Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 75 MichiganJournalofCommunityServiceLearning Fall2010,pp.75-88 A City-Campus Engagement Theory From, and For, Practice* 1 LorleneHoyt MassachusettsInstituteofTechnology Thisarticletellsastoryofpractice,astoryoftheory,andhoweachinformsandtransformstheother throughatwo-wayflowofpeopleandknowledgefromacitytoacampusandbackagain.Byreflecting withfellowparticipantsontheeventsandoutcomesofasustainedcity-campuspartnership,theauthor introducesatheoryofengagementfromandforpractice,andstrategiessuchasinvestinginhumanrela- tionshipsandusinginstruments-for-action. Itseemstomethatforthefirsttimeinnearly than40reflectiveinterviewsstudentsconductedwith half a century, institutions of higher learning MIT@Lawrence participants, past and present, as are not collectively caught up in some urgent wellasdatafromaseriesofreflectionexercisescom- national endeavor. Still, our outstanding uni- pleted by student participants.4 The emphasis on versities and colleges remain, in my opinion, reflectivepracticecontributestowhatthelateDonald among the greatest sources of hope for intel- Schön, M.I.T. professor of Urban Studies and lectual and civic progress in this country. I'm Education from 1968 to 1997, called the “battle of convincedthatforthishopetobefulfilled,the snails” in which participant voices represent small, academy must become a more vigorous part- butvitalmovementstoward“thenewscholarship”: nerinthesearchforanswerstoourmostpress- ing social, civic, economic, and moral prob- All of us who live in research universities are lems.(Boyer,1996,p.11) bound up in technical rationality regardless of our personal attitudes toward it, because it is Since1999,hundredsofMassachusettsInstituteof built into the institutional arrangements—the Technology (M.I.T.) students have unknowingly formalandinformalrulesandnorms—thatgov- advanced Boyer’s call by connecting the rich ernsuchprocessesasthescreeningofcandidates resources of one of the world’s most powerful uni- fortenureandpromotion.Evenliberalartscol- versities with the small and impoverished city of leges,communitycolleges,andotherinstitutions Lawrence,Massachusetts,located30milesnorthof ofhighereducationappeartobesubjecttothe campus. In this article, I share what I have learned influence of technical rationality by a kind of while observing and participating in the partnership echoeffectorbyimitation.Hence,introducing knownasMIT@Lawrence,and“challengetheepis- the new scholarship into institutions of higher temology built into the modern research university” educationmeansbecominginvolvedinanepis- temological battle. It is a battle of snails, pro- (Schön,1995,p.27). ceeding so slowly that you have to look very This article, like my own intellectual journey, carefullyinordertoseeitisgoingon.Butitis beginswithastoryofpractice.Inthefirstpartofthe happeningnonetheless.(1995,p.32) article, the data, which I collected over a period of more than seven years, come from a variety of Inshort,thisarticletellsastoryofpractice,butalso sources, including course syllabi and assignments, a story of theory, and how each informs and trans- student theses and dissertations, meeting notes and forms the other through a two-way flow of people transcripts,organizationalreports,fundingproposals, andknowledgefromthecitytothecampusandback books, newspapers, journal articles, and personal again. It also makes the case for a new epistemolo- interviews,aswellasmyownpersonalreflections,2 gy—reciprocal knowledge—knowledge develop- anddrawonparticipantvoices3focusedonthoughts ment and real learning on both sides, achieved and feelings about the partnership’s history, evolu- throughadiverse,dynamic,andcomplexnetworkof tion,andaspirations.InthesecondpartIpresentan humanrelationships. engagement theory, and in the third part I present Our Story of Practice strategiesforpracticingengagement.Eachofthesec- ondandthirdpartsreliesprimarilyondatagathered What we have to learn to do, we learn by duringthe2008-09academicyearthroughthemore doing.Aristotle ©2010LorleneHoyt 75 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 76 Hoyt The first part of this article is organized into five transformingthecity,creatingathrivingcommercial chronological episodes, each ranging from one to corridor with new bodegas and clubs in the once fouryears,andinitIintroducesomeofthefaculty, retail- and theatre-lined downtown. She also noted students,staff,civicleaders,andresidentswhocom- that Lawrence was one of the poorest cities in the prisedthepartnershipbetweenM.I.T.andthecityof nation,withhomeownershiprateslessthanhalfthe Lawrence. Over the course of a decade, these part- national average, unemployment rates two times ners collaborated to analyze complex problems, higher than the state average, a legacy of environ- implement new ideas, and, in so doing, began to mental contamination, and an average high school developanewepistemology.Thedetailsofthisstory graduation rate of about 44% (Hoyt, 2005a). “We ofpracticerepresentafoundationforthetheoryand should work together to return the investment,” she strategiestofollow. concluded, explaining that the Essex Company that FollowingFamilies,FollowingAlumnae had designed and built Lawrence had invested its massive profits, not in Lawrence, but in prominent (2002-2003) rooted institutions that are the lifeblood of New InJanuary2002,duringmyfirstweekasatenure- Englandtoday,includingtheBostonPublicLibrary, trackassistantprofessorintheDepartmentofUrban the Boston Athenaeum, Massachusetts General Studies and Planning, I attended a talk given by Hospital,andM.I.T. Kristen Harol who had been invited to campus to At the time, I was actively seeking a client for a share the work underway by Lawrence seven-week course aimed at teaching undergraduate CommunityWorks, a community development cor- andgraduatestudentsofurbanplanninghowtoana- poration that she and two other M.I.T. alumnae— lyzedatafromtheU.S.CensusBureauusingageo- JessicaAndorsandTamarKotelchuck—hadrecently graphic information system. Inspired by Kristen’s reinvigorated.These alumnae had engaged with the talk,theinnovativeplanningandcommunitydevelop- people of Lawrence, a former mill town on the ment practice she described, and her vision for con- Merrimack River, during an economic development nectingcityandcampus,Imetherinthehallwayafter