Campus facts for kids
A campus is usually the land and buildings that belong to a college or university. It often includes libraries, classrooms, dorms (where students live), dining halls, and green spaces like parks.
Today, a campus can also be a group of buildings and land owned by any large organization. This includes schools, but also big companies like Google or Apple.
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Where Did the Word "Campus" Come From?
The word "campus" comes from a Latin word meaning "field." It was first used in 1774 to describe a large field next to Nassau Hall at the College of New Jersey (which is now Princeton University). This field was between the college and the small town nearby.
At first, other American colleges used "campus" to describe just one field on their property. It didn't mean the whole school area yet. A school might have a "campus," a "field," and a "yard" all at the same time.
How Campuses Developed Over Time
The idea of a campus started with medieval European universities. In those days, students and teachers often lived and worked together in a closed-off area, similar to a cloister (a covered walkway in a monastery).
This idea that the physical setting was important for learning later came to America. Early colleges in the American colonies were built based on the college systems in Scotland and England.
Over time, the American campus changed from the closed-off European style. Early American colleges had their own unique designs. Some were just one building, like Princeton's first campus. Others were arranged like a cloister but adapted for American ideas, like Harvard's. Both the designs and the buildings of colleges across the country have changed with new trends. Most campuses today show a mix of different old and new styles.
Different Uses of the Word "Campus" Today
During the 20th century, the meaning of "campus" grew to include all the land and buildings owned by a university. Before that, in some places, the old meaning (just a field) lasted until the 1950s.
Company Campuses
In the early 1990s, the word "campus" also started being used for a company's office buildings. A famous example is Apple's Infinite Loop campus, which was built for research and development. The Microsoft Campus in Redmond, Washington, is another example, even though it was built in the 1980s before the term was widely used for companies. Today, even hospitals and airports sometimes use "campus" to describe their entire property.
University Campuses Around the World
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The word "campus" is also used for European universities. However, some very old universities, like those in Bologna, Padua, Oxford, and Cambridge, don't have one big park-like campus. Instead, their many buildings are scattered throughout their university towns.
See also
- Campus novel
- Campus university
- History of college campuses and architecture in the United States
- Satellite campus
