THIS REPORT HAS REACHED BACK INTO OUR HISTORY FOR PERSPECTIVE. JUST AS PRESIDENT SETH LOW AT THE CLOSE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY DREW INSPIRATION FROM COLUMBIA'S EARLY SHAPERS OF DEMOCRACY—JAY, HAMILTON, LIVINGSTON, AND MORRIS-SO WE AT THE START OF THE TWENTY—FIRST CENTURY CAN GAIN BY LOOKING BACK. PRESIDENT LOW BELIEVED PASSIONATELY IN COLUMBIA AS A FULL PARTICIPANT IN THE LIFE OF NEW YORK AND AS THE EDUCATOR OF A DIVERSE STUDENT BODY. THE UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO SHARE THAT CONVICTION.

The Challenge Ahead

In community relations the new century does not necessarily bring brand new challenges, but this is a time to meet familiar challenges with greater persistence and success.

A case in point is the preservation of Morningside Heights as the remarkable neighborhood it has been for many decades. New York City's booming economy, as of the 1999–2000 fiscal year, put enormous pressure on housing and neighborhood stores. With small shops giving way to national chains, the commercial face of many neighborhoods is changing. Preservationists are understandably concerned about how change will affect our community in the future. Columbia, along with our neighbors, has a great interest in preserving one of the city's most interesting and diverse communities.

To address community concerns about the preservation of historic buildings on Morningside Heights, and to expand our own knowledge of the University's buildings, Emily Lloyd, executive vice president for administration, engaged a team of planning and preservation consultants to help create a planning framework to guide us over the years. A community advisory group reviewed all of this work. Much of the resulting material has already been of use to residents pursuing historic designation for parts of Morningside Heights.

"By preserving what remains and restoring where we can, we hope to keep the look and feel of the neighborhood alive," Vice President Lloyd says. Last year Columbia spent $20 million on renovations and restorations, managed by William Scott, deputy vice president for institutional real estate. In the next five years the University will spend more than $100 million. To date, sixty-five prewar buildings in the neighborhood have been carefully reconstructed and repaired, in some cases uncovering original architectural details and design that had long been forgotten.

Students in Lerner Hall.

Over the past seven years, we have focused new attention on the way that Columbia informs and interacts with our neighbors on a wide range of issues. Construction, renovation, and historic preservation are high on the agenda, and community input played a role in the design of both Alfred Lerner Hall and the new Broadway undergraduate residence hall. Our architects worked to ensure that the western façade of Lerner Hall would complement the other brick buildings along Broadway, while modifications to the residence hall included a significant reduction in its height. A spacious branch library of the New York Public Library has also been incorporated into the building at street level.

Working with the community gives the University the opportunity to plug into the local knowledge base, an interaction that has improved our construction projects over the past several years.

A continuing challenge is to strike a proper balance between the housing needs of faculty and graduate students and of other neighborhood residents. So long as there is a housing shortage, the need for faculty and graduate housing will remain acute. The Columbia faculty remains great because Provost Cole, Vice President for the Arts and Sciences David Cohen, and the deans of all our schools and colleges have made sure that superb teachers, scholars, and researchers succeed our distinguished retiring faculty. But without sufficient housing, our goal of maintaining faculty excellence in the face of stiff competition from our peers becomes much harder to achieve.

President George Rupp, seated in middle, has an active member of the Columbia community. He frequently participates in events like Community Outreach, a community-wide clean-up that attracts more than 1,000 student volunteers each year.

The diversity of Morningside Heights must be preserved. We are working with community leaders toward that end. At the same time, we are hopeful that more faculty and staff will participate in the new program to buy and improve homes within the Empowerment Zone.

We have come a long way and must keep working to increase diversity within the University among students, faculty, and staff, including senior administrators. Our very name—Columbia University in the City of New York—testifies to our identity as well as the permanence of our location. Columbia needs New York and New York needs Columbia; this report provides an overview of how we carry out that responsibility toward each other. In the perspective of history, community relations are considerably improved. But they require more hard work and good will on all our parts.

My optimism about the future is buoyed by those who are advancing this joint effort between Columbia and New York—a remarkable association of alumni, public servants, community leaders, area residents, Trustees, faculty, students, and administrators. I am particularly indebted to Trustee Chair Stephen Friedman '62L and his immediate predecessors—Lionel Pincus '56B, Jerry Speyer '62C '64B, Henry King '48C, and G. G. Michelson '47L—who have given strong support for the programs described in this report. There is much more to be done. But to all of you who have contributed your time, talents, energy, and commitment to our communal benefit, I express heartfelt thanks for a job well begun.

George Rupp