Boston University: A Comprehensive Campus Guide

Boston University (BU), a private research university with a rich history, is located in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1839, BU has grown into a sprawling urban campus that offers a wide range of academic programs and resources. This guide provides essential information for navigating the campus and the surrounding city, whether you're a prospective student, a current student, a visitor, or a faculty member.

A Vibrant Urban Campus

Boston University's campus stretches nearly two miles along Commonwealth Avenue, creating a dynamic and lively environment. The university's prime location allows for easy access to the city's cultural attractions, historical landmarks, and diverse neighborhoods.

Locating Key Resources

For meetings or site visits, the Events & Conference office is conveniently located at 925 Commonwealth Avenue, within the Agganis Arena building. The direct entrance to the office is along Agganis Way.

Getting Around

Navigating Boston and the BU campus can be simplified with a few helpful tips and resources.

Terrier Transit App

The Terrier Transit app is an invaluable tool for planning trips around campus and the greater Boston area. It offers turn-by-turn directions for walking, using public transit, and biking. Real-time arrival information is provided for the BU Shuttle, local buses, and the subway. Download Terrier Transit for real-time arrival information and trip-planning assistance.

Boston University Maps

Boston University Maps is a comprehensive online resource that provides up-to-date information on all buildings, parking lots, and locations on campus.

Accessible Campus Navigation

The accessible campus map, available through the BU Maps system, is designed to assist individuals with disabilities. It directs users to audible crosswalk signals, accessible building entrances, lactation rooms, and all-gender bathrooms.

Parking Information

Due to Boston University’s urban setting, parking is limited. Visitors are encouraged to utilize public transportation whenever possible. However, for those who require parking, the following options are available:

On-Street Metered Parking: Individuals with a state-issued disability placard or license plate may park free of charge at any on-street metered parking space.
University Parking Facilities: While there is no discount for parking in BU parking facilities, accessible spaces are available to those with state-issued disability placards or license plates. University lots are available for daily or overnight guest parking. Overnight parking is typically available at Lot B: Langsam Garage. If parking wasn't pre-arranged as part of your program, you can self-pay at the garage. On street parking is also available on certain streets.

Bluebikes

Biking is a convenient and enjoyable way to travel around Boston. With over 4,000 bicycles available for rent at over 400 stations, Bluebikes makes biking easy. Utilize one of the eight convenient Bluebikes stations along the Charles River Campus to travel around the campus and the city.

Public Transportation ("The T")

Boston’s buses and subway, known as “The T,” offer an efficient alternative to navigating Boston traffic. The B Branch of the Green Line has multiple stops on the Charles River Campus, providing connections to other subway lines, including those that go to South Station (Amtrak and bus station) and Logan Airport. Check the MBTA site for maps and schedules and learn more about where to pick up a Charlie Card or Ticket.

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A Look at Boston University's History

Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the "Newbury Biblical Institute" in Newbury, Vermont, in 1839, and was chartered with the name "Boston University" by the Massachusetts Legislature when it moved there in 1869. On April 24-25, 1839, a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. In 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire, invited the institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased 30 acres (120,000 m2) on Aspinwall Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a possible relocation site. In 1869, three trustees of the "Boston Theological Institute" obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by the name of "Boston University". These trustees were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises, and they became the founders of Boston University. They were Isaac Rich (1801-1872), Lee Claflin (1791-1871), and Jacob Sleeper (1802-1889), for whom Boston University's three West Campus dormitories were later named.

No instructor in said University shall ever be required by the Trustees to profess any particular religious opinions as a test of office, and no student shall be refused admission. On January 13, 1872, Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the university was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston, which was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university as of that time. By December, however, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the university, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were bankrupt. As a result, the university was unable to build its contemplated campus on Aspinwall Hill, and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Claflin Road, Claflin Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of university ownership in this area.

After receiving a year's salary advance to allow him to pursue his research in 1875, Alexander Graham Bell, then a professor at the school, invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory. In 1876, Borden Parker Bowne was appointed professor of philosophy. Bowne, an important figure in the history of American religious thought, was an American Christian philosopher and theologian in the Methodist tradition. The university continued its tradition of openness in this period. In 1877, Boston University became the first American university to award a PhD to a woman, when classics scholar Helen Magill White earned hers with a thesis on "The Greek Drama". Then in 1878 Anna Oliver became the first woman to receive a degree in theology in the United States, but the Methodist Church would not ordain her. Lelia J. 688 Boylston Street in Boston, the early home of the College of Liberal Arts, the precursor to Boston University College of Arts and Sciences, c.

Seeking to unify a geographically scattered school and enable it to participate in the development of the city, school president Lemuel Murlin arranged that the school buy the present campus along the Charles River. Between 1920 and 1928, the school bought the 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land that had been reclaimed from the river by the Riverfront Improvement Association. Murlin was never able to build the new campus, but his successor, Daniel L. In 1951, Harold C. Case became the school's fifth president and under his direction the character of the campus changed significantly, as he sought to change the school into a national research university. The campus tripled in size to 45 acres (180,000 m2), and added 68 new buildings before Case retired in 1967. The first large dorms, Claflin, Rich and Sleeper Halls in West Campus were built, and in 1965 construction began on 700 Commonwealth Avenue, later named Warren Towers, designed to house 1800 students. Between 1961 and 1966, the BU Law Tower, the George Sherman Union, and the Mugar Memorial Library were constructed in the Brutalist style, a departure from the school's traditional architecture.

