[GVSU Downtown Development]

Just a comment on MSU's Honors College - to my knowledge, the Honors College is a separate entity from Lyman Briggs and James Madison. Those were, and I think still are, residential colleges within MSU. That is, they are located in a particular dorm where students of that "college" live, eat, and take many classes together. The Honors College has it's own building (one of the oldest buildings on campus, at least when went there) and other designated activities/programs/courses for its students, but it's not a residential college, per se.

Anyone want to correct or update me on that?

But I sure would have appreciated having a fancy building with its own grill and other amenities to enjoy. Actually, at U of M, when I was a grad student, I really liked "escaping" to Rackham to study, take a nap or listen to someone play the piano in one of the "libraries", except when I was trying to take that nap.

Ah, my appologies I thought James Madison and Lyman Briggs were the Honors program, just for their respective majors. But now that makes sence, I think that programs like this at GVSU and Residential programs like James Madison and Lyman Briggs add a good element to a school. They also provide a place for students who might not thrive in the regular college enviroment and can give a 'big school' some small school ammenities. I am glad to see GVSU pursuing this.

on a sidenote i am currently a student at U of M and Rackham is a great place to escape to!

[GVSU Downtown Development]

This seems a little ridiculous. They are going to be pampered just because they are smart.

Honors College Living Center

Cost: $33 million. This is more expensive than anything else they have done. Anybody know why they would do this?

What: 40,800-square-foot Honors College located between two housing buildings. Includes two classrooms, a computer lab, a science lab, 16 offices. Also is supposed to contain a movie theatre for the honors students and a grill.

Update: Construction began at the end of April.

Move-in: August 2008

Sounds like a cool project. Does seem a little excessive, but it would be a great recruiting tool for GVSU to attract some of Michigan/Midwest's brightest. The University of Michigan has a well-established Honors Program and so does MSU with the Lyman Briggs and James Madison programs. I think it is great GVSU will look to attract strong academic students, however hopefully not at the expense of entirety of the student body. U of M has some nice Honors facilities but they are also open to the general student public as well (Perlman Honors Commons, http://www.lsa.umich.edu/honors/resources/perlman.htm I would think GVSU should do the same and have this new facility open for all their students to enjoy.

[Transit Updates for Greater Grand Rapids]

I didn't know if this was the right place to post or not but the Rapid has acquired Hybrid Buses, 2 are apparently entering service today with 3 more on the way. Earlier this winter I was skiing in Colorado and rode on Hybrid buses being used there (I think made by GM) they were very cool. In that they are 1) good for the environment (at least better then the buses currently used) 2) look distinctive/cool 3) very smooth and comfortable and 4) show that the locale they are used in are in tune to environmental issues and care enough about their mass transit system to invest in it. Here is a link to a woodtv story on it:

http://woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6410327