Colleges thrive as much on their environs as they do on the liveliness of their own campuses. College towns and the neighborhoods around campuses can be legendary—think of Madison, Wis., for example. For those institutions not blessed with organic college towns or student-friendly districts, administrators have sought to create them. John Fry, who recently left Franklin & Marshall College for Drexel University, built a career on doing that, both at F&M and at the University of Pennsylvania.

Penn's development project has been influential at the University of Southern California. For some time now, USC has planned a $900-million redevelopment of retail areas north of the campus. The Los Angeles Times, in an article about the 35-acre project, points out some of the concerns that neighbors have: Students have already been displacing residents, and while the redevelopment is designed to...

The American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment has dropped 15 institutions from its list of signatories because they have not followed through on reporting requirements called for in the agreement.

A news release does not name the 15 institutions, which are Birmingham-Southern College, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science, Chicago State University, College of the Sequoias, Crafton Hills College, Hiwassee College, Interdenominational Theological Center, North Central Michigan College, Palo Verde College, Salem Community College (N.J.), San Bernardino Community College District, San Bernardino Valley College, Springfield Technical Community College (Mass.), the University of the Arts, and Webster University.

In March the climate commitment enacted a policy to drop "unengaged" institutions. "When an ACUPCC institution fails to submit all of the three in...

Some people love digging in the dirt. I'm one of them. But I tend to focus on vegetables and don't know much about flowers. So I probably wouldn't fit very well in the University of Northern Colorado's "Adopt-a-Spot" program, except outside the dining hall.

The program enlists volunteers from the university to take care of flower beds around campus—it's sort of like the horticultural version of the Adopt-a-Highway program. Patrick McDonald, manager of landscaping and grounds at Northern Colorado, says he managed a similar program at Purdue University a decade ago. Other colleges may have tried this as well.

"It was one way to get more color on campus without adding additional workload on the limited staff I have," Mr. McDonald says.

People volunteer to tend a particular plot on the campus. They choose the plants they want to put there—Mr. McDonald retains veto power over unsightly...

A handful of Chronicle reporters, including me, went to a conference for college public-relations managers in Baltimore last week. We were asked to offer tips about how to pitch The Chronicle, how we find and write our stories, what we'll be looking for in the future, and so on. The college PR reps told us that "experts" in other sessions were advising them, Don't bother pitching stories about green trends. That pitch is worthless, DOA.

As the reporter who spends some of his time writing about sustainability and "green" issues, I couldn't help feeling a little hurt by that revelation. I'm going out of style?

But it makes sense—and, in a way, it's good news for sustainability advocates. Journalism still depends on the "man bites dog" rule—unusual news makes the cut—and green stories are no longer unusual at colleges. It's a sign of the success of the sustainability movement that most...

Wendell Berry, a well-known Kentucky writer whose work focuses on agrarianism, sustainability, and environmental issues, has pulled his personal papers from the University of Kentucky archives, reports the Lexington Herald-Leader. The university's naming of its new basketball dormitory in honor of the coal industry was apparently the last straw in a series of management decisions that have angered the 75-year-old writer, who is also a UK alumnus.

"The university's president and board have solemnized an alliance with the coal industry, in return for a large monetary 'gift,' granting to the benefactors, in effect, a co-sponsorship of the university's basketball team," Mr. Berry told campus officials in a typewritten letter, which was acquired by the newspaper. "That—added to the 'Top 20' project and the president's exclusive 'focus' on science, technology, engineering, and...

More news about Illinois and its troubles. Faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are questioning the expansion of a university research park, even as the state struggles with a big deficit and mounting deferred-maintenance problems at its universities.

Late last year, reports The News-Gazette, in Champaign-Urbana, faculty members wrote to the interim chancellor, Robert Easter, the interim president, Stanley Ikenberry, and the Board of Trustees, asking for a "transparent and full accounting" of economic-development efforts, including details about the research park. The faculty members doubt that the research park is carrying its weight.

The newspaper had done an analysis of the costs of the park, which include $19-million on construction, $1-million a year for operations, and another $1-million to rent office space. "The research park does generate lease...

The Board of Trustees of Ohio State University has unanimously approved the "One Ohio State Framework," and along with it, the "no net new academic space" policy, which The Chronicle reported on Friday. The new policy, in a nutshell: If Ohio State wants to build something new, something else will have to come down.

In a tough economy, colleges face a growing trend to limit added space on their campuses. Meanwhile, some institutions are having trouble raising money to open buildings they have already built. (See today's item about the University of North Carolina.)

Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina, says the system may not get state money to open as many as 17 new buildings on its campuses around the state. The News & Observer, in Raleigh, reports that UNC has asked for $25-million to open the buildings, but the state House of Representatives has put only $12-million into budget legislation, and the Senate has not set aside any money. The state faces an $800-million revenue shortfall.

The university system gets $2.5-billion from the state, but that support has been cut by more than $500-million in recent years. UNC has cut administrative spending by 23 percent and would have to start cutting into classroom spending. "The system has recently opened—or expects to open soon—38 buildings by finding money from other sources, a further drain on the system's resources," the newspaper says.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, like many public colleges, is struggling with deferred maintenance. The situation is bound to get worse as the state grapples with a $13-billion deficit. Much-loved buildings on campus have suffered in recent years, and the university even gave up on some alternative-energy projects because it had so much maintenance to tend to.

Now university officials are considering how they might update Altgeld Hall—described as a "campus icon"—amid the money troubles, according to The News-Gazette, the local newspaper. Altgeld, oldest building on the campus, is in dire need of a renovation.

"There are clearly challenges," the newspaper reports. "The building is on 20 levels and is not in full compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Some glass flooring has been replaced by plywood. Age and cigarette smoke have dulled the finish of much ...

Plans for Luther College's wind turbine appear to be rolling along. The college, in northeastern Iowa, just got a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy through Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who is on an energy subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (The University of Iowa, by comparison, got $130,000 in this recent appropriation, according to IowaPolitics.com.)

Among small colleges, Luther has gotten attention and praise for its sustainability efforts. "I'm sure the college's reputation was one of the keys in getting that grant," said Jerry Johnson, a college spokesman.

Last month the college also completed a lease agreement with the landowner. Although a news release last year said Luther would have the turbine up by now, the college says the project will be finished in the next six months. A few years back, colleges had a hard time getting turbines for...