Chapter Proposals Due April 10, 2023
Chapter Drafts Due October 15, 2023
Anticipated Publication Date: 2025-2026

This edited volume will explore myriad ways in which colleges/universities have worked with and against their communities, covering such issues as neighborhood gentrification, town-gown conflicts, innovation alliances, local food programs, and the existence (or lack of) access pipelines for local students. This project has been motivated by the recognition that, “From their founding, universities introduced class differences to cities in ways that only intensified as the institutions became key platforms for social and economic mobility for those who were allowed to enter” (Wining, Building the Ivory Tower, 2018). The relationship between colleges and their communities has arguably resulted in both development and inequalities. This edited volume seeks to explore and explicate those double processes. Contributions are not restricted to the US and we encourage chapters that explore international contexts. Practitioners, researchers, scholars, and students from a variety of disciplines are invited to submit proposals that address relevant topics, including (but not restricted to):
• local food programs (connections with local organic farms, food pantries for students, etc.)
• labor issues, particularly non-professional staff; the university as an employer
• gentrification, changing neighborhoods, and the economies of college towns; the college/university
as “landlord”
• issues with local communities, town/gown conflicts; relationships with local policing
• how land grants have shifted whom they serve (the expanded radius of college applicants)
• nature of “constituencies” in general (e.g., shifting missions, affirmative action programs, resident
students vs non-residents and international students)
• role and impact of “community colleges”
• architectural design, historic preservation, and local zoning laws and policies
• college/university as taxpayer; contributions to local tax base; state development subsidies
• state and federal funding policies and politics; the discourse of the “value” of education and how
to measure and support higher education
• access pipelines for local students, especially first-generation/working-class students
• business ventures/connections and impact on class relations; innovation hubs
• sustainability initiatives in higher education; “greening” of the college/university
• civic programming (e.g, campus events open to the public, including free speech controversies)
• campus sporting events and impact on college and community

Volume Editors

Allison L. Hurst, Professor of Sociology, School of Public Policy, Oregon State University; Dede Setiono, doctoral candidate, School of Public Policy, OSU; Evaewero French, doctoral candidate, School of Public Policy, OSU; Carmel E. Price, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Chapter proposal/abstract submission

Please submit an abstract no longer than 500 words with a potential title and topic area to Allison Hurst, hursta@oregonstate.edu, by April 10, 2023. The abstract should include a clear overview of the main focus of the chapter and the different topics that will be addressed. In addition, please include a short biography (max. 100 words) of the author(s). If you have any questions, please contact Allison via email. Notification of accepted chapter proposals will be made by April 15, 2023, with completed chapter draft to be submitted no later than October 15, 2023. Final contributions will be limited to 6000 words maximum (or roughly twenty double-spaced manuscript pages). Please note: accepted chapter abstracts will form the basis for a full volume proposal made to an academic press. We hope to secure a book contract by October 15, 2023.