OCF, wasn't Akron a City school (much like UC) that decided it wanted into the State system? My point is, I don't think the State put two institutions that close. That is just what happened when Akron went from City to State. Then again, I could be wrong...

And, what about UC and Miami? The same situation there. In that case, I know UC was a City institution until the late 70s or so. Why not combine them too? Can you imagine the higher ed overhead costs that could be saved by doing this. Which is why it will never happen. Of course, there are alumni issues too.

Then there is also UT and BGSU. Could be Toledo was a City school too at one time?

You are right, Casper -- Akron, and most of the others named, were once city schools. They became state schools in different time frames. I think either UC or UT was the last to make the transition. In the case of UC, as I remember, the transition was in several phases. I believe for awhile it was part state and part city -- the governor appointing five trustees and the mayor four. This is all from memory, so I stand to be corrected by someone with a better memory or more comprehensive research on the subject.

BGSU and KSU started as normal schools (teacher's colleges) and became universities sometime after 1920. I believe, in fact, KSU and BGSU were founded in the same year around 1910 by the same legislative bill.

The Akron-KSU merger proposal always made sense to me, even before all of the current financial issues in the Rubber City. I will, however, defer to SBH, who knows the lay of the land up there much better than I do.

The hits keep on coming.

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2015/07/universi...

There has been a ton of new development at CSU including student housing. The area looks nothing like it did just a few years ago. Helps that the new Hofbrau Haus is located basically on campus.

There were stories not that long ago about the Wolstein Center (The CSU Convocation Center) being redeveloped for other uses. The basketball team's attendance doesn't justify its size and the market for concerts is overly saturated right now in Cleveland with the House of Blues, Rocksino, etc. Very rarely do you hear of any major concert happening there.

Is it true, then, that in the MAC only OHIO, Miami, the State University of NEW YORK at Buffalo, and the UMass were not founded either as normal schools or as city schools?