re: Spinoff - If you could go back in time and move your university, where to?

I really think that college towns are ideal for universities with large undergraduate populations. College towns are an easy way to break in to the "real world" and of course they had land available to form the institutions.

On the other hand, for certain graduate and professional programs (medicine, scientific research, law), it makes more sense to be in a bigger city.

At Auburn the focus is definitely on teaching, mostly at the undergraduate level, and for that the city of Auburn is a perfect fit. I think Auburn is a great little college town. Loved my time there.