Matt Yglesias' idea to save Motown: Move MIT, other schools, to Detroit

We might want to run that by MIT, NYU and George Washington University before breaking ground on their new locations in Detroit.

For context here, Slate writer Matt Yglesias wrote that the city of Detroit suffers at least in part due to a lack of a major university within its borders:

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/359023747996463104

@mattyglesias Scale matters, too. I believe Yale employs more ppl than next 8 NH orgs combined. Wayne St. would transform a smaller place.

— Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) July 21, 2013

At that point, Yglesias recommended moving “inefficiently located” universities such as MIT to larger urban areas that could reap greater benefit from the school’s presence.

We shouldn’t make too many assumptions based only on the couple of data points in Yglesias’ Slate post, however. Especially the assumption that major universities transform cities.

Flashback tweet from last month:

New Haven, Conn., is the eighth most dangerous city in the country? What gives, Yale?http://t.co/Y2IqHR5STC

— Dan McClellan (@maklelan) June 21, 2013

Bottom line: We’re guessing that anyone who would vote to relocate MIT to Detroit would not qualify for admission to MIT.