Word: town-gown
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After all, Harvard, already the largest land-owner in Cambridge (and all of the land was tax exempt) stood a lot to lose from damaging town-gown relationships. As early as the nineteenth century rival Cantabrigians were wise to Harvard's moves as this wary campaign plea indicates: "Will you permit the CLIQUE of Harvard University and OLD CAMBRIDGE after their attempts to be set off from the town, to elect all the officers of the city from their own section, and RULE with aristocratic sway...
Although it is the largest single landowner and the richest locally-based corporation in town, Harvard tries for the most part to keep out of Cambridge's official affairs. All the University's land is, under state law, tax-exempt, but to keep town-gown relations smooth Harvard pays the city about $500,000 a year in in-lieu-of-tax payments. And whenever and wherever the name of Harvard is likely to be mentioned in public, the University sends a representative from its Office of Government and Community Affairs to sit quietly in the back of the room...
...years ago when President Kennedy was still in office. Since the 1965 invitation by City Council to build the library in Cambridge, many changes in the tenor of urban life have altered the city's priorities. These have been years of race problems, rent control, increased welfare demands, town-gown antagonism, urgent need for low-and medium-income housing, crime, dwindling tax rolls, congestion and pollution...
...result is that local politicians cannot appeal to students without antagonizing residents. The town-gown split is very real in Cambridge, and efforts to bridge it seldom meet with success. The student community is simply isolated from the other populations within the city. Politicians commonly use Harvard as a target in order to gain support from the community. Witness the proposals of such politicians as Al Vellucci, who a few years back wanted to pave over Harvard Yard and make it a huge parking...
Diffused Reasons. Town-gown relations deteriorated further in January, when campus police and sheriff's deputies had to break up a protest over the firing of a popular faculty member. Last week students rose up for three days of insane violence. The immediate spark was the arrest of a young black militant, accused of using obscene language in public. As deputies tried to take him to jail, they were attacked by 50 of his sympathizers...