Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space

"A community’s physical form, rather than its land uses, is its most intrinsic and enduring characteristic." [Katz, EPA] This blog focuses on place and placemaking and all that makes it work--historic preservation, urban design, transportation, asset-based community development, arts & cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism & destination development, and quality of life advocacy--along with doses of civic engagement and good governance watchdogging.

Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Trump's F****** with Culture and Civil Society Harms the Nation and Washington DC

Normally government moves pretty slow. The pace at which President Trump is destroying institutions and enriching his family, while spending much of his time playing golf, staying up late, and tweeting, is unprecedented. It's almost impossible to keep track.

Good thing he had the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 blueprint to destroy progressive leaning government! ("The year Trump broke the federal government," Washington Post).

Including attacking nonprofit, progressive leaning organizations ("Trump's Secret War Against Vital Nonprofits," Alliance for Justice, "What is Trump doing to US nonprofits and philanthropies?," Devex. "Progressive Nonprofits Condemn Trump’s Targeting of George Soros and His Foundations," Chronicle of Philanthropy, "Senate GOP Ramps Up Attacks on Left-Wing Nonprofits," NonProfit Quarterly).

MAGA-fying civic education ("Trump Administration Announces New Civics Effort With MAGA-Aligned Groups," NYT) plus prayer in schools ("Trump wants prayer back in schools. Boston has a cautionary tale," Boston Globe).

And specific attacks on "blue" states although not limited to culture ("Trump is waging war on Democrat-led states," Globe).

Banner at the Kennedy Center calling it the "Nation's Cultural Center."  Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI.

Because the arts and education are seen as dominated "by the left" the Trump Administration has been militant about defunding organizations that support or practice these disciplines.

The same goes for nonprofit organizations involved in human services, agriculture and other fields.


Work continues on the construction of the ballroom at the White House on 9 December in Washington DC, where the East Wing once stood. Photograph: Pablo Martínez Monsiváis/AP

Here's a line up of some of the destruction.

And building grandiose monuments to his ego

President Donald Trump addresses a dinner for donors who have contributed to build the new ballroom at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Washington. | John McDonnell/AP Photo
Photo: Nathan Howard, Reuters.

Massive banners with Trump’s face are adorning some federal buildings in DC. 
Democrats are crying foul.  CNN photo.
Armored vehicles drive during the Army's 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C. 
Alex Wroblewski/AFP via Getty Images
  • And he wants his face on coins even though the law says living people can't be so honored.
The U.S. Mint released three prototype designs for a $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump 
to celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary this year. 

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In DC, he also wants to take over the public golf courses ("Trump’s self-serving takeover of D.C. public golf is bad news for all," The Athletic/NYT).

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Friday, October 24, 2025

Taking the "George Miller" concept to Oakland, California? | Howard University looks to open a satellite campus

THe San Francisco Chronicle reports, "An elite East Coast university is in ‘stealthy’ discussions to expand into Oakland," that DC's Howard University, a premiere HBCU (Historically Black College or University) is considering a facility in Oakland, California.

A few years ago, a Temple University professor, George Miller, wrote a provocative op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer about higher education's potential to spark revitalization in Philadelphia.  One proposal was to move a far suburbs based HBCU to the city. 

-- "HBCUs and the city: Relocating Cheyney University to Philadelphia?," 2021

The second was to create a multi-college innovation center at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

 -- "The other George Miller idea: creating multi-college innovation centers in (cities) Philadelphia | Creating public library-college education centers as revitalization initiatives," 2021

For a declining city, Oakland has incredibly commercial and civic assets, even if it has lost its professional sports teams.

As Howard University looks to open a satellite campus in Oakland, California, the SF Bay's "second" city to SF, with a high percentage black population relative to the Bay area, and loss of population, businesses, and colleges ("Higher ed exposé focuses on Mills College," East Bay Express), as the economy has deindustrialized--the city was a major port and industry center--the George Miller ideas are relevant.

The thing though is to have impact, it needs to be more than a building for students to spend a semester at.  How can an HU presence be developed in a manner to have significant effect?

It's a building not a campus, "USC establishes new campus in the heart of Washington, D.C.," USC Today.  

I criticized Mayor Bowser's touting of a new USC building in DC as a major thing ("Straws and puffery: USC's DC "campus" as a lever for downtown revival").

There is a difference between a building holding a "semester in [fill in the blank] program" versus a true satellite campus and operation.  

For example, would an Oakland campus be a way for Howard's medical programs to link up with SF Bay biotech and Silicon Valley IT in a way to also feed into the DC campus?  

Under construction.

But in a manner that develops a local operation more comparable to how the University of Michigan has been developing an "innovation campus" in Detroit ("U-M Center for Innovation has long-awaited groundbreaking in Detroit," Detroit Free Press).

UM has a small building, but is building a 250,000sf facility to open in 2027 and is building a dormitory as well.  From the article:

The UMCI will be offering all-new classes and programs for U-M, McCauley said. ... it was once estimated that up to 1,000 students would be enrolled by the center's third year of operation, according to U-M Provost Laurie McCauley, that figure is no longer definite.

“We are not replicating programs that are going on in Ann Arbor," she said. "They are going to focus on interdisciplinarity and on aspects that are really new, cutting-edge programs.”

Another example is the University of Washington campus in Tacoma ("A place of promise: r three decades, UW Tacoma has sought to serve not only its students but the community as a whole," UW Magazine, "25 Things to Know as University of Washington Tacoma Turns 25," Tacoma News-Tribune). 

