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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 10/1/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
October 20, 2003 Small park celebrates UWGB founding idea By Ray Barrington There always seems to be someone at Communiversity Park, just down the
street from the main entrance of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
There isn't much there — a few picnic tables, park benches, trash
barrels and a few spaces to park — and the facilities are porta-potty
primitive.
But it does offer something rare — a spot to stand in relative
quiet and listen to Green Bay.
A chance to listen to waters lapping and watch birds flying. A chance
to find a stone and plunk it into the drink, or perhaps see a fish leap
off shore.
The location was the site of a supper club before it became a park.
The Rivera Supper Club was there before the construction started on the
UWGB campus in the late 1960s, but it was torn down.
In the early 1970s, UWGB started to purchase land along the bay, including
the old Riveria property, and decided to make it open space.
But any park needs a name, and instead of picking an individual, the
university picked an idea.
One of the founding themes of UWGB was "communiversity," a coined word
defined as "a socially-responsible university relating to a socially-responsible
community." The word isn't used much any more, but it was one of the favorite
descriptions of UWGB's relationship to Green Bay.
The UWGB-based public TV channel, WPNE-TV Channel 38, even carried a
short-lived half-hour program, "Communiversity Beat."
While the word has fallen out of disuse like a 1970s leisure suit, the
park remains, and it's probably as basic an example of campus and city
common ground as one can find.
The park is nearing the end of its season; it's only open from April
to October, from 10 a.m. to dusk daily.
But come the spring, it will again be a place to relax just a few yards
away from a busy campus.
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