Understanding and Measuring Optimal Campus-Community Relationships ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

Understanding and Measuring

Optimal Campus-Community Relationships

©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

Webinar Agenda

• A starting point: For better or for worse?

• The 4X4 Town-Gown typology• Piloting the OCTA/Main findings• Further development of the OCTA

platform• The Mobilization Cycle• Implications


Where it All Started

Is the Town-Gown Glass Half Empty

or Half Full?

“For better or for worse…”


The Glass is Half Empty

“Historically, town-gown relations have been a source of difficulty, frustration, and annoyance for both the town and the university”

Bruning, McGrew, and Cooper (2006)


The Glass is Half Full

“There is an important need to identify common issues and approaches… associated with having the college or university present. Communities without a post-secondary institution simply do not have this as a factor in their galaxy of community issues, wants, needs, and opportunities. Most wish they did!”

Fox (2014)©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

The Main Objective

Taking the Guesswork out of Understanding and Measuring Town-Gown

Relationship Quality


The 4X4 Typology

Based on a recent Gavazzi, Fox, and Martin (2014) article in the journal

Innovative Higher Education


4X4 Typology of Town-Gown Relationships

• Higher effort, higher comfort

• Lower effort, higher comfort

• Higher effort, lower comfort

• Lower effort, lower comfort

Devitalized Conflicted

HarmoniousTraditional




Piloting the Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)

Based on a second article written by Gavazzi and Fox (2015) in the journal

Innovative Higher Education


Finding #1

Effort and comfort levels were significantly and positively associated with one another

– Indicates that greater contact between campus and community members will increase relationship contentment.


Finding #2

Community member comfort levels are highest with students

– Provides evidence that students serve as a key connecting point between the campus and the community.


Finding #3

The closest municipality reported the highest levels of effort and comfort, followed by the second and third closest towns

The First Law of Geography“everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things” (Tobler, 1970)


Finding #4

Perceived comfort levels were highest among business owners, followed by non-profit leaders, and then educators

Discriminating the relationships between and among different community members really matters!


Further Development of the OCTA

Building a more complete web-based data capture tool


New Features

GEOMAPPING

• Zip code information on residence and place of employment help you geo-locate your participants while mapping pockets of strengths and limitations within the community


New Features

ALUMNI DEVELOPMENT

• Information on coursework taken and degrees earned provides valuable insight into the role that alumni play in the development of town-gown relationships



New Features

MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES – Community participants can be further

subdivided into smaller reference groups



New Features

MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES – Similarly, campus participants also can

be further subdivided into smaller reference groups



New Features

PUBLIC SAFETY

• Specific information can be captured about relationships with elected and appointed government employees, as well as police and other public safety officials




New Features

EXPECTATIONS• Perceptions of current and ideal

relationships provide an indication of how closely aligned campus and community expectations are of one another


New Features

CHALLENGES

• Perceptions about concerns such as student misbehavior, economic investment, educational access and affordability, public relations, and volunteerism and visibility in the community


New Features

OVERALL PROFILE:

• Accumulated information about activity and comfort levels generates a picture of the campus-community relationship that can range from the very healthy “harmonious” type to more challenging forms associated with conflict and disappointment


ImplicationsWhere do we go from here?


The Town-Gown Relationship Mobilization Cycle

Awareness Raising

Coalition Building

Data Gathering

Interpreting

Information

Evidence Based Action


Employing the OCTA

• UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION Application materials for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification and Campus Compact initiatives

• TOWN/CITY MANAGERS Comprehensive planning documents for municipal management


Employing the OCTA

• DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS Feasibility studies prior to Capital Campaign launches

• STUDENT LIFE/OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING Signaling a significant shift in efforts to improve campus-community relationships



Employing the OCTA

• CITY COUNCIL/BOARD OF TRUSTEES Planning for leadership changes in city government and university administration

Thank You!

• For more information about OCTA:– Collegetownassessment.com

• Follow the action on Twitter:– @CollegeTownGown


Documents

Understanding and Measuring Optimal Campus-Community Relationships ©2014 The Optimal College Town Assessment (OCTA)