New York Campuses Dominate the Ugly List

A national young men’s style and music magazine is painting an ugly picture of many college campuses in New York State.

In an article for Complex, contributor, Kathryn Henderson dedicates around a quarter of her ‘Top 50 Ugly College Campus’ list to schools in the Empire State.

Henderson lists the #1 ugly campus in the U.S. as Ava Maria University in Florida with the City College of New York coming in #2.

In all, a dozen schools in New York make the list of 50 ugly ducklings. Many of those singled out are SUNY campuses.  In her review of #15 Binghamton University, Henderson says, “Apparently during the 1960s and 1970s, the State of New York didn’t care much for architectural aesthetics.”  She goes on to call B.U. “a grim utilitarian modernist campus” that can be compared to a public high school.

New York colleges and universities making the list are:

#46 Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs

#45 Ithaca College

#39 City University of New York, Hunter

#38 New York University

#28 Clarkson University in Potsdam

#15 Binghamton University

#12 SUNY Albany

#7 SUNY Stony Brook

#5 SUNY Buffalo, North Campus

#4 SUNY Purchase

#3 Rochester Institute of Technology

#2 City College of New York

Regarding RIT, Henderson quips, “With such a good photo program, you would think RIT would have an eye for aesthetics,” as she takes issue with the extensive use of red brick on campus.

Henderson's entire list can be found at www.complex.com.