coursetheyhadtakentogether(J.Andors,K.Harol, hertalkandagreed,byahandshake,toformarela- &T.Kotelchuck,personalcommunication,July12, tionship with Lawrence CommunityWorks. By the 2006).ByJune1999,withMastersofCityPlanning end of the following semester, in November 2002, degrees in hand, Kristen, Jessica, and Tamar were Lang Keyes, longtime M.I.T. professor and former working in Lawrence. Though they had planned to communityorganizerinBoston’sSouthEnd,encour- immediately apply the economic and community agedmetoformalizethepartnershipwithintheuni- developmenttheoriestheyhadstudiedatM.I.T.,they versity by expanding the seven-week workshop to a discovered—by going house-to-house, knocking on full-semester, required service-learning practicum doors, and talking with families—that parents in which we would co-teach. This would take time, I Lawrence wanted a summer program for their chil- learned(Hoyt,2005b).Meanwhile,theworkshopwas dren.Sotheybegantoleadtripstothezooandother offered again in spring 2003 when we had two activities with the children in the North Common clients—LawrenceCommunityWorks(aresident-led neighborhood—a poor, Latino neighborhood adja- organizationdedicatedtoequitabledevelopmentand cent to the mill district. By following the parents’ economicjustice)andGroundworkLawrence(anon- advice, Kristen, Jessica, and Tamar earned the trust profitorganizationfocusingonimprovingthephysi- andrespectoftheneighborhoodfamilies;theserela- cal environment then run by another M.I.T. alumna, tionshipsgavethemthecredibilitytheylaterneeded Maggie Super Church). The M.I.T. alumnae, now a todeveloplarge-scaleprojectsforthecity. teamoffour,askedstudentstohelpthemcreateazon- Duringhertalk,KristendescribedLawrenceasthe ing overlay for the mill district. I worked with stu- last and grandest textile city built by the Essex dents to set up aWeb-based neighborhood informa- Company,oneofAmerica’sfirstcorporations.Once tionsystemrichwithdatafromboththeU.S.Census a planned utopia and the American solution to BureauandtheCityofLawrence,whileKristenasked England’s own neglected textile cities, the core of studentstoworkwithLawrence teenagerstocollect Lawrence,madeupofdams,canals,boardinghouses, data about, and on, the actual streets. In November and several textile mills, was built in three busy 2003, the Lawrence City Council—after a crowd of years,from1845to1848.Fornearlysevendecades, civicleaders,parents,andchildrenfilledCityHall— Lawrence, “the immigrant city,” employed succes- votedunanimouslytoapprovethezoningoverlayto sive waves of newcomers in the mills (Cole, 1963). permithousinginthehistoricmills.Thisearlyvicto- Kristen,whosegrandfatherhadsoldshoesonEssex rynotonlyemboldenedpartnershipparticipants,but Street, told the audience how presently there was a alsounleashedtheredevelopmentpotentialofthehis- vibrant population of newcomers, mostly Latino, toricheartofLawrence. 76 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 77 ACity-CampusEngagementTheory IncreasingCommunityVoice(2004-2005) ernment, or nonprofit organizations, revitalization canbeachievedbyharnessingtheresourcesofroot- By January 2004, the workshop had become a ed institutions to improve communication across requiredservice-learningpracticumintheMastersof long-standingracialandclassdivisions,shiftexpec- CityPlanningcurriculumatM.I.T.5WhenLangand tations,andarticulateaninclusiveandpositivevision I invited Andre Leroux, a neighborhood planner at ofthefuture(Hoyt&Leroux,2007). Lawrence CommunityWorks, to campus to approve Theacademiccalendarwasaformidablefoe;out- our syllabus, the blueprint for advancing our five- side the university, people’s lives are not lived in year plan to build an expert-driven mapping system semesters.Whenagroupofus,includingmyM.I.T. forLawrence,Andredemandedthatweworkhand- facultycollaborator,twoM.I.T.alumnaeworkingin in-handwithresidentstocollectdataontheground Lawrence,AndreLeroux,andmyselfmetatarestau- inadditiontoacquiringandanalyzingadministrative rant in Cambridge to discuss the future of the part- data sets for civic leaders. Wanting Andre and the nership, Andre insisted that faculty find funding to alumnae to know that we respected their way of ensure continuous engagement in Lawrence. working in the community, Lang and I agreed. Speakingonbehalfofourprimarypartner,Lawrence Practicum students serendipitously helped with the CommunityWorks, he gave us an ultimatum: Either transitionfromatop-downtoabottom-upapproach engage with the people of Lawrence year-round or to data collection and relationship-building. A disengage entirely. In my view, the latter was not a practicum student from Peru who had worked in viable option as we had learned recently the devas- NewDelhi’sslums,ledaseriesofparticipatorymeet- tatingimpactthatforeclosureswouldhaveonLatino ingswithLatinamothersandchildrenteachingfac- families and neighborhoods. It was urgent now to ultyandclassmatesthenecessityoftalking,listening, secure funding to support uninterrupted work with and singing togatheruseful information. Otherstu- people in Lawrence. In response toAndre’s ultima- dentstaughtustheimportanceofbringingthecityto tum, a group of faculty applied for resources avail- thecampusbyshowingteenagershowtocreatemaps able through the U.S. Department of Housing and ofvacantpropertiesintheirneighborhoodoncampus UrbanDevelopment’s(HUD)CommunityOutreach computers. The partnership began to expand. As PartnershipsCenters(COPC)program.Thisfunding wordspreadatM.I.T.aboutthepartnership,agradu- would not only support continuous engagement, it atestudentintheCenterforRealEstatewithaninter- alsowouldhelpto“uncoverandexposethepractices estinmillredevelopmentaskedmehowtomeetmill ofsub-primelendersbyfinding,recording,andshar- ownersinLawrence.Shestudiedsuccessfulredevel- ingresidentstories”(Hoyt,2005a).Ifeltthatuniver- opmentprojectsinothercitiesandtheLawrencemill sityfaculty,staff,andstudentsneededtolearnmore ownersinvitedhertoshareherideaswithciviclead- aboutandtakeactiontomitigatethepredatorylend- ers, business owners, artists, parents, and teenagers ingandimminentforeclosurecrisisinLawrence. (Clark,2004). While our funding proposal was under review, My collaborator, Lang Keyes, encouraged me to alumnae working in Lawrence pushed Lang Keyes makeresearchoutoftheLawrencework.Consistent and me to expand the partnership by