Universities and their communities: what fosters positive town-gown relations?

The purpose of this thesis was to decipher what solutions and approaches have worked in solving conflicts between colleges and their communities and make the information available to other schools. A review of research related to this study was conducted in conjunction with in-depth interviews with college relations personnel from various institutions. The information gathered was then used to conduct primary research in the form of a mail survey. The mail survey was sent to 400 college relations personnel from across the country. The survey was used to discover what conflicts colleges are experiencing with their communities and how they resolve problems. It was concluded that public and private schools in urban and rural areas experience the same types of problems with the community. Results also indicate that the two-way symmetric model of communication is the most effective in solving town-gown conflicts