Originally, it too was just a building, but over the years has blossomed into a small campus, comprised of adaptive reuse of historic buildings ("UW Tacoma Carves out a Place in History," UW Magazine) along with new construction, and now an enrollment over 5,000 students--it started with 187--and a more metropolitan focus than the home campus, because the campus is part of Downtown Tacoma.  According to HistoryLink:

Urban renewal and economic development have been central aspects of UW Tacoma's impact on the local community. The move to the permanent campus in 1997 is widely credited with playing a key role in transforming what was previously a struggling neighborhood. Along with a new Washington State History Museum and a renovated Union Station (housing a U.S. District Court in a newly constructed addition), the emergence of UW Tacoma provided an architectural, community, and economic anchor at the southern end of downtown.
The surrounding neighborhood has since seen the opening of the Museum of Glass, a relocated Tacoma Art Museum, the Tacoma School of the Arts high school, the Link light rail system, and the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. Private resources complemented the public investments, with a hotel and several housing/mixed-use complexes opening by 2003. As one general estimate, approximately $1.5 billion in public and private money was invested in downtown Tacoma between 1990 and 2003.

To me, the proximity of Oakland to biotech and Silicon Valley makes this an opportunity of great potential for both Howard University and the City of Oakland.  Both benefit in different ways. But a campus, rather than a building is in keeping with HU's status as a premiere HBCU and a campus would stamp decidedly a west coast presence.

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Other blog entries on the leveraging of higher education for urban revitalization and growth.

-- "Better leveraging higher education institutions in cities and counties: Greensboro; Spokane; Mesa; Phoenix; Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, DC," 2016
-- "Naturally occurring innovation districts | Technology districts and the tech sector," 2014
-- "Universities as elements of urban/downtown revitalization: the Portland State story and more," 2014
-- "President of Washington State University dies: fostered development of the "University District" adjacent to Downtown Spokane," 2015

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Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Crisis in higher education from all sides, but especially from the Trump Administration

The right's hate of higher learning, seen as dominated by progressive politics, is meted out in a multi-pronged campaign under the Trump Administration ("Chris Matthews suggests Trump 'smart' to target Harvard and elite universities," Fox News).  From the AP story, "Trump restricts federal research funding, a lifeblood for colleges":

“It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,” said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.”

1.  Universities with students supporting Palestinians over Israel are attacked for being anti-semitic.  This happened after Israel retaliated by attacking the Gaza Strip after Hamas terrorist attacks in October 2023, equating the two acts as equally heinous (which I agree with).  Lack of virulent support of Israel has been attacked, with minimal space accorded to the Palestinian position.


Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

2.  Which is used as an excuse to investigate Universities and cut off their federal funds. Columbia was told to give back $400 million because they claim the university is anti-semitic and they caved ("Columbia University caves to demands to restore $400m from Trump administration," Guardian). 

 

A protest calling on Harvard to fight back ("Amid crackdown on elite universities, Cambridge protesters urge Harvard not to concede to Trump demands," Globe).  Caption: Signs including "Hey Harvard Alums Say Grow A Spine!" and "Hands Off Free Speech" rise above a crowd at a Cambridge Common rally.Erin Clark/Globe Staff

Harvard was attacked too ("Why Harvard Decided to Fight Trump," New York Times) and hasn't capitulated ("Standing up to Trump was ‘a step on the road back for Harvard’," Boston Globe), so Trump retaliated further ("Trump administration freezes more than $2 billion in funding tied to Harvard," Globe), going as far as threatening the university's tax exempt status ("After Harvard rejects US demands, Trump adds new threat," Reuters).  

3.  Students espousing pro-Palestinian (or so called "anti-American") opinions are being denied visas and deported ("14 student visas revoked at UW, Seattle University, and Gonzaga," KUOW/NPR, "Trump administration revokes visas for over 25 students in the St. Louis area," St. Louis NPR, "Why are so many students in Mass. losing their visas? The answer lies in a little-known database," Boston Globe,"Nine people affiliated with MIT have had visas revoked, university president says," Globe) starting with Mahmoud Khalil, a student at Columbia University ("US judge rules Mahmoud Khalil can be deported for his views" and "The case against Mahmoud Khalil is meant to silence American dissent" Guardian).  From the Globe:

At first it was just a handful of students with some connection to pro-Palestinian activity, then dozens more, many of whom had no link to the protest movement. Now the Trump administration has abruptly terminated the legal status of nearly 5,000 international students and scholars across the country, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, setting off waves of fear on campuses around the country.

4.  If it's not "anti-semitism" its DEI or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.  Universities and other institutions ("The protectors of Santa Monica Bay are caving to Trump’s dangerous demands," Los Angeles Times) have been told to drop it, or not be grant eligible ("More than 50 universities face federal investigations as part of Trump’s anti-DEI campaign," AP).  Many universities have capitulated including the University of Michigan ("University of Michigan shutters its flagship diversity program," Guardian).  

Related is the plan to eliminate the cabinet agency the Department of Education ("Trump orders a plan to dismantle the Education Department while keeping some core functions," AP).

5.  Separately the Trump Administration is suspending, cutting or threatening to cut grants to universities more generally  ("Trump restricts federal research funding, a lifeblood for colleges," AP).  Northwestern has been told $750 million--almost all of the money they get from the government--is at risk.  