connecting the with my doctoral training, I started with hard data, fall2005practicumstudentswithotherrootedinstitu- analyzingnearly1,900citiestocreateatypologyfor tionsinthecity:BreadandRosesHousing,Inc.,the cities like Lawrence, and identified 151 small, MerrimackValleyHabitatforHumanity,andtheCity impoverishedAmericanpost-industrialcities.Iinvit- of Lawrence Office of Planning and Development. edpeoplefrom41ofthese“forgotten”6cities(from Together,faculty,students,civicleaders,andresidents eight states) to campus to teach us. Each week, studied vacant property acquisition processes in throughoutthefall2004andspring2005semesters, Lawrenceandotherforgottencities.Bynow,thepeo- anarrayofcitycouncilors,mayors,privatedevelop- ple in Lawrence were no longer clients; they were ers,communityactivists,consultants,professors,and friends.OnaSaturdaymorning,IdrovetoLawrence leadersofthinktanksandfoundationstaughtusthat todelivergoodnewstooneoftheM.I.T.alumnaeat suchcitiescanmoveforwardbyinvestinginpeople, her home. When she opened the door to find me especially new immigrants and youth disconnected standingonherporchwithabouquetofroses,Jessica from political structures who should be in the deci- exclaimed,“DoesthismeanwegottheHUDgrant?” sion-makingmainstream.Revitalizingthesecitiesis EncounteringandCopingwithCrises(2006) especially difficult because they often suffer from inadequate governing capacity, a lack of civic With funding from HUD, more M.I.T. students, engagement, and a chronically negative mindset. faculty, and staff joined the partnership—now But, together, we learned how it can be done. dubbed MIT@Lawrence—along with a cadre of Whetherguidedbyresidents,businessleaders,gov- civic leaders representing rooted institutions in 77 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 78 Hoyt Lawrence.ByJanuary2006,thoughwehaddetailed Damon Rich, an architect-in-residence in M.I.T.’s project plans and skilled students eager to act, we Center for Advanced Visual Studies, to victims of foundourselvesatastageofstabilizingandtryingto foreclosureinLawrence,andtogethertheyproduced cope with the mishaps that serious human relation- a widely disseminated film, Predatory Tales, in ships inevitably create.A series of creative failures which people in Lawrence manipulated puppets to ensued. Through no fault of its own, one group of demonstrate, in English and Spanish, how to avoid graduate students in the M.I.T. Sloan School of becoming victims of predatory lenders and losing Management disappointed the Lawrence Higher theirhomestoforeclosure.(Hoytetal.,2007). Education Resource Center, a new partner in Students began initiating their own projects: An Lawrence. A doctoral student in the M.I.T. Media M.I.T.studentrepairedatatteredrelationshipbycon- Lab who spent his afternoons with teenagers from necting the Lawrence Higher Education Resource MovementCity,anonprofitorganizationforyouthin Center with the student-led M.I.T. Educational Lawrence, ran into “security and privacy” issues as Studies Program, resulting in 63 teenagers from he launched a neighborhood news system they had Lawrence High School riding the bus to campus helpedhimdesign(Burd,2007).Onestudenthadto everySundayforfreeSATtutoring.Anotherstudent, learn to be patient with civic leaders too busy with aftertakingthe2006practicum,convenedaneduca- pressing problems to meet with her or return her e- tors’summit in Lawrence during the summer; there mailandphonemessages.Anotherstudent,whohad she met the principal of the Lawrence Family worked with shelter-bound survivors of domestic Development Charter School and introduced her to violence, met resistance from residents when she EricKlopfer,professorandheadofM.I.T.’sTeacher proposedto“giveavoice”tothosewhohadbecome Education Program. Professor Klopfer’s team victims of predatory lending. And another student, acquired new computers and new software for whohadconductedaction-researchasanundergrad- eighth-gradestudentstotestinLawrence,whilethe uate at Cornell University, made numerous trips to charterschooltransported55eighth-graderstocam- Lawrence, but failed to find a committed partner pus monthly to conduct experiments with faculty, (Schwieger,2008). staff, and students at the M.I.T. Museum, the Students taking the 2006 practicum experienced Edgerton Center, and theToy Lab.As this initiative adversity as well. Even a graduate student with a grew,itbecameknownasLawrence@MIT. backgroundinengineeringandaknackforcomput- Studentsfoundmultiplepointsofentryintothepart- erized mapping, who had done an extended intern- nership.Forexample,astudentwhohadbuilthomes shipwithresidents,struggledtomaintainstablerela- forHabitatforHumanity,wonafellowshiptoworkin tionships with people in Lawrence. When he led a Lawrencestudyingmortgagedelinquencypatternsfor groupofpracticumstudentsininformingLawrence MerrimackValleyHabitatforHumanity;healsotook CityCouncil’sPresidentandaStateSenatoratapub- andemergedasaleaderinthefall2007practicum.An lic meeting that the vacant property disposition M.I.T.undergraduatefirsttaughtLawrenceteenagers processinLawrenceviolatedstatelaw,M.I.T’sbur- onSundaysandlatertookthe2007practicumtohelp geoning relationship with the City’s Office of familiesfacingrecurringfloodsandforeclosuresinthe PlanningandDevelopmentwasdamaged. Arlingtonneighborhood.Anotherstudent,nowinher Gradually,whatappearedtobefailurebegantrans- second year as the practicum teaching assistant, formingintosuccess.Thoughthesemesterwasoffi- workedduringthewinterbreaktofinalizeanddeposit cially over, the Lawrence City Council’s President the practicum report, written in both English and asked the class to present their recommendations to Spanish,intheLawrencePublicLibrary. the City of Lawrence Housing Committee. Soon Thecity-campuspartnershipbecamepartofalarg- after the student presentation, the Lawrence City erlearningnetworkinwhichideasandpracticeinter- Council voted to eliminate the Real Property Task actedandwereenhancedtoproducelocalandstate- Force—an important victory for Lawrence’s non- wide policy outcomes. In 2007, the city councilors, profit housing developers who wanted a more mayors,privatedevelopers,communityactivists,con- streamlinedandtransparentvacantpropertydisposi- sultants, professors, and leaders of think tanks and tionprocess. foundations who had taught us in 2004 and 2005 