In towns that are home to universities, both campus and community leaders play a critical role in the coherence and progress of the area that they share.
A model was created to measure the levels of effort and comfort between university presidents and community leaders. This model outlines four “types” of relationships that can exist between the two: devitalized (low comfort, low effort), conflicted, (low comfort, high effort), traditional (high comfort, low effort), and harmonious (high comfort, high effort). The Optimal College Town Assessment is a tool that generates quantitative data on these parameters and was used as a reference to analyze the answers of four university presidents and four community leaders in a series of interviews.
Most of the campus and community leaders reported that they inherited traditional town/gown relationships when they took their roles. Common sources of friction that were reported between the two parties were campus real estate, handling student behavior on off-campus areas, and overcoming a tradition of suspicion.
All of the leaders seemed to have a goal of improving an existing harmonious relationship or working to create one. Collaboration and increased focus on working together to understand each other’s goals have been improved over the years between campus and community leaders and will continue to develop so that colleges and communities can grow and change together with as little conflict as possible.
The leaders represented in these interviews were connected to large college towns with well-structured relationships, so the data may have been more positive than the general consensus from university leaders in smaller towns across America. However, these interviews did provide useful information on the dynamic affairs that exist between campus and community leaders and the importance of striving for harmonious relationships.
Take Away: The relationship between university and community leaders plays a crucial role in the functionality and progress of college towns. Relationships that exhibit high effort and high comfort on both sides are the most successful in achieving goals.