{"value"=>"<p>Morningside Park, which was the focus of much of the controversy between Columbia University and the community, extends from Cathedral Parkway at 110 Street, north to 123 Street, and from Morningside Drive, east to Manhattan and Morningside avenues. The park was designed by the well-known landscape design team of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux between 1873 and 1901. The terrain was unsuitable for building, due to a cliff 100 feet high. Olmsted realized that because of the uneven terrain of the land, the park would be unsafe for people at night. In fact, a substantial amount of crime and under-utilization of the park have plagued Morningside Park throughout its history. In addition, the park historically has served as a barrier between the neighborhoods and ethnic groups surrounding it.</p> <p> The Columbia University gymnasium, which was used by students until 1974, was built in 1896. It had been deemed inadequate only two decades after it opened, and in the 1940s, plans for another facility were under discussion. In 1955, Columbia University President Grayson Kirk entered into an agreement with the City that permitted Columbia to build an athletic field on five acres of level ground on the southern end of Morningside Park. Use of the facility was to be shared by Columbia students and organized community teams under the supervision of professional staff paid by Columbia. At that time, there was little overt community opposition to Columbia's athletic field, though many questioned the ethics of using a major portion of scarce level area in the park and enclosing it with an eight foot high iron-link fencing.</p> <p>In 1958, President Kirk and former Parks Commissioner Robert Moses began to discuss the placing of the new Columbia gym in Morningside Park. A lease was drawn up to permit Columbia to use 2.1 acres of land (which was a sigificant portion of level parkland) in exchange for $3000 a year and limited use by the community. Columbia planned to store arms in the proposed gym to be used in connection with NROTC activities. Plans conceived in 1963 called for an armory in the gym, containing classrooms, a library, offices, and naval science equipment. Opposition to the gymnasium focused on institutional encroachment within the park and on the rights of people to participate in the planning processes that affected and shaped their environment. However, by 1966, African American political leaders in West Harlem, especially Basil Patterson, Percy Sutton, and Charles Rangel, believing that it was impossible to halt the project altogether, pressed for negotiations for greater access of the gym for community use.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p>This series provides additional background information on the causes which led to the spring 1968 Columbia University student strike. The history of the \"new\" gym, which was planned in the 1940s, and subsequent plans in the 1950s, are critiqued in the contemporary student newspaper. The correspondence of George Collins and then-Manhattan Borough President Constance Baker Motley, who were involved in planning for the gym in the 1960s, is located in this series. Most of the other material from the 1960s and 1970s, which is comprised of news clippings, details the community's objections to construction of the facility. Following Columbia's abandonment of its construction plans, various organizations and individuals conceived ideas for rehabilitation of the park, many of which are included here. There are also documents describing Columbia's agreement to pay reparations to renovate the defaced park gym site in the 1970s. Of special interest are I.M. Pei's plans for construction of a gym beneath South Field included with his master plan for the entire University, \"Planning for Columbia University: An Interim Report\", in which the famed architect proposed the use of campus land and buildings to their fullest potential. Finally, the plans and dedication of the new gym, named the Marcellus Hartley Dodge Center for Physical Fitness, dedicated in 1974, complete this series.</p>"}