Note: The flagship University of Minnesota campus is the Twin Cities campus, which comprises grounds in St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latter divided into areas on both the east and west banks of the Mississippi River. Administratively, these are all one campus, but for purposes of simplicity, this article will apply "campus" to its component parts where necessary to avoid confusion with the names of cities. As the largest of five campuses across the University of Minnesota system, the Twin Cities campus has more than 50,000 students. This makes it the ninth-largest campus student body in the United States. It has more than 300 research, education, and outreach centers and institutes. Many buildings in this area are well over 100 years old, such as some of the 13 in the
Old Campus Historic District. Today, most
disciplines in this area relate to the
humanities. Burton Hall is home to the
College of Education and Human Development. Folwell Hall and Jones Hall are primarily used by the language departments. A residence hall, Sanford Hall, and a student-apartment complex, Roy Wilkins Hall, are in this area. This area is just south of the Dinkytown neighborhood and business area.
Northrop Mall is arguably the center of the Minneapolis campus. The plan for the Mall was based on a design by
Cass Gilbert, although his scheme was too extravagant to be fully implemented. Several of the campus's primary buildings surround the Mall area.
Northrop Auditorium provides a northern anchor, with
Coffman Memorial Union (CMU) to the south. Four of the larger buildings to the sides of the Mall are the primary
mathematics,
physics, and
chemistry buildings (Vincent Hall, Tate Laboratory and Smith Hall, respectively) and
Walter Library. Smith Hall and Walter Library were built during the
Lotus Coffman administration. The Mall area is home to the
College of Liberal Arts, which is Minnesota's largest public or private college, and the
College of Science and Engineering. Behind CMU is another residence hall, Comstock Hall, and another student-apartment complex, Yudof Hall. The
Northrop Mall Historic District was formally listed in the
National Register of Historic Places in January 2018. The Health area is to the southeast of the Mall area and focuses on undergraduate buildings for
biological science students, as well as the homes of the college of
Pharmacy, the School of
Nursing, the
School of Dentistry, the
Medical School, the
School of Public Health, and
M Health Fairview Hospitals and Clinics. This complex of buildings forms what is known as the
University of Minnesota Medical Center. Part of the
College of Biological Sciences is housed in this area. Across the street from the University of Minnesota Medical Center Fairview is an area known as the "Superblock", a four-city-block space comprising four residence halls, Pioneer, Frontier, Centennial and Territorial Halls. The Superblock is one of the most popular locations for on-campus housing because it has the largest concentration of students living on campus and has a multitude of social activities between the residence halls. The Athletic area is directly north of the Superblock and includes four recreation/athletic facilities: the University Recreation Center, Cooke Hall, the University Fieldhouse, and the
University Aquatic Center. These facilities are all connected by tunnels and skyways, allowing students to use one locker room facility. North of this complex is the
Huntington Bank Stadium,
Williams Arena,
Mariucci Arena,
Ridder Arena, and the Baseline Tennis Center. The Gateway area, the easternmost section of campus, is primarily composed of office buildings instead of classrooms and lecture halls. The most prominent building is
McNamara Alumni Center. The university is also heavily invested in a
biomedical research initiative and has built five biomedical research buildings that form a biomedical complex directly north of Huntington Bank Stadium.
