Home Alone: Euro Trip, Party's Over Party City, From PhD to OF, & More

Around the College Towns: Links and commentary related to urbanism and higher ed for the week of Dec. 21 - Dec. 28.

Note: It’s a lean week for links given the holiday season. A lot of people are on extended vacations and some media outlets just shut it down until after the New Year. But there were still some interesting things that I spotted this week in terms of urbanism and higher ed…

Home Alone Inspired Wave of Kevins in Europe

Christmas is over, but I couldn’t help to include this story on Home Alone. The 1990s Christmas classic was such a hit in Europe that ‘Kevin’ became the most popular name in Germany, France, and the Netherlands for a few years after. This story might seem pretty funny to Americans—sadly, there is more to it.

A story that seems so much like an April Fools joke I had to triple-check, but it is indeed from the Economist. The New Yorker did a similar story a few years ago, too.

The name ‘Kevin’ has become associated with low classes in many countries on the continent; people with the Home Alone namesake have been discriminated against. The Germans dubbed this form of classism as Kevinismus. There is even an app that helps parents choose a name that won’t be denigrated by the time the child grows up called the ‘Kevinometer.’ Names, so simple, yet packed with so much insight.

The Party is Over for Party City

Another bummer holiday story comes from Party City, the festive chain store announced that it will be going out of business. While I might not lament losing a store that sells overpriced balloons, one thing to consider is that Party City stores are usually big tenants in suburban strip malls. With Bed Bath & Beyond and other similar retail closings in recent years, these types of developments may find themselves underwater akin to struggling malls in the 2000s and 2010s. These types of spaces are not that easy to find adaptive reuses for compared to our traditional models. The closures may signal a downward spiral for strip malls.

Party City stores are often big anchor tenants in strip malls. What can fill the space when they are gone? Graphic by me.

University Goes Online, Developer Eyes Campus

Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, is an interesting case for a college. It was founded by a Tibetan Buddhist in 1974, and remains one of the few handful of Buddhist-related institutions in the US. It seems like a groovy place, hosting the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics for aspiring beatnik poets and writers.

This part of campus looks more like a singular fraternity house rather than an entire college, via Google Maps.

Alas, it has come under hard times—Naropa recently announced it would reduce its physical footprint, moving to more online or hybrid programs. This means selling off the main campus. The prize is the 120-year-old Lincoln Building designed by a famed local architect. Core Spaces LLC, a student housing developer, is now eying the campus for re-development. The space is only a few blocks from UC Boulder, so at least it should continue some sort of student-front re-use. My prognosis, though, is that Naropa the college is dead within five years.

Colleges Grapple With Still Being Colleges During the College Football Playoff

This is the first year of the college football playoff (at least for the top division in the sport). The admin of the universities participating in this post-season tournament has been grappling with just how to handle an adjusted schedule. Typically, the season used to end around right now, with bowl games in far-off destinations. Under the new format, universities now host playoff games during this time, which happens to coincide with finals and other school functions (these are still colleges, after all).

Some schools moved their entire university exam schedule, others moved winter graduation so that parents weren’t competing with fans for hotels. “I think we’d be foolish to say it’s not the money driving things,” told a Penn State faculty athletics rep to Sports Illustrated. Indeed, the way that these schools continue to grapple with the sheer amounts of money involved is worth monitoring, and a future post.

YouTuber Quits Her PhD for OnlyFans

Finally, since I often cover the perils of academia and grad school journeys, another one made waves on social media this week: a science YouTuber named Zara Dar recently announced she would be quitting her PhD program to become a full-time online content creator. She holds an MS in Computer Science from the University of Texas and posts videos on YouTube on “neural networks, machine learning,” and other tech-related material. “Money was only part of the story—the state of academia today was the primary reason,” she stated.

Dar, via Times of India.

While hers is an extreme case, I do think the story is part of the broader struggles that doctoral students and graduates find themselves during the journey. The precariousness can push people to the edge. I have already covered one such case with the so-called ‘Homeless UCLA’ professor a few times, and I will continue to document the state of our field.