When a mini-squabble over editorial policy at college radio WBUR-FM - whose offices were under a tall radio antenna mast in front of the School of Public Relations and Communications (later College of Communications) - started growing in the spring of 1964, Case persuaded university trustees that the university should take over the widely-heard radio station (now a major outlet for National Public Radio and still a BU-owned broadcast facility). The trustees approved the firing of student managers and clamped down on programming and editorial policy, which had been led by Jim Thistle, later a major force in Boston's broadcast news milieu. The on-campus political dispute between Case's conservative administration and the suddenly active and mostly liberal student body led to other disputes over BU student print publications, such as the B.U. The presidency of John Silber also saw much expansion of the campus and programs. In the late 1970s, the Lahey Clinic vacated its building at 605 Commonwealth Avenue and moved to Burlington, Massachusetts. The vacated building was purchased by BU to house the School of Education.

After arriving from the University of Texas in 1971, Silber set out to remake the university into a global center for research by recruiting star faculty. To protest the poor condition of Boston University's African-American curriculum, on April 25, 1968 (three weeks after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.), African-American students conducted a sit-in and locked BU president Arland F. Christ-Janer out of his office for 12 hours. Umoja, BU's Black Student Union, put forward ten demands to Christ-Janer and got nine of them approved that included the creation of a Martin Luther King Chair of Social Ethics, expansion of African-American library resources and tutoring services, opening an "Afro-American coordinating center," admission and selection of more Black students and faculty. No disciplinary action was taken against the students who only opened the chains after their demands were met. "There was no surprise, or feeling of victory on the students' parts," said Christ-Janer in response to the sit-in. "They had confidence in their demands, and I had a confidence in them. The late twentieth century saw a culmination in student activism at Boston University during the presidency of John R.

On March 27, 1972, 50 police officers in "riot gear" defused a demonstration of 150 protesters at 195 Bay State Road, the BU Placement Office, where Marine recruiters were holding student interviews. A few protesters were arrested while some sustained minor injuries, including a student and two officers. Contrary to student claims of a peaceful protest, Silber said, "Civilization doesn't abdicate in face of barbarism. Those students or nonstudents who deliberately seek violent confrontation and refuse all efforts at peaceful resolution of issues must expect society to use its police power in its own defense." In response to Silber's decision of a forceful police intervention, the Faculty State conducted a vote on Silber's resignation which could not pass due to a "vote of 140-25 with 32 abstentions." As a result of this failed motion, Peter P. Gabriel resigned his position as the dean of Boston University's School of Management in protest of Silber's presidency and his "counterproductive" leadership. Silber's support of military recruitment on campus, which he pushed to make the university eligible for federal grants, caused other demonstrations.

On March 16, 1978, about 900 Boston University students gathered at the George Sherman Union to protest against the $400 rise in tuition and $150 rise in housing charges declared by the trustees on March 7. The protest interrupted a board of trustees conference. While John Silber and Arthur G. B. Metcalf, chairman of the board of trustees, were negotiating with student government representatives to discuss the matter further on a separate occasion, the protesters marched into the building from two entrances, effectively trapping 40 trustees and 10 university administrators in the building for over thirty minutes. Twenty officers from the Boston University Police Department had to disperse the crowd from the stairwells. On April 5, 1979, several hundred faculty members, as well as clerical workers and librarians, went on strike. The faculty members were seeking a labor contract while the clerical workers and librarians were seeking union recognition. On November 27, 1979, the committee to Defend Iranian Students-composed of Iranian students, Youths Against Foreign Fascism and the Revolutionary Communist Party-held a demonstration at the George Sherman Union against the deposed Shah of Iran and the deportation of Iranian students from the US. "To the Iranian people, that man (the shah) is Adolf Hitler," students protested. "The Shah Must Face the Wrath of the People." This was met with chants of "God Bless America" from the opposing group.

Following the trustees' push for the resignation of the university's eighth president, Jon Westling, they voted unanimously to offer the presidency of the university to Daniel S. Goldin, former administrator of NASA under presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. The university eventually terminated Goldin's contract at a cost of $1.8 million and initiated a second search to fill the presidential position, culminating with the inauguration of Robert A. Brown as the university's 10th president on April 27, 2006. In 2012, the university was invited to join the Association of American Universities, comprising 66 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. BU, one of four universities at the time invited to join the group since 2000, became the 62nd member. That same year, a $1 billion fundraising campaign was launched, its first comprehensive campaign, emphasizing financial aid, faculty support, research, and facility improvements. In 2016, the campaign goal was reached. The board of trustees voted to raise the goal to $1.5 billion and extend through 2019.

