Wow, the community attitude towards TU reflects the wider attitude of the Tulsa community. "What does it do for me?"
1) Well, lets start with what you have wrong. The "T" is not to delineate it as "The" University. But thanks for assuming we are pompous.
UT in this part of the world means "University of Texas." Not far East of here it means "University of Tennessee." In fact, aTm fans decry their foes in Texas by calling them t.u. denying them the right of being THE University of Texas. Texas fans claim t.u. simply stands for "The University."
But anyway, "TU" is a practicality because we are overshadowed by much large "UT's" in the region. Not a sign of self importance.
2) The apartments are certainly NOT "suburban style." They are far more dense than the rest of the area and incorporate less than one parking sport per intended residence. They are crammed together pretty well. For the number of adults living in them the density in those complexes is probably as great as anywhere else in Tulsa.
On top of that, they are damn nice apartments. But certainly, the density complaint is just wrong.
3) Rental rates in the area are still high. To rent a house in that area you will spend $1200+ a month for even a 1 bedroom house. Far greater than comparable residence further from campus. Certainly the presence of the campus, the students and employees are a large factor in that.
The apartments are required for Freshmen and Sophomores under the age of 21. General not regarded as highly desirable renters anyway. That leaves 1500 undergraduate and 1200 graduate students looking for housing in the area, in addition to the well paid employees and those wishing to live near TU for other reasons. I'm guessing that has something to do with the area immediately around TU being nice.
3) Which brings us to the fact that the areas all around TU are nice with the possible exception of Kendall Whittier - which is just recently bordering TU. If you travel further than 1 mile East or just 8 block North the area degrades rapidly. It would seem strange if that was a coincidence.
4) Speaking of the area... without TU the retail/eateries in the area would probably not have developed and/or moved on by now. All the fast food joints, the bars, the coffee shop opening up, the salon, print shop etc. would not be there. Not too mention recent improvements to make the campus look nice all around. Brick, lighting, and signage to make it look like a modern campus.
5) For the area and for the community at large Tulsa also provides greens space, a library (law library not public but-for the government documents section), concerts (many free), speakers (many notable and almost all free), and on-site expertise. Feel free to go to a concert on campus, hear a Supreme Court Justice or former head of state speak, or track down an expert in an area for a quick question.
6) Athletics. How much are we paying for Driller's stadium? How much subsidy do we essentially pay for the Talons and the Oilers? If we get a MLS team, how much we will end up subsidize it?
TU plays top tier athletics in 18 different sports. Winning our conference championships more than any other school in the nation over the last 3 years. Soccer is free and we were ranked this year. A football game (we ended the season ranked #25) will cost $30 for an entire family. A basketball ticket is $10 and we have a good chance to be top notch this year.
Also, visiting teams and fans take up hotel rooms. They eat at local restaurants. They fly in and out of our airport. We host conference tournaments as well as NATIONAL Tournaments.
7) how much does Tulsa spend a year advertising itself? Well, thanks to TU we were on the CBS Sports Network nearly all day for 2 weeks during the NCAA Tennis Tournament. When TU is on TV playing football or basketball Tulsa gets mentioned to the nation more than the rest of the year combined. When there is a big game in town and ESPN is filming from the top of Skelly they constantly cut to scenes of Bell's in the distance or our skyline.
In addition to sports fans - engineers, researchers, speakers, and government officials come to town to go to events, speaking engagements and so on at TU. Students, parents, and relatives comes to graduations.
Name recognition is worth something, and again... it's free. What other entity in town has as many visitors come to check out Tulsa?
If those don't count as contributions how about the sheer economic impact of having a privately funded research institution in town? A payroll in excess of $40,000,000.00, tons of contractors and part timers after that. 4,300 students paying an average of $26,000 a year - pretending they don't touch the endowment and the students don't spend any money outside of tuition and fees - that's a $112,000,000.00 economic impact.
You want quality jobs? I'm willing to bet in the category of "people making over $100,000 a year" the University of Tulsa is one of the top employers in town. Add a few making at or near $1,000,000 a year just to contribute to the really rich.
Your company need work? Do you own a construction company? Sell lawn equipment? Paper distributor? Food vendor? Heating and air? Paint company? Trucking? Travel agency? Athletic equipment? Roofing? Design firm? Used books? I know a client you could try to win.
9) What we need in this town to really succeed are educated young people. And the University of Tulsa helps provide them free of charge to you, Joe Taxpayer. You're welcome.
My family would never have ended up in Tulsa without the University.
10) If all that isn't good enough, the University and students do a ton of volunteering, fund raising, and mentoring in the community. After the ice-storm the football team cleared nearby schools and parks. There are constant blood drives, fund raising events, and collections. The University itself is managing Gilcrease at it's own expense. And on and on...
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I don't get it. I saw a head shop, Wendy's and abandoned bar get bought out by a notable University. You saw some horrible monster grabbing for power. I see economic impact, education, and community assets - and you see nothing at all.
I'd be happy to compare the differences between TU and OCU (lets start with admission requirements), but it really isn't relevant to seeing what the community gets from the University of Tulsa.
I'm taking you to a football game. We will drink. Tulsa will win. You will LOVE TU. [
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