FollowingCivicLeaders,FollowingStudents about revitalizing forgotten cities, gathered on (2007) M.I.T.’s campus.With a new cohort of students, we brainstormedastate-levelactionagenda.Subsequent By January 2007, relationships began to stabilize totheco-productionoftwocomplementarynational andcollaborationbetweenthepeopleinsideandout- policy reports highlighting the need to invest public side the University resulted in production of useful dollars in “forgotten” cities, Tina Brooks, knowledge. For example, a student introduced Massachusetts’ Housing Undersecretary and M.I.T. 78 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 79 ACity-CampusEngagementTheory alumna,attendedourlastconveningoncampuswhere atethestoryofthepartnership,intheformofadoc- sheannouncedtheavailabilityofnewplanninggrants umentary, by helping past and present forrevitalizingsmallcitiesthroughoutthestate. MIT@Lawrenceparticipantsreflectontheirinvolve- ment (Hoyt, Dougherty, Leavy-Sperounis, Martin, BroadeningthePartnership(2008-2009) Mills,&Sisk,2009).Together,webegantoformu- January 2008 marked a turning point for lateanengagementtheoryandalsoidentifiedstrate- MIT@Lawrence as students organized and ran the giesfrom,andfor,thepracticeofengagement. partnership’sfirstretreatwhereweelectedthreestu- An EngagementTheory dentstofunctionasmanagers.Wehadbegunmoving towardanextstageinwhichconversationsbetween Weshouldthinkaboutpracticeasasettingnot peopleinsideandoutsidetheuniversityarecontinu- only for the application of knowledge but for ous,fluid,andmaintainedbythepotencyofenduring its generation. We should ask not only how humanrelationships.Forexample,undertheleader- practitioners can better apply the results of ship of another student, who had worked as a sev- academicresearch,butwhatkindsofknowing are already embedded in competent practice. enth- and eighth-grade science teacher in Camden, (Schön,1995,p.29) New Jersey, Lawrence@MIT expanded as partici- pants won scholarships to participate in M.I.T.’s Thissecondpartofthearticleintroducesanascent Science,Technology,Engineering,andMathematics theory of engagement. Co-developed through sys- (STEM) summer program. The partnership began tematicreflectiononadecadeofpracticebyanarray reaching into every corner of M.I.T. as student vol- ofMIT@Lawrenceparticipants,thistheoryseeksto unteers, staff, and faculty from the Chemistry, integratethoughtandactionthroughacontinuumof Physics,Biology,andCivilEngineeringdepartments fivestages.Foreachstage,rangingfrompseudo-to aswellastheSolarElectricVehicleTeam,theGAM- sustainedengagement,Iidentifyinstitutionaloppor- BIT Lab, and Spanish House worked on projects tunitiesthatallowedthestagetoemergewhilehigh- witheighth-gradersfromthecharterschool. lighting associated implications for the practice of By2009,wewerebeginningtocompleteafullcir- democratic engagement. The stages below present clewithourpractice.Wehadunleashedthemilldis- engagementasaprogressionfromatechnocratictoa trict’sredevelopmentpotentialwiththepassageofa democratic way of knowing. In practice, learning zoning overlay in 2003 and, as an alliance of civic occurred in each stage, and people—depending on leaders, residents, students, and faculty, were now their prior experience and motivations—entered, working to convert the mill complex, known as navigated, and exited the respective stages on their UnionCrossing,intoagreenneighborhoodofapart- own terms.Therefore, none of the stages should be ments, stores, childcare facilities, parks, and play- understood as superior to another. Rather, each is grounds. When my faculty colleague, Lang Keyes vital to our understanding of why people choose to retired, Ezra Glenn, former Director of the City of participateincity-campuspartnershipsandhowpeo- Lawrence Community Development Department, pleandpartnerships,asaresult,evolve. co-taught the 2009 practicum with me.Also, a for- StageOne:Pseudo-Engagement mercommunityorganizerfromLawrenceenrolledat M.I.T.andintroducedfellowstudentstoourfriends Inthepseudo-engagementstageofengagement— inLawrence. where I myself began—people inside a university Itbecameincreasinglydifficulttonegotiateallthat perceive cities as laboratories for learning. In 2002 was happening without some kind of coordinating and2003,IcollectedharddatainLawrence—clean, structure. To create a space for students, staff, and measurablefacts,toanalyzeandteachinanacadem- facultyparticipatinginMIT@Lawrencetomeetreg- ic approach that Ernest Lynton (1994, p. 87) ularly to build camaraderie, share information and describedas“thepersistentmisconceptionofauni- strategies,anddeveloparelevanttheoryofpractice,I directional flow of knowledge, from the locus of implementedacoursecalledTheoriesFrom,andFor, research to the place of application.” I imagined a Practice.EnrolledstudentsandIco-craftedthesyl- one-way street whereby the faculty, staff, and stu- labus. We rotated agenda-setting, facilitation, note- dentsatM.I.T.gaveexpertadvicetoclientsneeding taking, and time-keeping responsibilities. Students ourexpertise.Duringthisstage,Ihadnoexpectation organized and ran advisory committee meetings in of sustained involvement, but I did intend to help Lawrence, giving civic leaders and residents an solve real world problems by objectively studying opportunity to evaluate current and planned future thepeoplelivingandworkinginLawrence. collaborations. We also used the course to reflect, There were two institutional conditions allowing bothindividuallyandcollectively,onourpracticein thisstageofengagementtoemerge:Agroupoffac- Lawrence.Iworkedwithseveralstudentstoco-cre- ulty,manyofwhomhadworkedwithDonaldSchön, 79 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 80 Hoyt continuedtoquestionM.I.T.’sprevailingepistemolo- helpedmetounderstandLawrenceasbelongingtoa gy, and faculty were given considerable latitude in class of cities. I began to teach practicum students shapingtheirteachingagendas.Thecombinationof thatLawrencebelongstoaclassofsmall,post-indus- thesetwouniqueconditionsnotonlymadeitpossi- trialcitiescharacterizedbyparticularchallengesand blefortheM.I.T.alumnaetoworkwiththepeopleof strengths. This led me to giving talks in class com- LawrencewhilestudyingatM.I.T.,butalsoallowed paring and contrasting Lawrence’s history with the metodesignaworkshopconnectingthealumnaein history of other “forgotten cities” such