Arbor. I can't be the only one who feels that Ann Arbor is a victim of its own success.

[canuck]

Ann Arbor really was a bubble and there was little reason to venture outside of it. Alot of out of state students came in not knowing much about Detroit. They were definitely curious, but not comfortable enough to go there on their own without someone who knew all about it. I rarely heard other student say "I'd never go to Detroit, I heard it's awful." Rather, the lack of knowledge of the best places to go or someone to show them around.

Since I've moved to Chicago, Milwaukee gets the same treatment. New out of state residents aren't all that familiar with it despite that it's a short drive or train ride away. They don't realize how great it is and how much there is to do until someone takes them there and shows them around.

I wonder if U of M could offer an event or program that gives students a tour of Detroit visiting places like the DIA, Eastern Market, Campus Martius, SW Detroit, etc.

I know not a single one of my friends from out of state that was disappointed when I first took them to Detroit. Since then, nearly all have returned on their own for a visit.

I find it sad and disconcerting that there is such an emotional disconnect between Detroit and the towns surrounding it. But there seems to be a correspondence between the lack of transit and the likelihood that transit options being so poor, suburbanites have slowly let the downtown demagnetize.
But the lure of the city still is more impressive on some levels than anything the naysayers can dish out.

Chicago can attract and revitalize itself because it maintains a high level of transit and will continue to do so.

[illwill]

I like your point canuck. I have NEVER been to a place in my life that has such HUGE regional disconnect than Detroit and its surrounding suburbs... let alone the entire state of Michigan. I have always thought we are our own worst enemy and I don't see it changing at any time in the near or distant future.

It's Detroit vs. Michigan.

How sad...

[superduperman]

I'm ashamed to admit it but when I was living in ypsi/ann arbor I used to forget about Detroit on occasion. I attended Ann Arbor Huron and graduated from Ann Arbor Pioneer and then went to Michigan. I don't know, A2 to me always had this different vibe to it and when I used to visit as child I always said I wanted to live there. As luck would have it I had the chance to do just that and I had some of my greatest experiences living in the area. Being originally from Detroit[[Highland Park,Dexter,Linwood) I was grateful I was able to experience the culture of A2 and don't regret it one bit.

[DetroitPlanner]

That's nothing! I spent one year in DPS kindergarten, 12 years in inner-city Detroit Catholic Schools, 4 years at Wayne State undergrad and two years at UDM for grad school and never set foot in Detroit!

Wait I have that reversed....

[56packman]

Ann Arbor: Six square miles surrounded by reality.

[Meddle]

I wonder if U of M could offer an event or program that gives students a tour of Detroit visiting places like the DIA, Eastern Market, Campus Martius, SW Detroit, etc.

Who supplies the body armor?

[Bham1982]

The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor has a total of 42,716 students....Undergraduate - 27,407 .... Graduate students - 15,309.....someone needs to brush up on their math. There are more undergraduates

Wow, I'm surprised. That's a very odd ratio for a major research university.

I always assumed U-M had more grad students, and I would have never thought they had almost 30,000 undergrads.

I still think most U-M students have cars, though. I'm befuddled as to why folks think that most folks wouldn't have cars, when college campuses all over the country have heavy ratios of cars-to-people, excepting the most urban locations [[NYU and places like that).

My anecdotal experience is that almost all in-state upperclassmen I knew had cars, and had no problems parking their cars.

[Bham1982]

Take the MegaBus to Chicago on a Friday afternoon and you won't continue to think that.

Depending on the day, there are 2 or 3 scheduled MegaBus trips from Ann Arbor to Chicago, just one more Megabus than from Ann Arbor to Toledo.

That would be indicative of relatively modest demand, and probably speaks to either most people using cars to get out of town, or staying within the Ann Arbor "bubble".

[kenp]

How does Megabus make any money. With the price and the effiency its hard to beat.

[iheartthed]

Depending on the day, there are 2 or 3 scheduled MegaBus trips from Ann Arbor to Chicago, just one more Megabus than from Ann Arbor to Toledo.