In the interim schools are cutting back programs ("Leading Harvard scientist ordered to halt research in funding freeze," Boston Globe), reducing graduate program enrollments, etc.  From the article:

After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding. President Donald Trump’s administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions.

The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government — a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis.

It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America’s scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge.

Also see "These 77 Colleges Have the Most to Lose From Trump’s Cuts," Chronicle of Higher Education. 

To me, (1), (2), (3) and (4) are a violation of the first amendment ("Under Trump, freedom of speech in universities takes on a new meaning," NPR, "Harvard’s challenge to Trump administration could test limits of government power," AP).   Also see "A handful of college presidents emerge as leaders of burgeoning resistance movement against Trump," Globe.

(5) is devastating to research, and by extension the preeminence of US science, and long term economic development.  Some professors are decamping to other countries ("Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada," Guardian), the same thing that happened with Britain after it left the EU and stopped participating in the Horizon research program.  If you can't get scientific grants they can't work.

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch puts it like this:

In less than three months, the new Trump regime has gutted spending on scientific research and the humanities, broadly claimed “antisemitism” as a rationale for imposing or threatening massive federal aid cuts to elite universities, and chilled academic freedom with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and canceling student visas for foreigners. This all seems part and parcel with the GOP’s Maoist Cultural Revolution plan for a glorious American future in which the knowledge industry is abandoned for an economy of workers with tiny screwdrivers assembling iPhones.

China is already rapidly gaining on the US in terms of the amount of research, funding, and patents ("‘I think it is actively happening’: Is Boston’s biotech industry doomed?," Boston Globe, "China overtakes the US in scientific research output," Guardian). 

Conclusion.  Since destruction of higher education is the goal, appeasement won't work, they'll always up the ante ("Appeasing Trump Is Not the Answer," Chronicle of Higher Education).  From the article:

These three strategies — to sow dissension, to terrorize the vulnerable, and to suppress disagreement — are meant to work in tandem, to reduce the possibility that Columbia, or any university like it, might serve as a counterweight to the authoritarian, illiberal mode of democracy that the Trump administration is working to bring about, drawing on a playbook developed by Viktor Orbán, Narendra Modi, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

... the authoritarian playbook involves reneging even on provisional compromises to achieve its ultimate goal: eliminating any alternative centers of power. That is why it is no surprise that further funding has been pulled.

If we remain in the business of free inquiry, our activities will offend the government in power. Half-measures seem certain to damage our reputation irreparably without any guarantee of future security.

Also see the journal article "Enacting the “Illiberal Playbook” in Hungary and Poland," Perspective on Politics.

.College aged students aren't reading books.  ("Young people won’t, or can’t, read a book. Now democracy is dying. Coincidence?," Philadelphia Inquirer).

@rosehorowitch tells us about how high school and college education practices have shifted away from full-book reading, leading to a generation of students who lack the concentration to engage in deep reading for more than a few minutes; and @natmalkus talks about the alarming decline in literacy scores among students and adults, and how screens plus education policy shifts have fed a slow-burning crisis in literacy and deep attention

Fewer babies means fewer college students means many colleges will close, affecting the economic well being of many communities, and a shrinking of the knowledge economy ("The reason why dozens of Mass. colleges could close in the next decade," Boston Globe).  From the article:

But there is more at stake than the fates of colleges and universities. Massachusetts has disproportionately depended on its celebrated higher education sector to drive its economy. Education is the state’s third-largest industry, based on the most recent figures from the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. It also fuels the first and second biggest sectors: health care and professional, scientific, and technical services. As enrollment drops in the years to come, those industries are projected to face shortages of workers. There are expected to be 2,200 fewer graduates per year than are needed in life sciences, for instance, according to the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation.

... One of Massachusetts’ greatest strengths may be on the cusp of becoming a weakness. “There’s this symbiotic relationship between the universities and the knowledge economy in this state that it could be easy to take for granted and assume it would always be there,” says Mark Melnik, director of economic and public policy research at the Donahue Institute at UMass Amherst. “You don’t realize some of the vulnerabilities until they start presenting themselves.”

WRT the economic development impact, it's more about smaller, regional colleges: 

... The Harvards and MITs of the world “really don’t have much to worry about,” says Brendan Cantwell, a professor at Michigan State University who studies higher education economics. “But there are a ton of private colleges that are smaller and that have regional draw, that do not have big national markets, and that are really reliant on tuition. As the local market shrinks for those campuses, things are already difficult, and they will only become more difficult.”

Some states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have been consolidating and/or closing regional colleges for some time.

But not just local impact:

The economic impact goes beyond those college towns. It means fewer educated workers, in a state that disproportionately relies on them. “Our leading industries are here in large part because of the talented workforce,” says Edward Lambert Jr., executive director of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education. “One of the things that have kept them here is the talent pipeline.” If young people stop coming, and learning skills employers need, he says, “That affects not only the future pipeline, but present workers.”

Trump destroying a major US export, foreign students studying at US higher education institutions.  Higher education is/was one of the Countries biggest exports of services ("Trump is killing one of our strongest exports," Washington Post).

President Donald Trump says he wants to reduce our trade deficit. Yet he’s destroying one of our winningest exports: higher education. Colleges and universities are among America’s most competitive international exporters. In dollar terms, last year, the United States sold more educational services to the rest of the world than it sold in natural gas and coal combined.