Architecture , one of the oldest buildings on campus (1889)
The Armory, northeast of the Mall area, is built like a
Norman castle. It features a
sally-port entrance facing Church Street and a tower that was originally intended to be the professor of
military science's residence. Since it originally held the athletics department, the Armory also features a
gymnasium. Today it is home to military science classes and the university's
Reserve Officers' Training Corps. Several buildings in the
Old Campus Historic District were designed by early Minnesota architect
LeRoy Buffington. One of the most notable is
Pillsbury Hall, designed by Buffington and Harvey Ellis in the
Richardsonian Romanesque style. Pillsbury Hall's
polychromatic facade incorporates several sandstone varieties that were available in Minnesota during the time of construction. Buffington also designed the exterior of
Burton Hall, considered one of the strongest specimens of
Greek Revival architecture in Minnesota. Many of the buildings on the East Bank were designed by the prolific Minnesota architect
Clarence H. Johnston, including the
Jacobean Folwell Hall and the
Beaux-Arts edifices of
Northrop Auditorium and
Walter Library, which he considered the heart of the university. Johnston's son, Clarence Johnston Jr, was also an architect and designed the original
Bell Museum building and
Coffman Memorial Union in the 1930s. The
Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, which is the tallest building on the Twin Cities campus, is a noted example of
brutalist architecture. In more recent years,
Frank Gehry designed the
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum. Completed in 1993, the Weisman Art Museum is a typical example of his work with curving metallic structures. The abstract structure is considered highly significant because it was built prior to the widespread use of
computer-aided design in architecture. It also ushered in a new era of architecture at the university, which continued with the completion of the
McNamara Alumni Center in 2000 and Bruininks Hall (formerly STSS) in 2010. Another notable structure is the addition to the Architecture building, designed by
Steven Holl and completed in 2002. It won an
American Institute of Architects award for its innovative design. The Architecture building was then renamed Rapson Hall after the local
modernist architect and School of Architecture Dean
Ralph Rapson. The university also has a "Greek row" of historic
fraternities and sororities located north of campus on University Avenue SE.
West Bank The West Bank covers . The West Bank is home to the
University of Minnesota Law School, the
Humphrey School of Public Affairs, the
Carlson School of Management, School of Music, various social science buildings, and the performing arts center. The West Bank Arts Quarter includes the
Rarig Center, Barbara Barker Center for Dance, Ferguson Hall (School of Music), Ted Mann Concert Hall and Regis Center for Art. Due to the numerous arts departments on the West Bank, it is home to several annual interdisciplinary arts festivals. Wilson Library, the largest library in the university system, is also on the West Bank, as is Middlebrook Hall, the largest residence hall on campus. The
Elmer L. Andersen Library is home to the university's Archives and Special Collections Department.
St. Paul The St. Paul campus is by St. Paul and the suburb of
Falcon Heights, about from the Minneapolis campus. The default place name for the ZIP code serving the campus is "St. Paul." The
College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, including the University of Minnesota Food Industry Center and many other disciplines from social sciences to
vocational education, are on this campus. It also includes the College of Continuing and Professional Studies, College of Veterinary Medicine, and College of Biological Sciences. The extensive lawns, flowers, trees, and surrounding University research farm plots create a greener and quieter campus. It has a grassy mall of its own and can be a bit of a retreat from the more urban Minneapolis campus. Prominent on this campus is Bailey Hall, the St. Paul campus' only residence hall. Campus Connector buses run every five minutes on weekdays when school is in session, and every 20 minutes on weekends, allowing students easy access to both campuses. The Continuing Education and Conference Center, which serves over 20,000 conference attendees per year, is also on the St. Paul campus. The St. Paul campus is home to the College of Design's Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel (DHA). Located in McNeal Hall, DHA includes the departmental disciplines of apparel design, graphic design, housing studies, interior design, and retail merchandising. McNeal Hall is also the home to the university's
Goldstein Museum of Design. The St. Paul campus is known to University students and staff for the Meat and Dairy Salesroom, which sells animal food products (such as ice cream, cheese, and meat) produced in the university's state-certified pilot plant by students, faculty and staff. The St. Paul campus borders the
Minnesota State Fairgrounds, which hosts the largest
state fair in the United States by daily attendance. The fair lasts 12 days, from late August through Labor Day. The grounds also serve a variety of functions during the rest of the year. Although the Falcon Heights
area code is 651, the university telephone system trunk lines use Minneapolis
exchanges and its 612 area code.
