HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-21-2016 CLR, AshbaughITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
Mundelein Center
Cuneo Hall and Cudahy Science Center
Alderman Joe Moore and me
Chicago City Alderman representing most of the
campus, Joe Moore of the 49th Ward. Alderman Moore
joined us for this session and for many Conference
events. He is well known nationally for his program of
participatory financing in which he cedes control of his
capital budget – normally hoarded by the other Chicago
Aldermen and doled out through political favoritism –
and instead allocates these funds through a
community-based participation and election process.
The University is also distinguished for having recently
developed a fine 4-story building, Cuneo Hall, on the left side of this picture. This is a
41,000 s.f classroom and faculty office building with LEED Gold certification – but the
unique thing about it is that that it occupies a site, and utilizes exterior architectural
designs, originally proposed in the 1920s by
the original Jesuit founders of Loyola but
deferred for almost 100 years. In fact, in the
1950s the University had developed an 11-
story building on that site, which was
demolished in order to make room for this
smaller building, so beautifully compatible
with the main building at the center of the
campus, to the right, Cudahy Science Hall
(distinguished by its domed planetarium).
Cuneo Hall was one of several developed by the University
with proceeds of a $100 million capital campaign – and an
entirely separate $83 million project enabled extensive
renovation of the National Trust-certified Mundelein Center
which served as the site of most of the ITGA Conference
activities. Mundelein was at one point a women’s college
founded by a very progressive order of Catholic sisters, but it
had fallen on hard times in the 60s and 70s, and by the time
Loyola acquired it, the building was in a serious state of
decay. Now it is a magnificent example of 1930s art deco.
Evening Architectural tour
by boat in Chicago River and Lake
Michigan – On Sunday evening, I joined
a guided tour of the magnificent skyline of Chicago
from the deck of a 200-passenger cruise ship was a
splendid way to end the first day and kick off the
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
Alderman Joe Moore, left, and Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Chicago Skyline from the Tour Boat
conference.
Monday June 6
8;30 – 9:15: ITGA provides the setting for a private consulting firm, Bradford and
Dunleavy, annually to recognize through their “Impact Awards” three colleges &
communities for outstanding achievement in town-gown relationships. This year the
recipients were Bowling Green in Kentucky for its anti-bigotry program, “Not in My
Town.” This is actually a national model that could be well worth emulating in SLO.
The other two recipients were Cornell University and the City of Geneva for
collaborating on an agricultural incubator project; and Pittsburg State U and the City of
Pittsburg, Kansas for an innovative program of land exchanges that enabled a “win-win”
for new housing, an athletic facility, and new parks and open space in the heart of this
small prairie city with a confusing name…
At this Monday morning session, ITGA also announced a strategic alliance with the
Responsible Retailing Forum, a program funded by Miller-Coors that attempts to
(seriously) reduce underage drinking in college-age communities through a
collaboration of local businesses, law enforcement, elected officials, and college
administrators. This program might be helpful in SLO – let’s consult about this.
Later, the keynote speaker was Mayor
Rahm Emanuel of Chicago: The
aforementioned 49th Ward Alderman
Joe Moore introduced Mayor Emanuel,
who had gained national attention for
his role as the President’s chief of staff
from 2009-2011. He gave a stirring
account of the expanded commitment
of the City to its educational
institutions, including both k-12 as well
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
A Plenary Meeting in Mundelein Hall
as the many IHE’s throughout the city. Chicago has the 2nd highest concentration of
IHEs in the nation (and the world), right behind Boston. The City has over 1,400 distinct
partnerships with Chicago Public Schools and the IHE’s within its boundaries, and it has
stimulated a consortium of 22 IHEs that annually educate over 224,000 students
(“America’s Urban Campus”- see below). These colleges provide over 48,000 jobs,
pump more than $10.8 billion into the economy, and provide higher education for over
60,000 Pell grant recipients. Fully 36.5% of these students are first-generation college
students, many from among the dozens of immigrant communities in the city.
Later that morning, I attended a session to learn more about the City’s MOUs with its
partner universities: This workshop featured Chicago’s Planning Commissioner, David
Reifman, and two reps from Northwestern and Loyola Universities. When Mayor
Emanuel took office, the City began establishing formal agreements with the primary
colleges in its jurisdiction. These range from 10-24 pp, and cover a list of projects to be
undertaken by the City and the colleges, financing, and commitments to MWBEs, local
jobs, and needed infrastructure.
