January 17, 2008

What's the value of a good college town?

That’s the question the Amherst Bulletin asks this week, and it’s a pointed question for Amherst College, captured by the headline of one article: “Should Amherst College match Williams in town aid?”

The article cites massive commitments made by Williams College to the Williamstown school system and notes that Williams, in general, pays more to Williamstown than Amherst College does to Amherst.

However, they also note that Williams is a much bigger part of Williamstown than Amherst is of Amherst; Williams also does not share its town with a large state university, just to name two of the many reasons the comparison isn’t quite fair.

It’s a complicated question, tied up in history and falling housing prices, another story in this week’s Bulletin. It’s true that the Town has a significant budget shortfall, and has been cutting already for years; that the College has money, and plenty of it; that the College was, in fact, created of the town, and continues to benefit from its prosperity.

But it’s also true that the College cannot become a permanent lifeline for the town; a negotiated salvation now could easily become a financial “easy way out” for later town managers in less dire straits. It’s a tricky situation, and both the Town and the College (in the voice of President Marx) are treating it more carefully than a simple matter of intercollegiate rivalry.

“The rivalry is not relevant or constructive to town-gown cooperation, said Peter Fohlin, town manager in Williamstown. …

“Amherst needs to engage in a symbiotic relationship with Amherst College that benefits both, [Town Manager Larry] Shaffer said.”

Parker Morse '96 | January 17, 2008 09:11 PM | Campus | Town

Comments

JQP | January 18, 2008 06:36 AM:

Read up on Shaffer's "strategic agreement" with UMass if you want to see where he's headed on the issue.

On Ephblog, you can see there are at least a few alums who are not pleased with the re-gifting of their alumni fund contributions by William's President including financial resources for Mt Greylock High School, town initiatives, and a large contribution to MoCA, Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. The large donation to MoCA was intended to revitalize blighted North Adams and apparently it has.

Apparently, Mt. Greylock doesn't have money for science labs, which is a big disadvantage for students. Williams wants to attract the best professors, but the quality of the local public school can be a decisive issue.

Amherst taxpayers recently voted down a prop 2 1/2 overide. A lot of people choose to live in more affordable surrounding towns because property values and taxes are just too high in Amherst.

Dave Nardolillo '98 | January 19, 2008 05:28 PM:

I'm inclined to agree with you, Parker although, as you properly note, it's a complex issue.

The College deserves some credit, albeit small, for providing support to local businesses by refusing to compete with local vendors in a number of spaces. Would A.J.Hastings and the Lord Jeffery bookstore still be operating if the College had determined it had a right to the profits of the sale of textbooks and Amherst apparel and opened its own store?

Parker Morse '96 | January 19, 2008 06:18 PM:

Well, maybe. Certainly Hastings does well as the Official Dealer of Amherst Stuff, and I look in there relatively often for that purpose, but the bookstores (the Jeff in particular) always devoted a lot more shelf space to UMass texts than to the College. (And I remember getting some texts at Wootons, which no longer exists.) Even a fraction of the UMass textbook business dwarfs that of the College.

David Nardolillo '98 | January 19, 2008 10:20 PM:

that's a good point about the bookstore, does it still capture a majority of Amherst's textbook business?

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