Smith, who has worked in his current department for the University since the fall of 1984, said the University stacks up pretty well with other campuses in the Big Ten and elsewhere. The campus of Michigan State is really an arboretum, versus Minnesota, which is a more urban campus. We're probably right up there. While Green Street's landscape is up for debate, the Quad is a staple of student life. On any nice day, hundreds of students can be seen lounging under the hundreds of trees that line the Quad.
Nature is important to a university and campustown for several reasons.
It really softens the buildings. But not so long ago, the natural aspects of campus were severely damaged. Almost all of the American Elm trees on campus were killed by Dutch elm disease, which hit central Illinois in the 1950s. Smith said approximately 1,800 trees were killed by the disease. The disease was spread by beetles, and the affected trees showed symptoms similar to phloem necrosis, another disease spread by leaf-hopping insects.