as Reading, Lawrence to the next cohort of students advancing Pennsylvania andYoungstown, Ohio.Also, through through the Department of Urban Studies and the practicum as well as student theses, we began Planning.Schön’snewepistemology,wherebyprac- interviewingcivicleadersandresidentsinothercities titioner knowledge is valued in the academy, also (namelyFlint,MichiganandOakland,California)to explainswhyfacultyhadmaintainedstrongpersonal deepenourunderstanding(ofvacantpropertydispo- relationshipswiththealumnae.Manyfacultyvalued sitionandasset-buildingbywayofindividualdevel- theabilityofouralumnaetosolvecomplexproblems opment accounts) in Lawrence. That is, we began outside the academy and frequently invited them to studying strategies used in cities outside Lawrence campus to reflect on their practice with students. In andapplyingtheminLawrence. turn, the practice of democratic engagement was Inthisstage,linkingcityandcampusalsoinvolved advancedbecausethealumnae,whoweremotivated expanding the partnership in the city and across the to continue a relationship with M.I.T. in order to campus.InolongerkeptthepeopleofLawrenceat bring resources to Lawrence, possessed a first-hand arm’s length; we were now working and learning understandingofhowandunderwhatconditionsstu- hand-in-hand. dents could contribute to the city’s renewal. They Institutionally, several opportunities permitted this also knew that launching a common enterprise of stageofengagement.First,thedepartment’scorecur- learninginthepracticeofdoingwouldrequireongo- riculumwasrevampedandnowincluded,amongthe ing faculty involvement and that I, as a new faculty many changes, the addition of several practica. The member,wouldbenefitfromthesupporttheycould Lawrence practicum, which materialized during this give in planning and coordinating the workshop I time,deeplyembeddedtherelationshipbetweenpeo- needed to teach. Their working knowledge of both pleinsideandoutsidetheuniversityinpracticebycre- sides,thecivicandacademiccultures,allowedpart- atingacontinuouspointofentryforfaculty,staff,and nership participants to achieve victories early on, students into the city as well as residents and civic enhancing solidarity and contributing to our mutual leaders into the classroom. Additionally, the depart- interestincontinuingthepartnership. ment supported the burgeoning partnership with its For me—and my professional experience as a ownfinancialresources.Thedepartmentheadatthat scholar is not unique—an institutional barrier to time, for example, assigned $25,000 in funding to moving beyond pseudo-engagement loomed large. bring engaged scholars to campus to share their As a tenure-track assistant professor in a research knowledge of forgotten cities; he also supported our university,noharmwasdonetomycareerbyteach- fundingapplicationtoHUDbypromisingmorethan ing a workshop in partnership with the people of $300,000inmatchingfunds(Vale,2005).Theexecu- Lawrence. However, colleagues, both near and far, tive leadership, too, “whole-heartedly endorsed” the urgedmetoresistintegratingtheserelationshipsinto partnership. In a letter supporting our application to myresearch.Itooktheiradviceandkeptmyresearch HUD, M.I.T.’s Chancellor, Phillip Clay, explained, apart from my teaching and service. Sacrificing the “We are happy to provide financial and human rewardoftenurewasnotariskIwaswillingtotake resources,worktomaketheprogramactivitiespartof inthisearlystageofengagement. M.I.T.'son-goingmission,andcultivateaclimatethat StageTwo:TentativeEngagement rewardsfacultyworkinneighborhoodsbyincludingit in decisions affecting rank, tenure, and promotion” Next, I moved from pseudo- to tentative engage- (Clay,2005).Theseshiftsincurriculumandresource mentasknowledgebegantoflowinnon-traditional allocation enhanced the practice of democratic directions,fromoutsidetoinsidetheUniversity.By engagement by creating additional opportunities for teachingtheLawrencepracticumandinvitingpeople dialogueamongpeopleinsideandoutsidetheuniver- from forgotten cities to campus to teach us in 2004 sity.Forexample,throughthepracticum,welearned and 2005, I slowly began to integrate my teaching tointegrateacademic andcommunityknowledgeon andresearch.BeforeIlaunchedmyresearchonfor- such subjects as collective asset-building through gotten cities, my understanding of such cities was matched savings programs (Alexander, Canepa, limited to what I was learning by teaching the Pauls, Rice, Port, & Weisner, 2004). By bringing Lawrencepracticum.Myresearchonforgottencities engagedscholarstocampus,wedevelopedaconcep- 80 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 81 ACity-CampusEngagementTheory tualframeworkforunderstandingthehistory,unique hissuccesses"(Dewey,inBoydston,2008,p.206). challenges,anduntappedpotentialofforgottencities Movinggraduallyfromtentativetostableengage- likeLawrence(Hoyt&Leroux,2007). ment was also possible because M.I.T. students are Yet institutional barriers to engagement persisted. motivated to realize the Institute’s motto, Mens et Theflowofpeoplebetweenthecityandcampuswas Manus (Mind and Hand). In this stage, they started not continuous; faculty, staff and students at M.I.T. figuring out and teaching me how to establish con- were, in effect, engaged in Lawrence at their own tinuousengagementwithpeopleoutsidetheuniver- convenience. Our empowered friends demanded sitybycreativelysequencingsuchcurricularartifacts more, which put me—as a young scholar seeking as courses, fellowships, internships, and theses; tenure—in a particularly difficult position. Scholars together,welearnedtheimportanceofanexchange who face such crossroads, however, have options. ofpeople,resources,andideasovertimebetweenthe Forexample,manydecidetoconformtotraditional cityandthecampus.Whatwenowcall“acommit- academic standards for the purpose of achieving menttocontinuity”meansthatpeopleinsidetheuni- tenure,postponing,ineffect,theircallingasengaged versity are dedicated to the practice of democratic scholars. I chose to frame the challenge as a dilem- engagementinsofarastheyarewillingtoadaptthe ma:Careerorcalling?ShouldIsubscribetothedom- academicculturetorespondtothedemandsofcivic inantepistemologyatM.I.T.byconductingthetype culture. The kind of risks and compromises that of research commonly rewarded or explore Schön’s occur in this stage require trust among