In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower

December 21, 2020
Baldwin (Chicago’s New Negroes), a professor of American studies at Trinity College, delivers a well-informed and highly critical study of higher education’s “increasingly powerful hold” over U.S. cities. When academic institutions reshape downtown areas under the mantle of “urban development,” they rarely do so to the benefit of existing communities, Baldwin contends. He cites evidence that the University of Pennsylvania displaced 600 low-income and African-American families to build a science center in West Philadelphia in the 1960s, and that Yale University’s “multimillion-dollar tax emption” contributes to the budget deficit in New Haven, Conn. Surveying expansions of the University of Chicago into Chicago’s South Side, Columbia University into West Harlem, and Arizona State University into Phoenix, Baldwin documents police shootings and racial profiling in the name of campus security, the replacement of vibrant public spaces with fortress-like institutional designs, and the wrangling of “public money for private profits.” Combining in-depth research, practicable models of reform (e.g. the University of Winnipeg’s sustainable development program), and the lively voices of community organizers and college insiders, Baldwin makes a convincing case. This passionate call to hold universities more accountable resonates. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, the Zoë Pagnamenta Agency.

January 15, 2021
Universities have become powerful forces in shaping modern cities, writes urbanist Baldwin, and rarely for the better. The author, founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College, begins in a largely Black neighborhood bordering the University of Chicago, an area being steadily swallowed by the growing campus, a process symbolized by the quiet expropriation of a Bronzeville historical site, a "blues shrine" called the Checkerboard Lounge. "UChicago's backdoor deal," writes Baldwin, "resuscitated almost a century of local stories in which the school had either demolished Black neighborhoods or built institutional walls to keep Black residents away from campus." The temptation to become large-scale property holders is great. As Baldwin notes, given declining student revenues and decreased state funding, colleges and universities are finding that "urban development is higher education's latest economic growth strategy." The results are usually harmful to the people, almost always economically disadvantaged minorities and small business owners, who actually live in the downtown areas that universities are turning into "UniverCities." In the case of Phoenix, the state university built downtown residence high-rises for students, then promulgated the notion that downtown was dangerous, a prejudice that already existed: "students had largely grown up in the suburbs, so they equated the city with danger, even though the [suburban] Tempe campus had higher crime rates." The same is true in other cities: Chicago, New York, New Haven, the list goes on. Only when campuses venture into privileged areas does their growth sometimes falter: Baldwin cites the expansion of NYU into Greenwich Village that came under scrutiny only when local resident Matthew Broderick opposed it--even though an 8-year-old girl made the better case when she "wondered aloud why college students were incapable of taking a subway for a class or two when she took the train to school every day." No matter what the opposition, though, the author identifies and critiques a trend that seems unlikely to stop. A cogent analysis of an urban-growth phenomenon that is rarely done well or equitably.

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February 1, 2021

Across the United States, urban colleges and universities have successfully expanded by encroaching on adjacent low-income neighborhoods. While these campuses grow into "UniverCities," it is frequently to the detriment of surrounding Black and Latinx neighborhoods as their history becomes buried under parking garages. While many argue there is a benefit to drawing students and residents back to urban centers, power and prosperity is often drawn from the surrounding areas that don't benefit from this growth. From USC to Yale, Historian and Urbanist Baldwin (Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies, Trinity Coll.) examines this trend of unchecked university expansion and broken promises. Having interviewed individuals from universities and their surrounding communities, Baldwin shares case studies and experiences that suggest growth isn't always as beneficial to a city as promised. The author presents a well-researched and objective case, with a deep dive into better known campuses including the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Arizona State University. The book was completed recently enough to touch on the compounding effects of COVID-19 as well as protests against police brutality on urban campuses in 2020. VERDICT Those interested in trends in urban planning or ethnic studies will appreciate Baldwin's thoughtful exploration of urban campus sprawl.--Jennifer Clifton, Indiana State Lib., Indianapolis

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