DePaul University has committed
to $2.5 billion, Loyala to $1.8
billion, Univ of Chicago $3.5
billion, and Illinois Institute of
Technology similar amounts.
Colleges make varying
commitments to housing their
undergrads on campus. Around
the U of Chic Hyde Park campus,
the City had owned dozens of
vacant properties that had been
selling at below-market rates;
now, as a result of their
coordinated investment, the lots
are bringing market prices.
Chicago has regulatory power over each of these campus projects, but with sufficient
collaboration from the well-organized neighborhood associations throughout most of the
city, these MOUs are now going through with little controversy. The City now asks the
question, “W hat can we do to get out of your way?” Projects that had required years of
review are now approved in a matter of month. Although the presence of multiple
neighborhood groups around each campus requires close coordination with the
Aldermen representing those neighborhoods. College administrators are proud of the
fact that the answers to all of their questions for City staff are only a phone call away.
The City is proud of the fact that these colleges are committed not only to active hiring
and contracting policies, but to specific commitments regarding enrollment of Chicago
Public School students, and to sustainability including recycling and building design.
1 – 2 pm – Realigning Campus Resources to Attain Higher Levels of Accountability
This workshop focused on the partnership developed by the University of Oregon – site
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
of next year's ITGA conference – in order to enhance the livability of several
neighborhoods bordering the campus. They’ve developed a “Communiversity” program
that harnesses student volunteers to build and strengthen relationships with the City’s
existing organizations, and identify ways to enhance neighborhoods and reduce
complaints of noise, party behavior, and alcohol abuse.
2-3:30 pm – Performing Better Together: This workshop featured Partnerships between
colleges and cities to develop performing arts venues, including a “Playhouse District” in
Cleveland OH that involved restoration of a historic theater as well as new performance
space benefiting the entire community. There are possible applications to our “Cultural
Core” proposed for the downtown, with the collaboration of the Little Theater.
3:30 – 5:Transforming Policy: Government and Higher Education-Environmental
Sustainability: Resiliency is breaking rapidly across campuses and communities to form
the next wave of sustainable policies, partnerships, planning, design and construction. I
joined a very interesting discussion centered on maintaining a vital, living and learning
society within college communities as they prepare for the drastic impacts of climate
change. This session featured an introduction to the new RELi Action List, apply its
principles, and gain an understanding of resiliency - from the building to the
government scale. The presenters included Pete Sandberg, Assistant Vice President for
Facilities at St. Olaf College; Doug Pierce, Senior Associate, Perkins+Will and a
Professor-in-Practice at the University Of Minnesota College Of Design; and Krisan
Osterby, the Planning Practice Leader for Perkins+Will. They provided examples and
identified a survey tool that enables an actionable understanding and access to
Resilient Design practices.
The SLO delegation gathered for dinner in downtown Evanston, home of Northwestern
University and the Conference hotel. Evanston has an interesting history as a center of
the temperance movement, and its most prominent early 20th century resident was
Florence Willard who fought against alcohol abuse until she succeeded with the
Prohibition movement in 1918. Florence Willard also gave her name to the College of
Liberal Arts at Northwestern University.
Tuesday, June 7
Before breakfast, I joined a small group of town and gown allies to learn about what is
required in order host an ITGA Conference. This was my third such conference, and
even at my first opportunity to join this group in 2014 in South Carolina, I had urged
consideration of SLO as a conference host. The Loyola 2016 Conference attracted 320
attendees, with a budget requirement for the host of $75,000. Corporate sponsors were
obtained for about $40,000; Loyola put in $15,000, Northwestern was in at $10,000, and
DePaul University put in $5,000. I learned that in order to host an ITGA Conference, the
host site should offer enough breadth to be attractive to a wide range of interests, but
unique enough to convey a sense of place. Cal Poly and SLO have that unique blend
that would make a very desirable conference site. The main constraint is the lack of
suitable facilities, as it is widely understood that our existing Student Center with
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
Representatives from Boston College and Georgetown tell their stories
about how to improve quality of life in their respective neighborhoods
Chumash Auditorium doesn’t have sufficient space for this group. As the Cal Poly
student body rejected plans for a major expansion of the Student Center last April, it has
delayed for several years before SLO could put together a proposal for ITGA.