The Charles River and Medical Campuses have undergone physical transformations since 2006, from new buildings and playing fields to dormitory renovations. The campus has seen the addition of a 26-floor student residence at 33 Harry Agganis Way, nicknamed StuVi2, the New Balance Playing Field, the Yawkey Center for Student Services, the Alan and Sherry Leventhal Center, the Law tower and Redstone annex, the Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC), the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering, and the Joan and Edgar Booth Theatre, which opened in fall 2017. The construction of the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering was funded by part of BU's largest ever gift, a $115 million donation from Rajen Kilachand. The Dahod Family Alumni Center in the renovated BU Castle began in May 2017 and was completed in fall 2018. Development of the university's existing housing stock has included significant renovations to BU's oldest dorm, 610 Beacon Street (formerly Myles Standish Hall) and Annex, and to Kilachand Hall, formerly known as Shelton Hall, and a brand new student residence on the Medical Campus. In May 2024, Boston University removed Myles Standish's name from the building. In September 2022, Robert A. Brown announced he will step down at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year. Brown began his presidency in September 2005, and his contract was set to run through 2025. Although Brown chose to end his presidency, he will resume teaching at the university. On August 1, 2023, Kenneth W.

The university closed down due to the COVID-19 and shifted to online learning for the remainder of the semester on March 11, 2020. For the fall 2020 semester, BU offered a hybrid system that allows for students to decide whether to take a remote class or participate in-person. Larger classes would be broken down into smaller groups that rotate between online and in-person sessions. In August 2020, BU filed a service mark application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to secure the phrase "F*ck It Won't Cut It" for a student-led COVID-19 safety program on campus. In July 2021, BU announced faculty and staff will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the fall 2022 semester. In October 2022, Boston University's National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories conducted research in a Biosafety Level 3 lab that modified the original strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 with the spike proteins of the Omicron variant. This resulted in a vi…

Study Spots on Campus

Winter break is right around the corner, but students have a few exams to get through before that. Finding the right study environment can significantly impact academic performance. BU offers a variety of study spots to cater to different preferences and needs.

Mugar Memorial Library: Mugar is a second home for many BU students during finals. It will stay open 24 hours starting Thursday, December 11, until Thursday, December 18. The library has seven floors and the largest computer lounge on campus-and each floor gets quieter the higher you go.
Kilachand Hall Study Lounge: Students studying on the top floor of Kilachand Hall will find a study lounge with panoramic views of Boston, the Charles River, and Fenway Park. This top-floor study lounge is for those who want a view while hitting the books. The hotel turned residence hall also has a first-floor multipurpose room with chairs, couches, and a pool table for when you need a break.
Educational Resource Center (ERC): The Educational Resource Center (ERC) has open-concept study areas and private rooms available on a first-come, first-served basis.
COM (College of Communication) Lounge: You don’t have to be a COM student to hang out in the school’s lounge.
Pickering Library: The Pickering Library, located in the basement of 2 Silber Way, is one of the smallest libraries on campus and offers a quiet place to study. This library is convenient for anyone living on or near East Campus seeking a short commute.
Frederick S. Pardee Management Library: The third floor of the Questrom School of Business is a perfect spot to have either a quiet or a collaborative study session. With reservable team rooms and large, round tables, you can easily find a place to “lock in” among the towering bookshelves.
Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences: The 19-story Duan Family Center for Computing & Data Sciences is open for learning, lounging, and eating, and students can find many nooks to do some studying, too. The bottom two floors are your best bet for casual solo or group work (and be sure to grab a snack at the student-run cafe, Saxbys). The Think Tank features individual study cubbies, communal tables, and team meeting rooms with whiteboards.
Einstein Bros. Bagels: No need to study on an empty stomach. Bring your laptop or readings to the Einstein Bros.
Stone Science Library: For a central and quiet stop between exams, students can tuck themselves away in the Stone Science Library, a noncirculating research library focusing on archaeological and remote-sensing materials. Hours: Monday to Thursday, 8 am to 8 pm; Friday, 10 am to 5 pm. Closed weekends.
School of Theology (STH) Library: The STH Library has carrels and communal tables for studying. There is also a conference room that can be booked for groups of students needing a place to gather. Hours: Daily, 6 am to midnight.
George Sherman Union (GSU): The George Sherman Union (GSU) provides a bustling and spacious environment, especially good for group projects.
College of General Studies: The College of General Studies has several study spots to choose from, notably the Katzenberg Center (Room 330), the Gilbane Study Lounge (Room 130), and the first-floor lobby, which has comfy armchairs and plenty of natural sunlight.
Marciano Commons: This is a place for those who study best surrounded by food and a crowd. Choose from the market’s ample selection of sandwiches, salads, and snacks.
Student Village (StuVi) Study Lounge: Many consider this to be BU’s premier studying spot. The lounge offers sweeping views of Boston and Cambridge (a great distraction when you need a break) and is especially popular with students who live on West Campus.
West Campus Residences: The West Campus residences have plenty of spaces to study (like the StuVi II Study Lounge, the Rich Hall Cinema Room, and the Sleeper Hall second-floor lounge). Our pick is the Claflin Hall first-floor study room, next to the West Campus dining hall, since it’s best suited for group work.
Medical Campus Study Spot: This Medical Campus spot has long communal tables, group rooms for quiet study, and computers.

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