participants; epistemology by joining the people of Lawrence in suchrelationshipsarebuiltonedayatatime. learningtosolvepressingeconomicandsocialprob- By the end of this stage, I had decided to follow lemsandriskmycareeratM.I.T.? Schön’scallforanewepistemology.Asthedirector StageThree:StableEngagement ofarapidlygrowingpartnership,Ifounditnecessary to work closely with dozens of participants on both Stable engagement is characterized by tension sides.ThedailymanagementofMIT@Lawrencewas between creativity and failure. In 2006, as the part- daunting and consumed much of my attention and nership continued to expand, I had to make hard energy. Colleagues who understood the scope and choices about how to spend my time. Though the depthofourworkbeganwarningmeagainstspend- HUDgrantincreasedtheperceivedlegitimacyofthe ingtoomuchtimewiththepeopleofLawrence,but partnership to some, a number of colleagues in the thepartnershiphadcometolifeinthisstageandIwas departmentviewedmyengagementwiththepeople inthecenterofit.Mypromotiontoassociateprofes- ofLawrenceasaformofservice—anactivityatodds sor without tenure was fast-approaching and tradi- with and diverting my attention from research. tional research publications, I sensed, might be Duringthisstage,however,Iwaslearningtoarrange viewedmorefavorablythanthescholarshipwewere myresearch,teaching,andservicetooverlap.Ibegan producingthroughourengagement.Anabruptdepar- toseethesetraditionallywalledoffdomainsasinex- turefromthepartnership,however,wasnotareason- tricably linked and mutually reinforcing modes of ableoptionformeatthisstage.Ifeltresponsiblefor inquiry.But,still,Istruggledtofindwaystoconnect holdingthecollaborationtogether. andbalancemytimeamongthem. StageFour:AuthenticEngagement ThisstagewaspossiblebecauseM.I.T.isaculture thatencouragesfaculty,staff,andstudentstocollab- Inthefourthstage,authenticengagement,practice orate, explore, and innovate. New relationships andideasflowed,werefedback,andimprovedwithin formed as a steady flow of people from different acomplexanddynamicsystemofrelationships.Here, departments, laboratories, and centers from M.I.T. acitywasnolongersimplyalabunderamicroscope began interacting with business owners, public offi- (a viewpoint characteristic of pseudo-engagement), cials, and community activists in Lawrence. Some butalivingpartnershipbetweenauniversityandacity relationshipswereunproductive,whilesomeimme- forthepurposeofreciprocalknowledge.A“commit- diately resulted in useful ideas and products. We ment to continuity” had been achieved, and people learned in this stage that many relationships had to were creating lasting relationships and building fail before they began to flourish. As participants knowledge together over time. In this stage, my took risks, some relationships were damaged and research,teaching,andprofessionalservicewereinte- achievements were delayed. But, learning resulted grated and interacting in new ways. For example, I nevertheless, especially when participants reflected incorporated my research on matched savings pro- ontheiractions.Inthisstage,wecametoappreciate gramsasaneconomicrevitalizationstrategyintothe first-hand John Dewey’s assertion, "…failure is not practicum and supervised student theses aimed at merefailure.Itisinstructive.Thepersonwhoreally improvingandexpandingsuchprogramsinLawrence. thinkslearnsquiteasmuchfromhisfailuresasfrom Authentic engagement emerged, in part, due to 81 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 82 Hoyt several institutional conditions. M.I.T. recognizes StageFive:SustainedEngagement and rewards faculty professional service and gives The climactic stage of sustained engagement is students substantial latitude in shaping their own reached when the partnership gains power through intellectualagendas.Bythestartofthisstage,Ihad the mutual accrual of knowledge, influencing local receivedM.I.T.’sMartinLutherKingJr.Leadership and regional policies and city-campus relationships AwardfordirectingtheMIT@LawrencePartnership toward real social change. In 2008, people began and M.I.T.—for its service to the people of entering the partnership through different portals, Lawrence—had been named to the President’s some created for them and others created by them- Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll selves. Individual levels of participation intensified, by the President’s Council on Service and Civic waned,andintensifiedagain,accordingtotheprob- Participation.Theseandotherformsofacknowledg- lems-at-handaswellastheabilityanddesireofindi- mentencouragedparticipants,especiallystudents,to viduals to co-craft solutions. Students now led the think more boldly and creatively about their work. partnership. Programs not only survived but thrived Now,studentshadmasteredtheartofengagingwith asparticipantsonbothsidesenteredandevenexited thepeopleofLawrencebyusingdifferentcurricular the partnership. Individuals and groups frequently artifacts to connect their work and were regularly reflected on their practice and recalibrated their contributing to existing bodies of knowledge. For actions accordingly. A new theory of engagement example, Cindy Wu used her Master’s thesis to wasco-developed. engage with the people of Lawrence in 2006 and In sustained engagement, people inside and out- 2007 to build on Lawrence CommunityWorks’idea sidetheuniversityengageinanevolutionarycontin- of neighborhood revitalization through resident-led uumbetweentheeverpresentthemesofpracticeand matched savings programs. As Cindy entered the knowledge;theyseektoovercome,ratherthanrein- partnership,shebenefitedfromtheinvestigationsand force, the false dichotomy between the two. Here, relationships that other students previously had perhaps only in small ways at first, the university’s forged.Forexample,thesixstudentstakingthe2004 view of knowledge begins to shift away from the practicum researched the use and potential use of dominant epistemology, illustrated in the following matchedsavingsprogramsforincreasinghomeown- quotebySchönrelatedtothedilemmaofrigororrel- ershipopportunitiesintheNorthCommonneighbor- evance,andtowardanewepistemologyofreciprocal hood. In 2005, an M.I.T. student used her thesis to knowledge. investigatematchedsavingsprogramsinothercities, building on the work done by practicum students. Inthevariedtopographyofprofessionalprac- This