A Tale of Two Cities: Patrolling the Neighborhood – Education, Enforcement, and
Building Community – I attended a workshop featuring the programs of Georgetown
University and the Town of Georgetown, in a
comparative framework with the Amherst
Police and UMass Amherst External
Relations. Both programs seek to improve
town-gown and neighborhood communication
and relations under a community policing
philosophy, which emphasizes community
engagement, partnerships and a problem-
solving approach. There were many
similarities with our own Neighborhood
Services program, and I found it intriguing that
Georgetown even calls its program “SNAP”
just like ours.
At lunch, I was very proud to join my colleagues and staff as the City of San Luis
Obispo, Cal Poly, and Cuesta College received the Larry W. Abernathy Award. The
Neighborhood Civility Working Group and "Neighborhood Wellness 2.0" was selected
from among 8 applicants - a very competitive process within ITGA. The Abernathy
awarded is sponsored by Clemson University and the City of Clemson in South
Carolina; it is named for the late Mayor of Clemson.
This award is offered to the city and
higher education institutions that best
represent the mission of the ITGA -
"partnership through commitment and
intention to strong interactions." The
award is granted for a collaborative
project that can be used by other
college towns sharing similar
circumstances and visions.
City Manager Lichtig and Courtney
Kienow acknowledged the dedication
of the teamwork provided by many
residents, Cal Poly students and staff,
Cuesta students and staff, and city
staff. This is a long term endeavor, but
now we have a positive framework for
Courtney Kienow, me, Christine Wallace, Katie Lichtig, Carlyn Christianson,
Dan Rivoire, Connie Cox and David Moore of ITGA, and Michael Codron
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
DePaul University rents ground-floor space to retail tenants
where we go from here.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible!
2:30 – 5:30 Walking tour of eight colleges in Chicago’s Loop (downtown): A group of
about 20 of us were bussed down to the heart of the City’s downtown, in fact in the
center of the Wabash Arts Corridor where we scrambled through eight separate
colleges that are housed in the general
area bounded by State Street, Michigan
Ave., Van Buren and Roosevelt These
included East-West University,
Columbia College, Roosevelt College,
DePaul University, John Marshall
School of Law, School of the Art
Institute of Chicago, Robert Morris
University, and National Louis
University. Each of these is privately-
funded, some are secular but most have
a religious affiliation – and together they
enroll over 60,000 students in the very
heart of the City. Several have an arts focus (Columbia, Roosevelt, SAIC), and three
are comprehensive undergraduate colleges. Roosevelt has a very striking new building
designed by a distinguished Chicago firm VOA, but most occupy historic buildings that
had outlived their former lives as retail or office space. The City provided hundreds of
millions in TIF (tax increment financing) funds, and all of these institutions and the
remaining businesses in downtown Chicago support a Business Improvement District to
maintain the public infrastructure in this vital downtown, so rich in history and
spectacular architecture. We also got a briefing from the Chicago Loop BID Exec Dir).
An additional stop was a privately-funded residence hall that meets the housing needs
for several of the downtown IHE’s, adjacent to a Loop “El” station and within walking
distance of over a dozen colleges.
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
Chicago Skyline along Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park
6 pm – Reception at the University Club of Chicago – Conference attendees were plied
with a substantial assortment of appetizers surrounded by several no-host bars at the
historic Club where all of Chicago’s elite have gathered since 1889, overlooking
Millennium Park and Lake Michigan. We got an inspiring pep talk from Dr. Kwang Wu
Kim, the President of Columbia College who reminded us of the larger mission of all
IHE’s – to develop students as complete human beings.
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
ITGA Conference – Chicago 2016
John Ashbaugh
At this reception, I had a chance to meet Mayor
Tony Yarber of Jackson, Mississippi, who also spoke
on Wednesday morning and gave a rousing account
of how his administration is working with local
IHE’s like Jackson State University to bring about an
“Open Data Portal” for its citizens. The portal works
essentially like our City’s new “Dashboard,”
providing a means by which people can check on
the City’s progress toward its goals and mission.
Mayor Yarber is a young, articulate, charismatic
leader who (in my opinion) would be a strong
prospect for higher office. Check it out at
https://data.jacksonms.gov/jackstats.