[Keep-SA-Lame]

Again, with all due respect to your knowledge and experience of Boston and Cambridge, I think you've missed the point. You're right in saying that it is a sort of bizarre comparison to make. Clearly it's absurd to say that Verano and TAMU-SA is in any way comparable to Cambridge and Harvard. However, I believe the article in question is drawing the connection between the two areas because they are both urban villages centered around academic communities that are removed from the urban CBDs of their respective cities. Now, I am not particularly familiar with the development pattern of the Boston area, but I think I would be right in concluding that Harvard was originally a more or less "greenfield" development, albeit closer to central Boston than this is to central SA, of course.

Also, I see the "Look out Harvard here comes TAMU-SA" part as a sort of tongue-in-cheek statement. The E-N is a good, professional paper, and they would never seriously contend that a new Harvard was indeed being founded on the South Side. I believe that Harvard is invoked here in the spirit of "Hey, Harvard is a great model, and we would like to incorporate a couple of those elements here in our new university". I don't think the intent of the article was to invoke a serious comparison between Harvard Square and South Zarzamora...