In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: Neighborhood Relations in a College Town

Author: Kathleen Powell

Dissertation School: University of Maryland Baltimore

Abstract:

This is an ethnographic study of intergroup relations in a neighborhood of approximately 1,000 residents adjacent to a public university (2010 student enrollment of 5,470) situated in an Appalachian city (2010 population of 9,002). The study’s purpose is to describe the culture of a neighborhood where diverse residents must negotiate norms in spite of the fact that they share neither a common sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) nor the same degree of attachment to place (Low & Altman, 1992).

The study’s findings will advance a total of five subgoals related to goals three and four in the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2010-15 Strategic Plan. The study will further the understanding of neighborhood processes in campus-adjacent residential neighborhoods so that these communities can thrive and provide safe, healthy environments in which diverse residents can live. Additionally, the study will develop insights into the experience of transience in neighborhoods, institutional power dynamics in neighborhoods, and the resolution of neighborhood tensions. Moreover, because of the phenomenon of “aging in place” (Black, 2008) present in many campus-adjacent neighborhoods, the study will also identify ways to build intergenerational alliances in neighborhoods, another area where research is lacking (Chasteen, 2005). Finally, because of the density of alcohol outlets in campus-adjacent neighborhoods (Kuo, Wechsler, Greenberg, & Lee, 2003; Wechsler, Lee, Hall, Wagenaar, & Lee, 2002), the study will lend insights into the role that alcohol plays in the culture of these neighborhoods.

A thorough search of existing literature on campus-adjacent neighborhoods and university-community relations yielded a total of 33 empirical studies, with the vast majority of sources published since 2000. The cumulative research can be characterized as emerging with much of it lacking internal consistency and methodological sophistication.

The university adjacent to the study area relies heavily on the surrounding neighborhood to provide student housing. The ratio of rental to owner-occupied housing units within the neighborhood is 80:20, with structures having a mean age of 70 years. The neighborhood’s bifurcated generational make up includes older adult homeowners and young college student tenants. Although the city’s population is predominantly White (83.3 percent), the university’s students are increasingly racially diverse (28.9 percent minorities of color), with a growing number of international students. The city was historically a coal-mining community, home to a proud working-class population, although, the university attracts students from a variety of different socioeconomic backgrounds who come from rural, urban, and suburban communities.

The community is increasingly dependent on the university as an economic engine, given the region’s loss of mining and manufacturing jobs. According to the state’s Department of Economic and Business Development, the university is the third largest employer in the surrounding county. In its 2006 accreditation self-study report, the university estimated that its regional economic impact was $366 million, $41.6 million alone through off-campus housing and local spending.

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