The Obama Center: Caught in an Old David vs. Goliath Drama

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the storied occupation of Columbia University, during which student and neighborhood activists prevented the construction of a functionally segregated gym in a public park in Harlem.

It was a major inflection point in urban history: university-driven urban renewal paused; anchor institutions realized they needed to approach their relationships with their low-income neighbors with more sensitivity and respect. But friction between major institutions and neighboring communities has ramped up in recent decades—from South Los Angeles to West Philadelphia to Chicago—caused in part by private police forces, rapid gentrification, and unrelenting development that is perceived as insufficiently involving the surrounding community.