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posted by Richard Layman @ 8:30 AM&Permanent Link Follow this blog 13 comments

Friday, February 21, 2025

Revisiting entries: Should community culture master plans include elements on higher education arts programs?

This article was published in 2016, "Should community culture master plans include elements on higher education arts programs?," and the next year there was a brief follow up on the for profit arts school sector.  Both sectors should be included in such plans if relevant.

The article made the point that community cultural plans should have an element on higher education if they have small/independent arts colleges, to be prepared if economic and other circumstances change significantly for those organizations.  In DC, the fulcrum was the independent Corcoran Gallery of Arts and its related College of Arts and Design.  

It wasn't until some time after its dissolution that I figured out what would have been the best course--not giving its property to GWU and art to the National Gallery of Arts but to reposition as a locally serving fine arts museum and shifting the college to the University of the District of Columbia.

The piece reads great 8 years later!

Philadelphia brings this back to the fore because the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts is shutting down most of its academic programs ("Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts to end its degree-granting programmes," Art Newspaper) and last year the University of the Arts shut down ("Closure of Philadelphia Art School Spurs Review by State Attorney General," New York Times, "Heartbreak, anger and many questions follow University of the Arts’ abrupt decision to close," AP).

WRT PAFA, according to the Art Newspaper:
The academy’s educational transition website states that there was no “single reason for the decision to wind down degree-granting programmes”, but rather several “converging trends” that led to the downsizing. Principal among the trends listed on the site are “[i]ncreasing expectations from students, prospective students and the families that college should provide a broader range of academic and professional opportunities beyond the fine arts”. This sentiment is echoed in Pryor’s statement that “universities in our own region and across the country are struggling with these trends”, with PAFA representing a particularly vulnerable example in a national arts education sector facing serious headwinds.

Beyond the challenges of attracting and satisfying students, PAFA cited the difficulty of providing adequate services and complying with regulations for a relatively small school, noting that “it is simply impossible to maintain a college—with admissions, enrollment, Title IX, student support services and other requirements—with a student body of less than 300”. The school noted that these difficulties were only exacerbated by the pandemic, leading to even more pronounced challenges in enrollment and operating costs.

Likely this is a problem for other small arts schools.

Now, UAS's properties are being sold off, and the bankruptcy trustee isn't inclined to keep the properties as arts uses, so potential arts-related bidders compete ("Lead bidder for UArts’ Hamilton Hall plans art gallery, work space for artists, and restaurant"), unequally, with for profit developers ("Mayor Parker can help keep the arts in the Avenue of the Arts — if she acts quickly," Philadelphia Inquirer).

A drawing of David Yager, former president of University of the Arts, is on a column outside Hamilton Hall on their campus in Philadelphia, Wednesday June 5, 2024 as students, staff, and faculty rally before marching to 1500 Market and another rally in front of the former law offices of UArts chair Jud Aaron. (Tom Gralish/The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Philadelphia has a strong philanthropic community still, in particular the Pew Foundation, and if the city had been prepared wrt arts planning in the higher education sector, perhaps these institutions could have been saved, and/or the building portfolio remained in the arts sector.

A great example of this happening was in Detroit, when the Kresge Foundation stepped up to save the Detroit Institute of Arts in the face of the City's bankruptcy.  It turns out that the DIA was run as an agency of the city, so its collection and assets weren't separately protected and were in danger of being sold off ("Foundations Commit $330 Million to Protect DIA Collection," Philanthropy News Digest).

Apparently, UAS enrollment had dropped by more than half since 2009.  If that's not an indicator for a need for extraordinary intervention, I don't know what is.

Art facilities portfolios.  In "Reprinting with a slight update, "Arts, culture districts and revitalization" from 2009" (2019), I recommend that such properties be owned and managed by arts-related community development corporations.  These articles provide some additional examples ("BTMFBA -- London edition (2025), "From BTMFBA to "community right to buy"" (2024)).

A community right to buy codicil is what they need in Philadelphia.

Hard to make difficult decisions without a plan.  But getting the Mayor involved is a long shot.  She has to be convinced.  And without an organized plan it's hard to get elected officials to act let alone act with the alacrity necessary to save a school ("The long, slow death of Birmingham-Southern: What killed an Alabama college with 168-year-old roots?," Birmingham News) or a building portfolio.

Write those elements in community cultural resources master plans.

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posted by Richard Layman @ 4:13 PM&Permanent Link Follow this blog 8 comments

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Small college economic issues threaten their ability to function as a community asset

Many small towns have decent quality of life because of the presence of small colleges, their economic and social capital impact, the offering of special events that are attractors, etc. For example, Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia has a summer theater festival.  Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.  Etc.

But in the covid era, college enrollment has dropped significantly ("Public colleges and universities hit hard by declines in enrollment," NPR) and this has impacted many colleges, even big ones, but especially small colleges that already were facing economic difficulties.  

In Michigan, where I went to school, only the University of Michigan continues to gain students.  They are planning on building 5,000 rooms in new dorms.  Michigan State has stayed even, and all the other state colleges and universities have lost enrollment.  And like in other places, some small colleges have shuttered.

The New York Times has a story today, "Colleges Have Been a Small-Town Lifeline. What Happens as They Shrink?" (written by Lydia DePillis, who started out at the Washington City Paper, congratulations on landing at the Times!)

I have written about this issue of how communities can better leverage colleges and universities.  Mostly about urban universities, but the principles still apply to smaller towns. 

