{"id":185628,"date":"2026-02-20T04:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185628\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T04:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:35:30","slug":"why-oakland-university-students-are-divided-on-proposed-ai-institute-data-center-for-parking-lot-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/185628\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Oakland University students are divided on proposed AI institute, data center for Parking Lot 35"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. \u2013 Oakland University<\/a> is exploring bringing a data center and an artificial intelligence institute to campus, a move administrators say would support several of the school\u2019s strategic goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But some students are divided.<\/p>\n

The project proposal mentioned Parking Lot 35 as a potential site for the center, though university leaders stressed that no final decision has been made. <\/p>\n

OU recently signed a feasibility study to determine whether a data center and AI institute fit the campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been no decision to make a data center at this point,\u201d said Stephen Mackey, senior vice president for finance and administration. \u201cThis is a critical phase.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mackey said the study will examine costs, potential revenue, environmental considerations, other possible campus locations, and the impact on students, staff, and university operations. <\/p>\n

If the project moves forward, he said, it could help bring in more revenue for the school and internship opportunities for students in that field.<\/p>\n

Some students see opportunity in the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think having a data center here would be a great edge in Oakland University\u2019s ability to be competitive to other colleges, Jadon Kobus said. \u201cTo move up in research rankings compared to some of the other bigger guys and open up a lot more hands-on experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mentioned this would only benefit the school and would hate to see developers put it on other university sites.<\/p>\n

Others are pushing back, raising concerns about environmental impacts and long-term viability.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have issues with the location,\u201d said Clover DeVore, president of the College Democrats at OU, who opposes the project. DeVore said students are worried about potential environmental harm, including water runoff, chemicals used at the site, and possible impacts on nearby wildlife.<\/p>\n

DeVore is skeptical of the current proposed location, which is not far from a Native American Heritage site and the surrounding nature.<\/p>\n

DeVore also questioned whether such a facility would remain useful over time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no guarantee it\u2019ll still be relevant in about 10 years,\u201d DeVore said. \u201cWith how fast technology develops, there\u2019s no guarantee this will not be obsolete in the next 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student body president Marcus Johnson said he is trying to balance those competing views.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy personal opinion is mixed,\u201d Johnson said, adding that he wants whatever is best for students and for OU\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Johnson shared results from a recent student poll that received 100 responses. More than half of the respondents oppose the data center proposal, while about 15% support it.<\/p>\n

About 19% didn\u2019t have an opinion.<\/p>\n

Mackey said once the feasibility study is completed, a recommendation will be sent to the OU board of trustees, likely in June. <\/p>\n

He emphasized that administrators want to continue hearing from students as the process moves forward.<\/p>\n

Mackey also mentioned that if a data center is placed on the campus, it will not be put on any green space.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. \u2013 Oakland University is exploring bringing a data center and an artificial intelligence institute to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,904,145,144,1609,3414],"class_list":["post-185628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-county","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-oakland-university","tag-rochester-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}