The Board of Regents acquisition of the 140-acre Geddes Road landmass of the former Concordia University later this month will give it shoreline on a major Southeastern Michigan river system and, 104 miles downstream the Huron River Water Trail, direct access to Lake Erie.
“And though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth,, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?” — “Areopagitica” 1644 John Milton
“The university is a home of the human spirit, and when it is ruled by bureaucracy and mediocrity, the spirit is killed.”
— Roger Scruton
Iowa State’s CyTown is a going to be a revenue engine, and the pro forma is starting to show it. The university is projecting $184M in net revenue over 30 years, with about half coming from a revenue-share with developer Goldenrod and roughly 30% from a tax arrangement with the… pic.twitter.com/5938dy6cfb
The founding of many education communities is inspired by faith communities. In many of them the place of worship was the very first building. College and university chapels are central places of worship for students, staff and faculty, and provide a space for solitude and reflection. A place for feeling at home in the world.
There are several hundred technical standards, or parts of standards, that govern how churches and chapels are made safe and sustainable. Owing to innovations in construction, operation and management methods, those standards move, ever so slightly, on a near-daily basis. They are highly interdependent; confounded by county-level adaptations; and impossible to harmonize by adoption cycle. That movement tracked here as best we can within the limit of our resources and priorities. That’s why it’s best to simply click into our daily colloquia if you have a question or need guidance.
Richard Miniter observes that the United States was founded as four distinct religious utopias, each originating from different regions and historical periods in England (and the broader British Isles). These groups, shaped by conflicts like the English Civil War, brought competing visions of society, governance, and faith that continue to influence American culture and politics today.1. New England Puritans (from East Anglia): Strict, communal Calvinists seeking a “city upon a hill” with moral oversight and collective piety.
2. Cavalier culture in Virginia and the South (from southwest England): Hierarchical, Anglican/Royalist tradition emphasizing order, honor, and aristocratic values.
3. Middle States (influenced by the West Midlands): More tolerant, pluralistic Quaker and other nonconformist approaches fostering commerce and individual liberty.
4. Appalachian borderlands (from the English-Scottish border): Scots-Irish Presbyterian folkways stressing independence, martial honor, and anti-authoritarian egalitarianism.These enduring subcultures create ongoing tensions over freedom, authority, and religion in America.
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi.
The 13th century Eucharistic chant of Ave verum corpus was set to music by Mozart in 1791 to be sung especially to celebrate the feast day.
The image criteria of our WordPress theme does not permit many images of college and university chapels to be shown fully-dimensioned on sliders or widget galleries. We reproduce a few of the outsized images here and leave the complexities of financing, designing, building and maintaining of them in a safe and sustainable manner for another day. CLICK HERE for the links to our Sacred Space Standards workspace.
Click on any image for author attribution, photo credit or other information*.
Corpus Christi, Latin for “Body of Christ,” originated as a Catholic feast honoring the Eucharist but can be understood secularly as a powerful cultural and social ritual. It centers on the symbolic act of communal consumption—bread and wine representing shared sacrifice and unity—echoing ancient practices where meals foster social bonds, identity, and collective memory.
Anthropologically, it functions like other harvest or solidarity festivals: public processions, mystery plays, and vibrant street celebrations transform abstract ideas into lived community experience. Participants affirm group cohesion through synchronized movement, costumes, music, and shared space, reinforcing “one body” as a metaphor for social interdependence.
Today, the feast highlights how religious symbols evolve into secular heritage—blending indigenous traditions, civic pride, and tourism—while illustrating humanity’s enduring need for rituals that embody belonging, remembrance, and renewal.
Så var äntligen studentfirandet över för denna gången. Sjukt kul och lyckat men helt slut 😅 Dottern mer än nöjd vilket såklart är det viktigaste, hennes studentmössa gör att man anar att det kan finnas visst släktskap 😂😇 pic.twitter.com/TlnLvJrAsO
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“Panoramic View of the Greek Amphitheatre at Syracuse” 18th Century Abraham Louis Rodolphe Ducros
From from time to time — particularly in the months of fairer weather, when many events are hosted outdoors — we break form from the grind of responding to c0nsultations to simply enjoy these spaces See our CALENDAR for our periodic Lively c0lloquia when we drill down into technical specifics.
서울대학교
University of Melbourne (Architect rendering of project in process)
Furman University
High Point University
George Fox University Oregon
Globe Theater / Southern Utah University
Point Loma Nazarene University
Augusta University / Georgia
Singapore Management University
Swarthmore College
Silliman University Amphitheater / The Phillippines
University of Colorado
South Dakota State University
University of Mary Washington / Virginia
California State University San Marcos
Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro
Clemson University
University of Virginia
College of Idaho Centennial Amphitheater
Texas Woman’s University
Swarthmore College
Pomona College
Oakland University Meadowbrook Theater / Rochester, Michigan
The development of this standard is coordinated with the ICC Group A Codes. We have tracked concepts in it previous revisions; available in the link below.
As always, we encourage our colleagues with workpoint experience to participate directly in the ICC Code Development process. CLICK HERE to get started.
Issue: [15-283]
Category: Athletics & Recreation, Architectural, Public Safety
Contact: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben
“A Dance to the Music of Time” 1640 Nicolas Poussin
“The voice of the intellect is a soft one,
but it does not rest until it has gained a hearing.”
— Sigmund Freud
The education industry provides a large market for occupancy classes — athletic stadiums, student assembly spaces, performance theaters, large lecture halls– that depend upon effective audio systems*. To an unexpected degree the structural engineering, specification of materials and electrical system design and operation is informed by acoustical considerations. So does the integration of fire safety and mass notification systems into normal state enterprises so it is wise to follow and, ideally, participate in leading practice discovery and promulgation of audio standards.
The Audio Engineering Society — one of the first names in this space — has a due process platform that welcomes public participation. All of its standards open for public comment completed their revision cycle mid-November as can be seen on its standards development landing page below:
Note that AES permits access to those revision even after the comment deadline. You are encouraged to communicate directly with the Direct communication with the standards staff at Audio Engineering Society International Headquarters, 551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1225, New York NY 10176, Tel: +1 212 661 8528
We keep the AES suite on the standing agenda of our periodic Lively Arts teleconference. See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.
This facility class is one of most complex occupancy classes in education facilities industry so we also collaborate with experts active in the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee. Much of the AES suite references, and borrows from, International Electrotechnical Commission system integration and interoperability standards. The IEEE E&H committee meets online again four times monthly in European and American time zones. The meeting dates are available on the IEEE E&H website
Issue: [19-23]
Category: Electrical, Academic, Athletics, Fire Safety, Public Safety, #WiseCampus
Contact: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey
*Mass notification systems are governed by NFPA 72 and, while life safety wiring is separate from other wiring, the management of these systems involve coordination between workgroups with different business objectives and training.
New update alert! The 2022 update to the Trademark Assignment Dataset is now available online. Find 1.29 million trademark assignments, involving 2.28 million unique trademark properties issued by the USPTO between March 1952 and January 2023: https://t.co/njrDAbSpwBpic.twitter.com/GkAXrHoQ9T