collaborative intellectual process spanned a tice,thereisahigh,hardgroundoverlookinga periodofmorethanthreeyearsandinvolvedfaculty, swamp.Onthehighground,manageableprob- staff, and students at M.I.T. and Washington lems lend themselves to solution through the University in St. Louis as well as civic leaders and useofresearch-basedtheoryandtechnique.In theswampylowlands,problemsaremessyand residents in Lawrence, Massachusetts; Chicago, confusingandincapableoftechnicalsolution. Illinois; and Oakland, California (Alexander et al., Theironyofthissituationisthattheproblems 2004;Boddieetal.,2004;Rice,2005;Wu,2007). ofthehighgroundtendtoberelativelyunim- Bytheendofthisstage,tenuredcolleaguesinmy portant to individuals or to society at large, department had voted unanimously to support my howevergreattheirtechnicalinterestmaybe, case for promotion to associate professor without whileintheswamplietheproblemsofgreat- tenure. With my tenure review on the horizon, I est human concern. The practitioner is con- decidedtoreconfigurethecareer-or-callingdilemma fronted with a choice. Shall he remain on the byasking,HowcanIrestructurethepartnershipsuch high ground where he can solve relatively thatitwillbesustainedifkeyparticipants,including unimportant problems according to his stan- dards of rigor, or shall he descend to the myself,exit?Becausestudents,bothpresentandfor- swampofimportantproblemswherehecannot mer,werethedrivingforcebehindMIT@Lawrence be rigorous in any way he knows how to and many faculty colleagues were busy with sus- describe?(1995,p.28) tainedpartnershipsoftheirown—fromNewOrleans toBeijing—Ikeptreturningtotheideaofshiftingthe In sustained engagement, Schön’s practitioner need partnershipfromafaculty-ledtoastudent-ledenter- not choose the “high ground” or the “swamp of prise.Afundamentaloperationalchangeofthissort important problems” because a new epistemology, wouldrequiremetoleadanextensiveandcollabora- withnewstandardsofrigor,beginstoemergeaspeo- tive decision-making process. This experiment had pleinsidetheuniversityrecognizetheneedtodevel- promiseinthatitseemedtoofferaresponsiblesolu- op participatory methods of knowledge production tiontoanunrelentingproblem. onquestionsofeconomic,social,physical,andcul- 82 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 83 ACity-CampusEngagementTheory tural revival. The once distinct boundary between Strategies from, and for, Engagement people in the city and people on campus is blurred It’sobviousthattheproblemsofurbanlifeare andeasilypenetrated.Solvingproblemsandgenerat- enormouslycomplex;therearenosimplesolu- ingideasarenolongerseparatetaskstakenonbytwo tions.I’malmostembarrassedtomentionitas separatesides. a problem because it is so enormously com- This stage was achieved because M.I.T. grants plex,butweliveincities.Theydeterminethe eachdepartmenttremendousfreedomwithregardto futureofthiscountry.AndIfinditironicthat resourceallocationandfacultyoversight.Thedepart- universities which focused with such energy ment head at the time exceeded his earlier financial on rural America a century ago have never commitment by awarding student participants with focused with equal urgency on our cities. aid,intheformoftuitionandstipends,whichmoti- (Boyer,1996,p.19) vated students to begin managing and guiding the This portion of the article presents two strategies partnership.Healsoallowedmetocreateanewyear- from, and for, the practice of engagement that roundcoursetofosterreflectivepracticeamongpar- evolvedduringM.I.T.’spartnershipwiththeCityof ticipantsandhiredtheCityofLawrenceCommunity Lawrence.Creative,co-generatedstrategiesarenec- Development Director to assist with teaching the essarytoovercometheculturalandstructuralbarri- Lawrence practicum. This stage reflects co-leader- erswithintheacademythatactivelydetachscholars shipamongstfaculty,administrators,andstudentsfor fromsociety.Saidanotherway,atheoryofengage- guiding the university’s commitment of resources ment needs corresponding strategies that can be andinfrastructuretosupportthepartnership. shared with and used by people who want to learn Student-ledcity-campusengagementhasprofound how to create lasting city-campus partnerships that implicationsforthepracticeofdemocracy,especial- bring together civic leaders, residents, faculty, and ly as linkages to such rooted institutions as public studentsintransformingacity.Icallthesestrategies schools are established. Jeff Beam, a graduate stu- dent from Louisville, Kentucky, who was continu- “investinginhumanrelationships”and“usinginstru- ously engaged with the people of Lawrence while ments-for-action.” studyingatM.I.T.,insightfullyreflected, InvestinginHumanRelationships M.I.T.'s long-term engagement can give People are central to the idea of engagement; Lawrence residents, especially the youth, an therefore, human actions and interactions, in the understanding of the Institute as more than a formofstories,haveprovidedthescaffoldingforthis place for cutting-edge science. They experi- article. In developing mutually beneficial human ence M.I.T.'s dedication to Mens et Manus relationships between city and campus, we encoun- firsthand, the practical application of educa- tion, or what we call reflective practice. tered a number of impediments. To begin, M.I.T.’s LawrenceyouthbegintounderstandM.I.T.not academic culture promotes a hierarchical system of justasaplacethatcouldpossiblycontributeto relationships,whilethecivicleadersandresidentsin their well-being, but as a place to which they Lawrence are experimenting with the idea of “net- can contribute through participation and even work organizing”—a horizontal system of relation- matriculation. shipswherebycollectiveactionisvaluedaboveindi- Tenuredfaculty,embeddedininstitutionalcultures vidualachievement.Inmovingfrompseudo-tosus- dominatedbytechnicalrationality,holdtheexclusive tainedengagement,welearnedfromtheDirectorof power to incrementally enlarge the customary para- Lawrence CommunityWorks and other Lawrence digm of knowledge generation in higher education civicleadershowtoconnectpeopletoeachotherand by using reward systems such as tenure to assign to opportunities “to step into public life—from the value to new forms of scholarship. A group of neighborhood group to the City Council—in a way tenured colleagues at M.I.T. will soon decide