{"value"=>"<p>The geographic areas of greatest concern on Manhattan's Upper West Side in terms of land use and Columbia University encroachment were Morningside Heights and Park, Manhattan Valley, and West Harlem. Within Morningside Heights, two sites that Columbia had slated for expansion which caused the most significant conflict were the East Campus Dormitory Complex and the Pharmacy Site.</p> <p>Commencing in 1956, Columbia had released plans to expand the campus east of Amsterdam Avenue from 116 to 118 streets. The \"superblock\" as it was known, was to have held a new School of Law building, a graduate residence hall, and a faculty office building. Despite community protests, all buildings standing on this site were demolished, resulting in the displacement of hundreds of families. Although the plan was modified, the site is now occupied by the School of International Affairs, the School of Law, and an East Campus undergraduate residence hall.</p> <p>The second major expansion planned by Columbia University was the anticipated move by the College of Pharmacy in 1962 from midtown Manhattan to West 121 Street in Morningside Heights, evicting tenants from six buildings in order to construct a new school. Community opposition, including that voiced by Marie Runyon, a tenant spokesperson and later assemblywoman, successfully fought against the construction of the additional University buildings. By 1971, plans were drawn up to construct a joint community and University housing project on the site containing both low and middle income housing units. Four years later the College of Pharmacy went bankrupt, and to date, the site still remains vacant, part of it turned into a parking lot.</p> <p>In an effort to study urban and minority problems and combat adverse conditions in the Harlem community, the Ford Foundation awarded a $10 million grant to support the University's fund raising campaign in 1967. The funds were used to establish a new Center for Urban Minority Affairs, the name later simplified to the Urban Center. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ghana, Franklin H. Williams, was appointed as its director and Ewart Guinier as the assistant director. The Center sought, through institutional change, to improve the University's ability to deal with urban and minority problems, in addition to improving living conditions in the urban ghetto through education, law, and culture. The Center encouraged new courses in such areas as welfare law, urban sociology, and Black culture. Projects funded by the Urban Center included remedial and enrichment programs for community people, training of small business owners, a study of the social problems of Harlem residents, and chairs for urban and minority professorships. The programs of the Urban Center were frequently overruled by University administrators, and Harlem residents criticized the lack of community involvement in planning these programs. In 1970, Williams quit his post in protest over Columbia's policies, indicating that the University did not have a sincere commitment to use any of its resources to resolve the problems plaguing the surrounding community. Columbia University's opposition to the goals of the Center were clearly expressed by Vice President for Fiscal Management Bruce Bassett, who stated that \"Social problems - the problems of class - are not the business of an institution of higher learning. The university is not a charity\". President McGill also confirmed his opposition by noting that the University would not budget its own funds for community-oriented programs. Thus, in 1972, the University dismantled the Urban Center.</p>"}