-- "University President Freeman Hrabowski and an agenda for urban universities," 2021 
-- "President of Washington State University dies: fostered development of the "University District" adjacent to Downtown Spokane," 2015
-- "Universities as elements of urban/downtown revitalization: the Portland State story and more," 2014
-- "Better2016 leveraging higher education institutions in cities and counties: Greensboro; Spokane; Mesa; Phoenix; Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, DC," 2016
-- "College town follow up: alumni as residents and contributions to community capital," 2015
-- "More Prince George's County: College Park's militant refusal to become a college town makes it impossible for the city(and maybe the County) to become a great place," 2015
-- "Revisiting past blog entries: College Park as a college town and economic development | PG County and Amazon," 2018
-- "DC, Universities and "making versus taking" or universities that add to a community's capital and those that don't ," 2019

-- "John Fry, president of Drexel University, and universities and cities ," 2022

-- "Robert Lang, who helped reshape Southern Nevada’s economy, dies at 62," (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

more specific articles on colleges and economic development:

-- "How the closure of a Pfizer research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan led to the development of a biotech sector there," 2021
-- "Naturally occurring innovation districts | Technology districts and the tech sector," 2014 
-- "The other George Miller idea: creating multi-college innovation centers in (cities) Philadelphia | Creating public library-college education centers as revitalization initiatives," 2021 

but not so much about small colleges, but I have

-- "Master planning and scenario planning in the face of economic problems in higher education," 2019

and definitely in relation to art and design colleges and how cultural planning initiatives for communities should have a higher education element and a monitoring process to ensure the colleges are in good health economically.

-- "Should community culture master plans include elements on higher education arts programs?," 2016
-- "Revisiting stories: community culture master plans should include an element on higher education institutions," 2017

Holy Names University, Oakland, California.  Besides the New York Times discussion, there is area reporting in the SF Bay about the economic failure of the Holy Names University ("Bay Area university faces default on loan for its huge property," San Jose Mercury News) and now how city officials and the lender have sent a letter to the university asking to help work things out ("Oakland and lender seek “win-win” rescue for Holy Names University").  

The school has already announced it's shutting down at the end of this academic year.

That process "of working together" should have been initiated a long time ago.

HBCUs.  There's been some interesting reporting about some black colleges gaining students ("How these HBCU presidents fixed their colleges’ financial futures," Christian Science Monitor) and I was really impressed that Morgan State University in Baltimore is adding a medical school ("Morgan State University's new medical school president seeks to graduate more Black doctors," WYPR-FM/NPR), so there is still hope.  The key is to constantly be focused and planning and forward looking.

-- "Howard University announces wide ranging building program," 2022  (Note, not saying HU is forward thinking.  They've had a lot of problems)

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Tuesday, May 31, 2022

John Fry, president of Drexel University, and universities and cities

John A. Fry, president of Drexel University, talks about the challenge of managing a university through the coronavirus. Photo: Michael Bryant, Philadephia Inquirer.

The Philadelphia Inquirer published an interesting interview with John Fry, the president of Drexel University, on his being awarded the William Penn Prize honoring civic leaders, by the city chamber of commerce ("Drexel’s John Fry talks about nurturing biotech, building University City, and why the school wants to mint more engineers"). 

He worked on urban initiatives for University of Pennsylvania, then went to Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as president for 10 years ("College President as urban planner," PI, 2016), then became president of Drexel in 2010. 

Rather than build on the previous president's initiatives to build a campus in Sacramento, he doubled down on Philadelphia, including such initiatives as:

  • investing in the area around the campus, including in the University City District business improvement district (which does a lot of great work) and the 30th Street Station owned by Amtrak
  • student retention programs--initially he called for expanding enrollment by 10,000 students, but realized they could have more effect by retaining more of the students they already had
  • bought vacant property in the area, stabilizing and improving it, providing space for start ups and university expansion
  • expanding the College of Computing and Informatics, not unlike then Mayor Bloomberg's initiative to create an IT school with Cornell and Technion--Philadelphia lost out on the Amazon HQ2 initiative in part because of a dearth of potential tech employees
  • created a second medical campus in suburban Philadelphia
  • built dorms (through a private firm) to add housing for 3,000 students
  • took over the Academy of Natural Sciences and the local history museum, Atwater-Kent, so that they will still exist.

Other recent entries relevant to higher education institutions and cities are:

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posted by Richard Layman @ 11:00 AM&Permanent Link Follow this blog 2 comments

Friday, November 19, 2021

The other George Miller idea: creating multi-college innovation centers in (cities) Philadelphia | Creating public library-college education centers as revitalization initiatives

This is a follow up entry to "HBCUs and the city: Relocating Cheyney University to Philadelphia?."

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Another idea expressed by George Miller in his Philadelphia Inquirer opinion piece ("Move Cheyney University to the Navy Yard"), alongside the concept of moving Cheyney University, the nation's first HBCU, is the creation of what he calls an "intercollegiate innovation campus for other Pennsylvania schools and colleges" as an element of repositioning the city even further as a "college hub."

From the article:

The city took control of the 1,200-acre property after the Navy closed operations in 1996. There were ambitious master plans created in 2004 and 2013, but both included loads of office space. Only about one-third of the existing real estate is occupied or in development. Given the work-from-home movement created by the coronavirus pandemic, there is likely much less interest in building new office space. ...