thatfeelssafe,fun,andproductive”(Traynor,2008; whether to solicit external letters to evaluate the Traynor & Andors, 2005). Our work, over time, scholarship I have produced since 2002. This is a begantomirrortheirworkinrevitalizingLawrence, chanceforthesecolleaguestodecidewhetherornot onceaforgottencity,aswelearnedthathealthycom- tochoosetoperceivemytenurecaseasanopportu- munities are the aggregate of reciprocally advanta- nitytoreigniteaproductiveconversation,amongfac- geoushumanrelationships. ulty both inside and outside our department, about Inpseudo-engagement,welearnedthathumanrela- the promises and consequences of introducing the tionshipsmatter.Fornearlytwodecades,M.I.T.facul- newscholarshipintoinstitutionsofhighereducation. ty and students studied Lawrence from a distance; The battleof snails is worth fighting. Every scholar their involvement with the people of Lawrence was canmakeadifference. fundamentallyone-sided(Hoyt,2005b).Therelation- 83 Imposed-MJCSL 17-1:Imposed 10/2/10 10:39 AM Page 84 Hoyt ship between people on both sides, however, shifted same thing.” Faculty, staff, and students must meet dramatically when the alumnae decided to work in civic leaders and residents where they are by con- Lawrenceaftergraduation.MIT@Lawrencewasnota tributing to the civic life of the city in a variety of chanceevent.Kristen,anM.I.T.alumna,hadafamil- ways. Some students might engage for a single ial relationship with the city, and she convinced her semester by providing much-needed technical assis- friendstoworkandlivethere;andtheirpersonalties tancetoasmallnonprofitorganization.Otherstudents to M.I.T. helped to sustain the city-campus partner- mightengageforseveralyearsformingdeepperson- ship. People inside and outside a university with an al relationships with civic leaders and residents and interest in engagement should look for meaningful affectingdecisionsatmultiplelevelsofgovernment. relationships among people. Are there university Arangeofinteractionsisvitalandnoneistoosmall. alumniworkingorlivinginthecity?Wereuniversity Forseveralyears,Ihadtakentheleadondesigning faculty,staff,orstudentsbornorraisedinthecity? andteachingcourses,writinggrantapplications,and Theimportanceoftrustemergedasacentraltenet negotiatingnewprojectswithcivicleadersandresi- duringtentativeengagement.Inpractice,facultyfol- dents. As the partnership expanded throughout the lowedcivicleadersandstudentswhowerefollowing city and campus, however, this top-down manage- residents.Wetrustedthatcivicleadersandresidents ment structure floundered. To improve linkages had a deep understanding of the city—its history, between the hierarchical structure of the university politics, and vision for revival; we trusted that stu- andtheincreasinglyhorizontalstructureofthegrow- dents had acquired relevant knowledge and experi- ingcivicnetworkinLawrence,Idecidedtoapplythe ence from working in other contexts that allowed idea of “network organizing” in the academy. themtoapplytheirknowledgeandskillinLawrence. Studentswereresistant,atfirst,becausetheyexpect- Engaged faculty can lead city-campus partnerships ed faculty to lead the partnership.As students who byexamplebytakingtheriskofplacingtheirtrustin had worked as community organizers and valued others. Students, civic leaders, and residents are engagement, one-by-one, assumed leadership posi- eagertoengageandhavemuchtoteach. tionswithinthepartnershipandrecruitednewpartic- In achieving stable engagement, we learned the ipants, relationships among people on both sides necessityofa“commitmenttocontinuity,”whichis became more fluid, responsive, and resilient. Jeff dependent on establishing and maintaining human Beam,agraduatestudent,observed,“Thehorizontal, relationships. For university faculty, staff, and stu- student-runmodelistherightmanagementideafora dentstogenuinelyparticipateintheburgeoningcivic loose-knit network such as ours, and it lessens the lifeofsuchcitiesasLawrence,peopleinsidetheuni- reliance on any one faculty member as the focal versity cannot disappear during breaks or on week- point.” Yet, a horizontal, democratic structure also ends because conversations must continuously flow requires a new role for faculty, who provide an amongparticipants.Forpeopleoutsidetheuniversi- anchor of permanence commensurate with the stu- ty,thismeansmakingtimetojoinclassroomdiscus- dents’transient journey of study. The new role for sions,invitingpeopleinsidetheuniversitytopublic facultyoffacilitatingthedemocraticvalueofsharing meetingsandevents,andkeepinguniversityfaculty, leadership for public problem-solving with students staff,andstudentsinformedinrealtimeasproblems (and community partners) also needs to be valued arise, decisions are made, and opportunities unfurl. and supported by the university (Dzur, 2008). Trustingrelationshipsarebuiltday-by-day,byshow- Investing in human relationships is a strategy that ingup,againandagain,talkingwithpeopleandget- runs counter to the technocratic culture of many tingtoknowtheirhistories,fears,andaspirations. research universities. Simultaneously, human rela- Inauthenticengagementanunencumberedflowof tionships, particularly those that are resilient and people, as well as ideas and practices, are moving capable of thriving through adversity, are the most back-and-forth,andinmultipledirections.Here,fac- criticalelementforachievingsustainedengagement. ulty, staff, and students challenge the conventional UsingInstruments-for-Action epistemologyofuniversitiesbycultivatingconnectiv- ity with people in cities as participants. With each Theacademiccalendarisorganizedintosemesters smallaction,theyreadilyconnectto,workwith,and andbreaksthatdisruptcontinuousengagementwith influenceoneanotherregardlessofinstitutionalrank the outside world. Despite the problematic way in or political power.As Eric Mackres, a graduate stu- whichacademicstructurespartitionengagementinto dentatM.I.T.,pointedout,suchconnectivityislabo- periods of time incongruent with the incessant rious:“Itisessentialthatthecommunityseesusget demands of practice, we gradually learned to view ourhandsdirtydowninthetrenches.Thereisnobet- curricular artifacts as instruments for—rather than terwaytobuildtrustandbreakdownbarriersofclass barriers to—action. By shifting our perspective, we in a partnership than working side by side for the exploredanddiscoverednewavenuesfordemocratic 84