Commuting connects the East Bank and West Bank portions of the
Minneapolis campus. train after leaving the
East Bank Station, heading towards
Downtown Minneapolis Walking and riding bicycles are the most common modes of transportation among students. At times, the University Police has occasionally cited individuals for
jaywalking or riding bicycles on restricted sidewalks in areas surrounding the university. The
Washington Avenue Bridge crossing the Mississippi River provides access between the East and West Banks in Minneapolis, on foot and via designated bike lanes and a free shuttle service. Several pedestrian tunnels ease the passage from building to building during harsh weather; they are marked with signs reading "
The Gopher Way". The Minneapolis campus is near
Interstates 94 and
35W and is bordered by the Minneapolis neighborhoods of
Dinkytown (on the north),
Cedar-Riverside (on the west),
Stadium Village (on the southeast), and
Prospect Park (on the east). On regular weekdays during the school year, the Campus Connectors operate with schedule-less service as often as every five minutes during the busiest parts of the school day (between 7 am and 5:30 pm), slowing to once every 15 or 20 minutes during earlier or later hours. The estimated commute time between St. Paul and the East Bank is 15 minutes. In 2008, the system carried 3.55 million riders. Although the shuttle service is free, it is comparatively inexpensive to operate; with an operating cost of $4.55 million in 2008, the operating subsidy was only $1.28 per passenger. Even
Metro Transit's busy
Metro Blue Line light rail required a subsidy of $1.44 that year, and that was with many riders paying $1.75 or more for a ride. Three
light-rail stations serve the university along the
Green Line:
Stadium Village,
East Bank, and
West Bank. The university partnered with
Metro to offer students, staff, and faculty members a
Campus Zone Pass that enables free travel on the three stations that pass through campus, as well as a discounted unlimited pass for students. More recently, the university has instituted the Universal Transit Pass, which allows most students unlimited access to the Metro Transit light rail and bus networks as well as a number of other transit systems in the area.
Campus safety The Step Up campaign is a program that helps students prevent excessive drinking, as well as sexual assault and other crimes, by teaching them how to intervene and prevent in a positive way. This is done, in part, by explaining the
bystander effect. The U of M also has a SAFE-U emergency notification text messaging system that sends out a notification to all faculty, staff, and students in case of emergency. The commitment to a safe inclusive campus is also articulated through the comprehensive University of Minnesota Safety Plan, aligned with MPact 2025's Commitment 5, Action Item 5.4, emphasizing the need to assess and improve campus safety continually. The establishment of the Strategic Safety Advisory Committee and public safety forums fosters community engagement and dialogue on safety concerns and improvements. The university has made strides in off-campus safety through nightly patrols in Dinkytown and the introduction of blue light kiosks and mobile light trailers to enhance visibility and security. Other resources help students get home safely. Calling 624-WALK secures an escort for walks to adjacent campuses and neighborhoods, and Gopher Chauffeur, a van service, offers rides near and on campus. Both are free and open to all students, staff, and faculty. The campus has nearly 200 automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and 200 yellow phones for emergency-only calls. The University Police Station has 20 Code Blue phones around campus that immediately connect people to their office. There are over 2,000 security cameras being monitored 24 hours a day. In July 2009, an appeals court upheld Jones' conviction, but reduced his four-year prison sentence to one year. More than 1,000 sexual assaults on campus were reported between 2010 and 2015. No prosecutions for rape occurred, according to Katie Eichele of the Aurora Center, Drill-Mellum received a six-year prison sentence. Six resulted in arrest from 2010 to 2015; one was determined to be unfounded. despite six sexual assault resources and many anti-crime programs on campus. In August 2020, the University of Minnesota agreed to pay $500,000 to a woman who in the fall of 2016, accused several Gophers football players of sexually assaulting her. In February 2017, a University of Minnesota panel cleared four of the 10 Gopher football players the woman accused and agreed with investigators' recommendation that four other players be expelled and the other two players should be suspended for a year. ==Academics==