#collegetour2017

The second school we visited on the college tour was Creighton University. I attended Creighton for one year before transferring to Madison. Creighton has a complicated history for me - it took me in as a poor student, set the expectations high and allowed me to get back on my academic feet. I met some of the best people I would ever meet in college (besides my wife). But I also found the tiny campus, the religious emphasis, and the greater student body to be stifling. It was just what I needed at that time in my life. And after I got what I needed, I left.

Lars told me that Creighton had changed since I had left. We found that to be true. When I attended, the campus was the size of 4-6 blocks, surrounded by highway and dangerous neighborhoods. Today, the highways remain. But Creighton bought many of the surrounding blocks and expanded greatly, including building a giant soccer stadium.

Even though we had missed some of the formal activities earlier that day, we asked the admissions office if we could take part in a tour. They signed us up for an overview presentation as well as a tour. The presentation was very good. The admissions presentation emphasized the values of the University: a focus on the whole person (academics / spirituality), service to others and studying abroad. She stated that over 70% of attendees played varsity sports in high school and emphasized the Division I sports Creighton offered: basketball, soccer (they have a huge home stadium), baseball, volleyball, and softball. 

The tour guides were entertaining and informative about life on campus and what they liked and didn’t like about attending Creighton. The tour guides gamely listened to me reminisce about my time there “back in the 80′s”.

The words most likely to make Leif grown in pain are, “Let’s go to a museum.” And yet, he’ll actually go with me most of the time if I ask nicely.

The Spencer Museum of Art is located behind the KU student union in the same geographic bowl as the football stadium. Admission is free and we both agreed that the quality of the selection was high. It isn’t too big that you feel overwhelmed. The pieces are well selected.  I have included three pieces that stood out to Leif and me.

The first piece is a giant piece of acrylic in the shape of a lens. The lens works best if people stand close to either side and look at each other.

The next piece is a collection of broken Korean China that the artist collects from a factory and assembles into a sculpture. The card called the creation a “biomass” and that is exactly what it conveys. Standing next to it reminded me of a Miyazaki cartoon.  I was waiting for it to move towards me in order to consume me.

The final noteworthy piece was small (less than a foot tall) but noteworthy for its gruesome depiction of a decapitation. At the foot of the murderer, a dog licks the neck where the head was once connected. What shocked me even more, was the fact that this artwork was made in 1980. 

The last piece was found by Leif. The museum has stores jewelry in a cabinet with drawers that slide out. I often overlook cabinets like these - either mistaking them for museum storage or too timid to look inside. But drawers are made to open and Leif doesn’t suffer from my fears or blindness. Inside we found amazing pieces of jewelry including what appears to be a winged demon with a blue rock in its teeth and a black rock clutched in its claws.

This year our family took a short family vacation and went on a college tour.  The first stop - and ultimate goal - was to stop at KU, otherwise known as the University of Kansas. 

The KU campus is situated on a ridge on the highest hill in Lawrence, Kansas. It forms a crescent around a giant park that contains the football stadium.  There are trees and the buildings range from ‘classic’ turn-of-the-century, to 60′s and 70′s brutalism, to the new “modern” return to classic forms. The campus is big, but not huge in a way that Madison or Minnesota is. It felt very manageable, especially with the numerous buses that cater to students coming and going from campus.

 The things that surprised me about KU were the hills (not very tall, but very steep) and the large number of trees. People coming from Minnesota or Wisconsin will feel right at home with the number of trees in Lawrence.

The place to eat and gather is Massachusetts Street (known locally as Mass Street) and the October night was perfect for walking the entire length and getting a feel for off-campus life. This October night we saw some parties starting through the windows just as we were leaving town to go back to our Airbnb.  This Wednesday looked fun, but not crazy which made it appealing.

The KU Visitors Center did a great job of showing off the campus. We saw some model dorms. Lars and Brita and Gretchen took the official tour of the campus, including the pre-tour presentations.