That would be indicative of relatively modest demand, and probably speaks to either most people using cars to get out of town, or staying within the Ann Arbor "bubble".

I'm sure most people in Ann Arbor do use cars to leave town. That has almost nothing to do with my point. We're talking about students going to Chicago for a leisure trip. I doubt that an overwhelming majority of them do so in private cars.

[Det_ard]

Wow, I'm surprised. That's a very odd ratio for a major research university.

I always assumed U-M had more grad students, and I would have never thought they had almost 30,000 undergrads.

I still think most U-M students have cars, though. I'm befuddled as to why folks think that most folks wouldn't have cars, when college campuses all over the country have heavy ratios of cars-to-people, excepting the most urban locations [[NYU and places like that).

My anecdotal experience is that almost all in-state upperclassmen I knew had cars, and had no problems parking their cars.

I knew your estimate of grad:undergrad was off but didn't bother to post. I'll chime in however about the "most students have cars" assumption. No. Most do not. Not now, and not in the past. For a number of reasons. There simply isn't enough parking available anywhere near campus. Cars aren't necessary to get around AA. Cars cost money, which a significant number of UM students don't have lots of. AA is self-contained, there's no need to venture to other cities on a regular basis. Add it all up and cars can be more trouble than they're worth.

[noise]

Wow, I'm surprised. That's a very odd ratio for a major research university.

It's not very odd at all, really. What comparison universities would you use? Ivy League? Public Ivy? Research Is? The ratio is similar to other large research state schools and a number of public ivies.

[MrMister]

Who supplies the body armor?

Oh come on.
I frequently find myself in parts of Detroit that make my hairs stand up a little [[I'll admit, there are some dangerous people, but for the most part they are only a danger to other dangerous people [if you're not a crack dealer, your house is probably not going to be the target of a drive by])

But people who have no ability to discern the difference between Detroit's Cultural Center, and a neighborhood like, say, brightmoor, really get me ticked off.

The DIA, Eastern Market, Campus Martius, Southwest, are not only part of Detroits cultural center, but an extremely important part of the entire State's cultural assets.

Suburban Jacka**es spewing comments like "who supplies the body armor" hurt the city of Detroit more than the criminals in my opinion. Detroit may have some problems, but it is still a major city, with the cultural jewels that only a major city can have.
Detroit may have a crime problem, but its biggest problem is an one of image.

U of M has a higher crime rate than Wayne State.
WSU at least has the excuse of being inside of a crime filled city.
In three years U of M has had 6 times as many rapes, 10 times as many assaults, almost twice as many burglaries, and almost 10 times as many arsons. WSU has 31000 students, and U of M has 41000, so you do have to correct for that. But either way, at least statistically, U of M looks a lot scarier than WSU.
Instead of cultural visits, maybe there needs to be a scared straight program where U of M troublemakers spend time with real Detroit gangsters.

Sorry for ranting, this was supposed to be a quick response.

Heres where I got the stats
http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...es-ranked.html

[noise]

In comparing UM with WSU, I think another relevant statistic is that UM has over 10,000 students living on campus while WSU has closer to 3,000.

[Detroit_uke]

Well, Bham....I lived in A2 and went to UofM-AA from 1972-1979. Not too many folks had a car. Getting to class [[or anywhere else) was easier by foot or bicycle....now everybody did have a bicycle. Parking stickers were expensive - and really, you didn't need a car. If I needed a ride out of AA...I called a friend. When we moved to married student housing on North Campus we did get a car. So, I lived in AA for 7 years...in Detroit for 51 years [[do the math)....and guess what - I've never been to Grosse Pointe!!!! Eegads!!!!

[xequar]

Who supplies the body armor?

Oh good grief! If Detroit were really that dangerous, I'd be dead seven times over by now. I bike through the city several times per week. I used to ride through Brightmoor every day on my way to work, and I've been riding to the Lower East Side from Lathrup Village several times per week this summer. I've been in almost every corner of this city on a bicycle, and the worst I've encountered was one guy that called me a cracker from his front porch.

