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Proposed data center project advances with vote on Oakland University campus
An AI data center is one step closer to setting up shop on the campus of Oakland University after a key vote by school officials today - despite widespread objections from many students and community members.
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - An AI data center is one step closer to setting up shop on the campus of Oakland University after a key vote by school officials Friday - despite widespread objections from many students and community members.
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The project is not a done deal yet, but it’s a big step closer as Oakland University looks to update its aging computer infrastructure.
Oakland University’s Board of Trustees voted Friday to advance the school’s data center project into a "formal due diligence process."
That’s where the school will gather information on infrastructure details and the environmental impact.
Oakland hosted nine months of community engagement and agreed to move the proposed data center to an area adjacent to parking lot 37, amid concern it was too close to a Native American Heritage Site.
Development agreements will be made over the summer, with the formal due diligence taking place in October.
But many people FOX 2 talked with, are divided.
"I think that they’re kind of popping up everywhere and it’s too much," said Stella Swartz of Rochester. "I think that our water supply is going to be polluted even more. The noise pollution I've seen from videos is just constant.
"And honestly, I just don’t really want to see any in my community."
"I mean I guess depending on the size of it makes sense," said Rachel Hartrick of Rochester. "Like you’ve got some big companies that have them on their campus and they’ve managed to contain it, but it depends on how they build it at that point and how they’re using it."
The Oakland University vice provost Amy Banes Berceli released a statement:
"This project will provide students with high-performance computing clusters standard in today’s workforce, while enabling OU to meet the technical thresholds required to compete for federal research funding."
The school says this facility will be specifically for campus and regional use and somewhat smaller than the large-scale facilities you hear about every day.
OU says this one would only use 2 percent of the power here and less than 2 percent of the land.
The Source: Information for this report is from data center plans, comments from Oakland University and from residents who live nearby.