Environmental Code: Creating a Sense of Place on the College Campus
All colleges and universities emphatically or implicitly promise academic programs which reflect or imply high standards of excellence. Students are told they will have good instructors, a full range of courses and majors, and a calendar that will expedite progress. Most colleges and universities, however, do not place similar emphasis on the quality of the physical environment in which the formal learning process takes place. Little if anything is mentioned, no less promised, regarding the quality of the architecture, the topography, the landscaping, or the role the physical environment plays in shaping and supporting the learning process. Environmental excellence, consequently, is neither acknowledged nor accomplished by most institutions of higher education. It would be unrealistic to assume that practices always follow principles. But there is a point at which both understanding and subsequent action are stimulated by an awareness of the desired and the ideal. The following "Environmental Code" 1 for col-