Coincidentally, I'm also a grad student at the University of Michigan. My own observations suggest that the vast majority of students do not have cars. But even beyond that, there are a lot of people from out of state [[U of M only accepts something like 60 percent of its students from within Michigan, and every time the state tries to cut education funding the university responds by lowering that number to bring in the mega-bucks that out-of-state students are charged for tuition), and a large number of them have no clue that there is interesting stuff in Detroit. Hell, my partner is from Chicago, and he had no idea about Detroit at all, to the point where he was surprised that it wasn't a complete post-apocalyptic hellhole.

Detroit has a perception issue [[amongst other issues). Out-of-state students and students from sheltered suburbs and students from places further afield in Michigan don't strike me as likely demographics to brave a trip to Detroit just for the hell of it.

[illwill]

I think a lot of people are short changing Ann Arbor. First off, when a student moves to Ann Arbor for school, most likely there was something that interested them about the area from the start. So during their free-time, when a student has an opportunity to get into extra activities, they're most likely going to want to explore Ann Arbor. A city that offers tons a live music venues, restaurants of every ethnicity, live theaters, galleries, museums, parks, outdoor activities, unique shops and boutiques. Also include university related events such as frat parties, educated socializing, UofM sporting events and mixers. I suppose one would also like to meet new friends and maybe build some sort of relationship with an individual. The University/Ann Arbor has world class musicians coming through constantly. I went to my first hip-hop concert [[fresh fest) at Hill Auditorium. Wynton Marsalis is a regular, I've seen the Temptations, Four Tops and these artist play A2 just as much as they play any other major city in the world. So there is really no need to visit Detroit when you actually have everything and more within walking distance of your dorm. We have to understand, these students have UofM pride... not Detroit pride. Are they missing out? Yes, of course but my point is, Ann Arbor can keep a person completely occupied for an entire 4 years, especially from a students perspective.

[Detroitnerd]

IAnn Arbor can keep a person completely occupied for an entire 4 years, especially from a students perspective.

No doubt about that. But that's also part of the "bubble" effect.

[iheartthed]

Ann Arbor is a great town but the amount of stuff to do in Ann Arbor does not explain why someone spends 4 years of their life a stone's throw away from Detroit and never bothers to venture into it.

[wolverine]

Ann Arbor is a great town but the amount of stuff to do in Ann Arbor does not explain why someone spends 4 years of their life a stone's throw away from Detroit and never bothers to venture into it.

Yeah I know, why don't they all go to Saginaw, or Flint, or Grand Rapids, or Jackson, or Toledo or Battle Creek. Seriously, lack of interest doesn't equate distaste. As I pointed out, Milwaukee gets the same treatment in Chicago. And Milwaukee is an absolutely wonderful place people are missing out on.

Maybe students just don't want to deal with the inconvenience of getting around, or maybe they are just unfamiliar with Detroit and no one bothered to take them around.

To go to Detroit with a car did take some planning. Between studies and on campus events it was a matter of coordinating everyone's schedule to go at once. The trip would last the whole day. We were fortunate to know someone who had a car. As I previously mentioned, I took Amtrak once....big mistake. I couldn't think of any other city I've had that much trouble getting around previous to that time. Not Los Angeles, not St. Louis, New York or Philadelphia. And I came to Detroit knowing where everything was.

[wolverine]

I should also mention that the folks I knew from Detroit going to school in Ann Arbor weren't always the best ambassadors to their city. There was very little positive conversation about their born and raised experiences. When questioned about the new developments and events like Superbowl at the time, they had very little to say. I mean, at least try to convince your peers its worth visiting to judge for themselves.

Fortunately in grad school, the attitudes were much different. I was friends with a few locals that were incredibly enthusiastic about the city.

Could just be a maturity thing, I don't know.

[Downriviera]

I wonder if anyone spent 4 years at Wayne State and never set foot in Ann Arbor.

[illwill]

No doubt about that. But that's also part of the "bubble" effect.

The proof is in the pudding!