Colleges A Great Resource To Communities

Last week I had the opportunity to attend a terrific talk by Dr. Warren Cooper from Rochester, NY at Keuka College just outside of Penn Yan, NY. Dr. Cooper is a former NYS Regent and was a research scientist at Eastman Kodak until his retirement in 1986. He has also been involved in the struggle for educational equality for Black Americans. He spoke at Keuka's commemoration for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr during the anniversary of his death and the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

That opportunity got me thinking about the great resources that colleges provide to surrounding communities. Opportunities for education of course, but also cultural events and experiences - from talks like Dr. Warren's, to musical, acting and other artistic endeavors. There are also opportunities to interact with students, teachers, administrators and other members of the community in general. These are really wonderful opportunities that frankly are often not taken advantage of by the public and sometimes not even by the student body various institutions. I see this in Geneva, where Hobart and William Smith Colleges offer similar opportunities as well as Elmira College and other colleges in the area. Isn't it funny too that Keuka's campus is outside of town and Hobart and William Smith as well as Elmira College are in their towns.

So the question becomes, why is participation so low at some events and what can be done to improve the level of participation? I think the why belongs to both the communities surrounding colleges and to the colleges themselves. To me there can never be too much communication and outreach on the part of everyone. Colleges have communication departments and all of the latest technology, but sometimes connections are surprisingly shallow. It can be hard to break into the institution's network of communications. Much of what goes on is extremely internal and students are being educated to be independent and to discover things on their own. Community leaders on the other hand, can also be very myopic in their approaches and want the colleges to come to them. There's obviously a middle ground. One in which colleges and communities commit to working together, volunteer together, learn together.

The Town and Gown push and pull has been going on for hundreds of years I would guess and some places have accomplished more than others in terms of bringing people together or minimally communicating with each other. Communities and colleges that do it gain everything. There's no losing in this adventure. I'm hopeful that we'll see more effort as colleges look at reinventing themselves and communities look at dwindling resources.

In the meantime, talks like Dr. Cooper's are fantastic to have access to in small communities. Thanks to Keuka College. Next up, Scott Simon, journalist and host of NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, will be at Norton Chapel on the Keuka campus on May 6, 2014.