The Navy Yard could be an intercollegiate innovation campus where STEM research is done by students from Penn, Drexel, Temple, La Salle, and other city schools, as well as by students from across the country and around the world. Penn State established a campus there, where it offers graduate business classes and corporate training. 

How about using that campus to attract students from other Pennsylvania schools for one or two semesters? They could do internships in the city, participate in research projects, and maybe take classes at the new Cheyney Navy Yard campus? 

Having such an opportunity – think of it as similar to a semester abroad, a Philadelphia semester – could be a selling point for colleges like Millersville, Lehigh, Lafayette, Franklin & Marshall, and maybe even Penn State’s main campus, even if only for summer programs.

I have had a similar idea for awhile, although my idea is somewhat different, creating an education hub focused on underserved communities with a lower level of higher educational attainment, making over public libraries into broader community educational anchors through expansion into larger facilities with spaces for colleges to offer classes, delivery of workforce education, etc.

In part, this is modeled on the Idea Store concept from Tower Hamlets borough, London.

There, public libraries have been combined with workforce education delivery, and relocated to highly visible and architecturally startling buildings in popular commercial districts ("Idea Stores Ten Years On: The next generation," Designing Libraries, “When is the Library not a library? When it is the Idea Store,” 2004, Guardian).

Other examples are where multiple colleges offer programs from the same location.  Models include how the University System of Maryland supports the "Universities at Shady Grove" initiative where 80 academic degree programs are offered by nine different Maryland state universities in a location in Montgomery County--the state's wealthiest county--which has no four year colleges based there ("Nine universities on one small campus? It’s real. It’s here. And it could be higher ed’s future," Washington Post).

And how the Community College of Denver , Metropolitan State University, and the University of Colorado Denver share a campus ("Chancellor Michelle Marks leads CU Denver to 'equity-serving' future," Denver Business Journal).  Or how Indiana and Purdue Universities have a joint campus in Indianapolis.  

Although the closest comparable example is the creation of the Union Square urban higher education campus in Greensboro, North Carolina ("A center for nursing: Union Square Campus opens," Greensboro News & Record), which is starting out focusing on nursing, but could expand to include inter-collegiate collaboration in other disciplines.  The nursing venture involves three colleges and a major health system.

There are probably other examples.

And I wouldn't limit access to only public universities.  Any university wanting to participate should be welcome to do so.

But my idea was to do this from the standpoint of equity planning and revitalizing communities, as a way to expand access to educational opportunities as an element of social urbanism and creating stronger networks of social infrastructure and civic assets.

So in how my writings on equity planning were originally focused on the East of the River community in DC, in particular Anacostia, and the Takoma Crossroads Langley Park area of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, Maryland--ironically located about two miles from the University of Maryland College Park--those are the places I was thinking where such facilities could be created.

Another example contributing to this idea is how in Roxbury, Boston, the city built the Bolling Municipal Building, which opened in 2015, incorporating historic storefronts, as well as new construction.  While the building is mostly office space for the school system, it includes ground floor retail and meeting facilities throughout the building that are open for community use, as well as the Roxbury Innovation Center, which aims to stoke local economic development. 

Meeting facilities at the Bolling Municipal Building in Roxbury can also be used for community events.

The Bolling Building was an opportunity to do much more than it does programmatically, but it shows how it's possible to leverage a municipal facility for broader and transformational programming ("In Dudley Square, battered storefronts undermine the progress," Boston Globe).   

Another example of co-location is how the San Diego Central Library is also home to a charter school.

Or various innovative mixed use public library initiatives beyond the Idea Store, such as the Pounds Centre in Hampshire County, UK or the Drumbrae Library in Scotland ("Neighborhood libraries as nodes in a neighborhood and city-wide network of cultural assets") or my concept for a mixed use central library ("Civic assets and mixed use: Central library edition") and how the Salt Lake City central library provides "mixed use" learning and educational functions in its building, including an NPR radio station, a writing center sponsored by the local community college system, and an actively programmed auditorium.

Not just teaching, but an opportunity for colleges to do place-based research, service, and outreach.  This facility should be a two-way thing for the participating colleges.  Not just an opportunity for colleges to teach classes to area residents, but also for outreach, research, and service programs delivered by the universities, comparable to how Kent State University has its architecture and planning studio programs based in a center in Cleveland, or the University of Michigan's LSA College Detroit Initiative, which has helped to spur greater engagement of the university as a whole.  (Now other Michigan universities have created similar initiatives, but they don't work together out of a common facility.)

The George Miller concept is somewhat different aiming to stoke the city's economic competitiveness by leveraging higher education.  From the article, Miller sees this concept as an economic driver for the city and region, attracting new businesses, sparking business startups, etc., more along the lines of this blog entry, "Better leveraging higher education institutions in cities and counties: Greensboro; Spokane; Mesa; Phoenix; Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, DC"   (2016).

That could happen through the creation of an "intercollegiate college hub" at the Navy Yard, but like my point about how just plopping Cheyney University in Philadelphia might not make a difference ("HBCUs and the city: Relocating Cheyney University to Philadelphia?"), planning for that kind of spinoff economic development takes concerted effort and steps ("Naturally occurring innovation districts | Technology districts and the tech sector" and "How the closure of a Pfizer research center in Ann Arbor, Michigan led to the development of a biotech sector there").

It's not a matter of "build it and they will come."

