College-Community Relations: A Strategy From Clark University
John Bassett
President of Clark University
May 24, 2007

The partnership between Clark University and the City of Worcester, particularly the Main South Area of the city, has grown over the past 20 years. Partnership benefits have included the establishment of a community development corporation, more than 200 new housing units, an exemplary public high school in an at-risk neighborhood, a new boys and girls club, and a home ownership program. Our experience over the past 20 years taught us lessons about ways in which college-community partnerships can truly be symbiotic.

It also has taught us about the pitfalls and landmines that threaten such partnerships. At times a college hears from alumni or faculty, “Why are you putting so many of the college’s scarce resources into this community stuff?” Colleges can learn a great deal from one another’s experiences with their neighborhoods, and it is important to remember that the barriers to success and the ways to maximize success in partnerships are related.

A potential landmine for campuses, indeed, can be the failure to gain the support of the majority of faculty and staff. Trustees, of course, are a given: Without their support, it would be hard for a president to take a major community initiative. But at a time of tough economic decisions, the president also does not want to be undermined by faculty leaders not believing in the partnership, for it can sap the energy of the initiative. If faculty members feel resources are needed for salaries, additional positions, and new programs, and are not part of the long-term commitment to stabilizing and improving the neighborhood, much time will be spent fighting rear-guard actions.

Another corresponding difficulty is lack of trust from the neighbors. If for a generation you have walled the community out and battled the usual town-gown problems, it is not surprising that the neighbors do not believe you when you come calling to turn a new leaf. If you have been buying up all the good properties; if your students are noisy, messy, and take up all the parking spots; if you have made the neighbors feel unwelcome on campus, you have some advance public relations work ahead of you. Clark did have these problems and did the advance public relations work.

Faulty communication during the planning and building process can lead to failure in the partnership. Both the college and the community must learn what the other seeks to achieve and what the other’s bottom-line values are. Real differences in agendas, when exacerbated by bad communication, will be deal breakers. Campus leaders need to establish a real partnership with the community or the partnership will fail. It is a bad strategy to assume a condescending, even if unconscious, paternalism in a project—“We are doing this project for you people, not with you.” In Clark’s work with the Main South Community Development Corporation, the university has only one out of 14 positions on the board of directors, and yet it receives a good bit of respect for what it uniquely can do for the partnership.

Finally, success in everything comes back to personnel. A college’s liaisons with the partnership need to be well chosen. Also, there must be direct access to the president of the college or university. That is, the college’s main liaison should be a direct report. At the same time, multiple points of entry must exist so that faculty and staff can take the initiative to develop educational and service programs of benefit to the community.

So what are the corresponding ways to maximize the odds of success?

• Build support among faculty and staff, who need to believe that the community offers opportunities for research and curricular initiatives, and that neighborhood health will in the long run increase college resources. Faculty and staff may end up serving on committees and may receive support when they initiate new internships or programs, whether with family centers, stores, theaters and museums, or something else. In universities with dental, law, nursing, or business schools, the potential for community involvement is obvious; but if the faculty and staff believe in the partnership, all sorts of good things may happen.
• Build up trust between neighbors and the college. This depends on mutual respect. It depends on having a real partnership in which the value of university influence is clear, but the specter of university control is not a threat.
• Success depends on the self-interest of both parties being gratified. The neighbors need to see, for example, streets getting safer, housing getting better, and schools improving. The college needs to see, admissions growth, positive publicity, and new academic opportunities. Each side, moreover, needs to understand the other’s self-interest. Put yourself in your neighbor’s shoes. What are his priorities? What is she willing to negotiate?
• It is important to have the right personnel and continuity in personnel. Clark’s Main South project would not be half as noteworthy, I am sure, if Steve Teasdale had not been running the program for 19 years, and if Jack Foley, Clark’s vice president for government and community affairs, had not been in the president’s office for the same period. Paradoxically, however, in order to institutionalize the partnership, a structure must be created that can overcome the loss or retirement of key personnel, for no one is forever. Similarly, while you want presidential leadership and direction, you do want openings for others to develop their own initiatives.
• You need marketing as well as substance. Media not educated about the partnership may distort or misinterpret what is under way and do unexpected damage to the relationship. Headlines in Worcester newspapers one time read, “Clark’s Plan for the Community,” which frightened and alienated neighbors with whom we had long worked to develop a trusting partnership. You also need some early successes, even small ones; they build confidence for bigger challenges.

Those are some of my criteria for success. One could surely add others. A broader involvement in the town or city is helpful. Knowing the larger economic issues, the demography, and the politics will make the college a better leader in its own community. On bigger projects, collaborating with other colleges in the town, if there are some, will help leverage resources. Knowing best practices from around the country may make you more efficient in deciding on initiatives. Finally, remember that some of the barriers to success are beyond your control, for example, the loss of jobs in your region or an economic downturn. You want to cushion the partnership against the inevitability of some bad news. With a shared vision, mutual respect, and a will to succeed, communities and colleges can build long-term viable relationships in which the lives of everyone involved are improved and traditional town-gown tensions are ameliorated.


John Bassett is the President of Clark University