Students who have spent time in Troy may realize that the city doesn’t hold much to keep their interest. When walking downtown, one mostly finds businesses that don’t even pretend to cater to students, despite constant debate amongst these business owners on how to bring students into their shops. However, programs sponsored by the RPI administration, currently in early stages of planning, will attempt to bring off-campus college life to RPI.
Several streets surrounding the campus are prime real estate for businesses looking to cater to students. The idea behind these programs is to revitalize 15th Street with a variety of shops that will bring students out of their dorm rooms and beyond the boundaries of the campus. While possible stores are still up in the air, one idea having President Jackson’s backing is to renovate property recently purchased by the Institute and turn it into a coffee shop. Other ideas for shops in the area include a t-shirt or clothes store and music stores.
We believe that putting money into the area surrounding campus for student life initiatives is one of the best investments the school could make since it would directly benefit students by offering services that the school doesn’t provide, and we applaud the administration for taking steps in that direction. However, the groups handling these projects are taking it slowly, as current timelines extend over five years. Revitalizing Troy and creating a commercial district that would cater to students is certainly not an easy task, but we feel that this should be made a priority and moved into production as soon as possible. If RPI were serious about the coffee house project, construction could be finished in a few months, as the school already owns this land.
It’s possible that uncertainty about student interest holds the administration back, and as such, all students should take some responsibility to move this project forward. Leaders for projects such as these always look for student input. Volunteering on committees is not always required; writing a short email to the administration expressing what you would like to see in the area should be more than sufficient. If nothing else, it will let them know that their efforts are not wasted.
When Rensselaer was named “Most to do on Campus” by the Princeton Review, many students were left more than a little surprised. However, if all of RPI got behind initiatives such as this revitalization of 15th Street, we might just earn that title legitimately.
