The prestigious Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee, recently announced its plan to establish a new campus in San Francisco. This campus plans to have 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as about 100 faculty and staff members. Vanderbilt and the California College of the Arts (CCA) have agreed for Vanderbilt to acquire the CCA’s campus. Vanderbilt is scheduled to open the doors of its new academic campus in 2027.

“This is a great opportunity,” junior Kokobe Foust said. “We can potentially experience a great Southern school like Vanderbilt on the West Coast,”

This move is rooted in Vanderbilt’s motto, Crescere Aude, which is Latin and translates to “Dare to Grow”. The new location is part of a broader program to foster new ideas in hubs of innovation, according to Vanderbilt University. This expansion follows Vanderbilt’s other announcements of expanding campus to New York City and West Palm Beach, Florida. 

“I wonder where else they will expand to,” freshman Claire Aliabadi said. “I wonder if they will have other campus locations by the time I’m applying for college.” 

While the announcement has brought excitement, it has also faced some backlash. The California College of the Arts has had a presence in San Francisco for 119 years, and will be closing its Design District campus in 2027 due to underlying financial struggles, according to California College of Arts. 

San Francisco’s oldest private arts school shutting down has been received poorly by many current students and critics, who are worried about the decline of Bay Area artists, according to Artnet. To alleviate the tension, Vanderbilt aims to preserve the CCA’s legacy by establishing the “CCA Institute at Vanderbilt”.  

“I think that’s very exciting,” English professor Ms. Wilson said. “The more higher-level institutions in San Francisco the better!”

For Vanderbilt, San Francisco was chosen due to it being the center of artificial intelligence as well as the opportunities and internships that SF can provide to students. For San Francisco, the arrival of a “Top 20” university is a major part of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s plan to boost local businesses still feeling the effects of the pandemic, according to sf.gov. 

“I think it will be interesting to see if it changes the dynamics of San Francisco,” Foust said. “I wonder if there will be a noticeable decline in art or maybe an incline in tech developments after Vanderbilt opens.”