For more on signature university initiatives and their effect on community economic development and/or first generation college student success see these past blog entries:

-- "Freeman Hrabowski and 'urban universities," 2021
-- "Universities as elements of urban/downtown revitalization: the Portland State story and more," 2014
-- "President of Washington State University dies: fostered development of the "University District" adjacent to Downtown Spokane," 2015

and articles about the Maryland Institute College of Arts ("MICA president Fred Lazarus to retire at end of 2014 academic year," Baltimore Sun), the Arabianranta district of Helsinki, anchored by the design-focused Aalto University (""Developing Creative Quarters in Cities: Policy lessons from “Art and Design City Arabianranta, Helsinki," Urban Research and Practice, 2013), and the outsize role of Professor Robert Lang at the University of Nevada Las Vegas ("Robert Lang, who helped reshape Southern Nevada’s economy, dies at 62," Las Vegas Review-Journal).

And Philadelphia could start by figuring out why their existing universities and colleges aren't having the kind of economic impact that they desire, anchored by private schools like University of Pennsylvania (although yesterday's Washington Post has an interesting article about an agriculture business venture developed by a Penn graduate, "Fighting food waste one apple at a time") and Drexel University, state schools like Temple University, and what I have always thought of as particularly interesting private universities like the University of the Sciences and the University of the Arts, Moore College of Art and Design ("Should community culture master plans include elements on higher education arts programs?") etc.

New York City has incredible higher education institutions (Columbia, NYU and CUNY for starters) and still, former Mayor Bloomberg didn't think that was enough, and created an initiative to develop a new technology focused university on Roosevelt Island--the winner of the competition was a joint venture of Cornell University and Technion Institute of Israel ("Bloomberg Chooses Cornell to Make New York a Silicon Valley 2.0," The Atlantic).  

Interestingly too, Philadelphia was one of the earliest creators of a more focused effort to leverage the existence of its universities and colleges ("PUTTING THEIR TOWNS ON THE MAP: Baltimore and Philadelphia institutional and city planners are working together to create great college towns," NACUBO Business Officer Magazine 2005), with the aim of yes, retaining graduates and fostering their economic contributions to the city and regional economy, but it seems as if that effort has fallen by the wayside.

The University of Pennsylvania was also an early leader in investing in the community around its campus (in part as a safety measure).

Penn had one time considered moving to the suburbs, before deciding to recommit to the city.  

Former university president Judith Rodin has a book on the subject, The University and Urban Revival.

Separately, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, Amtrak, and local developers fund the University City Business Improvement District.

Conclusion.  So it's not like there isn't a lot going on with the city's universities as it is.  The question is how can it be better leveraged, for students, for the city, for the state, and that's what Professor Miller does in his interesting op-ed.

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posted by Richard Layman @ 4:30 AM&Permanent Link Follow this blog 18 comments

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

HBCUs and the city: Relocating Cheyney University to Philadelphia?

A follow up entry to this piece is "The other George Miller idea: creating multi-college innovation centers in (cities) Philadelphia | Creating public library-college education centers as revitalization initiatives."  

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HBCUs = historically black colleges and universities

Will Bunch, the awesome opinion columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, calls our attention to a proposal by George Miller ("Move Cheyney University to the Navy Yard") suggesting that Cheyney University of Pennsylvania--the nation's first HBCU, located in suburban Delaware County, 24 miles from Philadelphia--relocate to Philadelphia's Navy Yard and focus on educating the city's people of color from a far more convenient location.  From the article:

Cheyney, located about 30 miles from the city, is the oldest historically Black college or university in the country (though nearby Lincoln University was the first HBCU to offer degrees). 

Forty-three percent of the 1.5 million people in Philadelphia are Black or African American, and the vast majority of them do not hold college degrees. That limits their employment opportunities. Black students can attend any college, of course, but HBCUs tend to offer a greater sense of community and more support than students might find at predominantly white institutions. 

Only about 13% of Temple University’s undergraduates are African American and about 8% of the University of Pennsylvania’s students identify as Black or African American. Both schools have long-standing Black communities adjacent to their campuses, but the relationships with those communities are often tense. Those areas are among the poorest in the city. ...

Having a historic HBCU in Philadelphia would create affordable and appealing opportunities for people who might not otherwise seek higher education. That would be good for Cheyney, too.

I was thinking that was an incredibly great idea, and ruing how former mayor of Washington Anthony Williams' idea of relocating the University of District of Columbia to the St. Elizabeths campus east of the river was shot down 20 years ago ("UDC is focused on the wrong students," Forest Hills Connection). 

If you relocate it does it matter?  But then I thought, well, Baltimore has two HBCUs located within the city, albeit on the outskirts, Coppin State and Morgan State ("Morgan State University should move their architecture and planning school to Downtown/Station North Arts District"), and they aren't particularly central to the city and its ability to stoke educational attainment amongst the city's youth.  

Chicago State University was buffeted by funding issues sparked by a fight between the state's former Republican governor and the Democratic state legislature, which severely crippled the school's ability to function.

Just because you locate Cheyney in Philadelphia, if it's not capable of repositioning and becoming more innovative, and maybe with free tuition (like CUNY), would the relocation have all that much impact?  

Columbus, Ohio has just announced a program that will provide free tuition to the local community college for city school graduates ("New program offers Columbus City Schools graduates free tuition at Columbus State," Columbus Dispatch).  From the article:

The next three classes of Columbus City Schools graduates will be able to attend Columbus State Community College for free under a new initiative announced Wednesday morning. 

