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February 28, 2008, 02:14 PM ET
Colleges, Cities, and Symbiosis
A story in The Wall Street Journal discusses various universities that are pumping money into redevelopment near their campuses to stay competitive. (Of course, The Chronicle has been there and done that story many times.) In a nutshell, universities and their cities have symbiotic relationships, and if prospective students or faculty members find the city unattractive, this could hurt enrollment or recruitment. The story focuses on Case Western Reserve University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland, whose nearby automobile-oriented commercial strip on Route 1 is truly awful.
Although they are not mentioned in the Journal story, universities in Baltimore, Rochester, and other old industrial cities have struggled with this same problem. Baltimore, of course, is equally well known for crime dramas like The Wire and Homicide as for its higher-education institutions. To help combat the problem, the universities in the city co-operate a bus line that takes students to various entertainment and retail hotspots in the city. In many ways, Baltimore is propped up by the various higher education institutions there — not the least of which is the Johns Hopkins University, which is remaking the entire Charles Village neighborhood to add appeal for students. (Now we’ll see how Baltimore colleges take advantage of growing opinion that Baltimore is the country’s most underrated city. Recently, to the surprise of many, Baltimore was named the country’s fittest city — in part for the health care provided by the university hospitals there. More symbiosis.)
Small colleges are subject to pressures to help their small towns, too. Oberlin College has spent a lot of money to help support their local hospital and town infrastructure, which has included buying fire trucks for the local fire department.
The symbiosis effect also applies when the college, and not the town, is blighted, as was the case with Antioch College. Yellow Springs, Ohio, is a quaint little tourist trap, while Antioch was in a state of decay. People in Yellow Springs wondered how the town would suffer if the college died. —Scott Carlson
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