 "We are hoping to make Columbus the best city to learn, earn and achieve your dreams,” said Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin. “For too many folks, they don’t see a pathway past high school. We are making a promise that we will support you in going after your dreams.” 

The program, called the Columbus Promise, is set to start with the district's current senior class and is being funded by the city of Columbus, Columbus schools, Columbus State and other local groups interested in seeing students succeed and go onto college.

In fact, the great 2018 series in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on HBCUs had a story on Cheyney's problems, "Cheyney University: The oldest HBCU faces an uphill struggle."

I'm not sure the University of the District of Columbia is particularly noteworthy on this dimension either ("Speaking of planning for higher education: more on the University of the District of Columbia," 2012). 

And Howard University -- "The Mecca" -- is located in DC too, but doesn't necessarily have all that much impact on the city's minority student population and college attainment.  Not unlike Morgan State, it's a cloistered place separate from the rest of the city.  Plus, it has serious management issues ("‘We won’: Howard protesters reach deal with university and end month-long occupation," Washington Post).

Although cloister and location is central to Miller's recommendation that Cheyney be relocated to a central location within Philadelphia, at the Navy Yard, and as part of a broader initiative creating a special campus for multiple colleges to offer programs.

Urban universities and colleges and first generation college students.  How many city-based HBCUs and Predominately Minority Institutions (PMIs) have performed the way that City College did and does in New York City ("American Dream Machine: The City University of New York aggressively moves poor kids into the middle class.," City Journal) in educating first generation college students, contributing to the local economy (CUNY's Contribution to NYC, NYC Comptroller's Office), and boosting graduates into the nation's middle class?

There are other urban universities that had a similar place in their communities historically, although perhaps less so today, including the University of Baltimore, what is now Wayne State University in Detroit, City College of San Francisco, and Metropolitan State University in Denver, although for some cities community colleges have taken on this role, or state universities have created city units, like the University of Illinois Chicago, Cal State Los Angeles and the University of Colorado.

Not exactly the same, but some colleges like Dartmouth offer access to college classes to area high school students.  And some colleges have developed special integrated high school/college programs like the Bard College High School, which has multiple campuses.

-- Center for First-Generation Student Success
-- Degrees of Difficulty: Boosting College Student Success in New York City, Center for an Urban Future
-- "Why free community college is necessary but insufficient for true student success," University Business

HBCUs/Predominately Minority Institutions that are particularly successful.  Recently I wrote about the University of Maryland Baltimore County upon the announcement by its President that he will be retiring ("Freeman Hrabowski and "urban universities"").  UMBC has become the number one college in the country in educating minority students for entrance into graduate and professional schools.

And some of the HBCUs in Atlanta, like Spelman College ("A Culture of Success: Black Alumnae Discussions of the Assets-Based Approach at Spelman College," Journal of Higher Education), Morehouse College ("A prescription for more black doctors," New York Times), and Clark Atlanta University ("Applying IRSS Theory: The Clark Atlanta University Exemplar," Decision Sciences) have a similar kind of impact and could be models for similar initiatives elsewhere.

The AJC series reports on how Greensboro, North Carolina-based North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University has set the stretch goal of being the best academic HBCU in the country ("A&T: An HBCU powerhouse rises in Greensboro").

Greensboro's economic development agenda is predicated in part on a focus of leveraging its multiple higher education institutions and NCA&T is a key element of the strategy ("Better leveraging higher education institutions in cities and counties: Greensboro; Spokane; Mesa; Phoenix; Montgomery County, Maryland; Washington, DC").

The University of Texas El Paso is widely known as being particularly successful for graduating first generation Hispanic students ("UTEP encouraging first-generation student success," KFOX14).  From the article:

UTEP's current initiatives are geared toward boosting retention rates by working closely with students. They include: 

  • A first-generation course — UNIV 1301 — designed to prepare students for internships, employment, undergraduate research, and community-engaged learning experiences. 
  • Summer bridge programs offered to entering students, freshmen, and sophomores targeted to help students continue their momentum between those years. 
  • Wraparound services including tutoring, advising, coaching, and mentoring to help students successfully complete their courses. 
  • First-generation peer leaders, instructors, mentors, advisors, and alumni will be accessible to students as part of the mentorship program. 
  • The program will prepare first-generation students for college by helping them develop writing, communication, and critical thinking skills through a variety of methods.

The first-generation program aims to work with students through their first 45 semester credit hours and improve student retention. The program focuses on celebrating student success by fostering students’ diverse backgrounds, strengths, and skillsets.

Conclusion.  While the idea is great, it needs a lot more than simply relocating Cheyney University and plopping it down in Philadelphia to have the kind of impact that Mr. Miller believes could result.  

1.  Relocating Cheyney University to Philadelphia would only be a first step.

2.  The second and most important step is rebuilding Cheyney University from the ground up, using schools like Spelman, Morehouse, UMBC, and NC A&T as models of HBCU/PMI best practices, along with other examples of premier education attainment for first generation college students.

3.  The third step is integrating the relocated and repositioned school into the community so that it can have the same kind of effect on the minority college student population within Philadelphia specifically, the way that colleges like UMBC do, but in a less place specific manner.

4.  Ideally with free tuition for residents of Philadelphia and adjoining counties, not unlike New York State's free tuition program for the State University as well as CUNY.

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posted by Richard Layman @ 4:40 PM&Permanent Link Follow this blog 13 comments