Recordpub.com - Kent wants to be top college town Hasn't made national lists, but officials believe absence won't last

By Matt Fredmonsky

Record-Courier staff writer

Over the years, a handful of Ohio college towns have appeared on lists tabulating great universities and their communities, but Kent is notably absent.

Some city officials believe the absence won't last.

In 2006, Mother Earth News magazine released its list of "12 Great Places You've Never Heard Of." It listed Ohio University of Athens, Ohio, as one of 12 sustainable communities with a vision for the future.

ePodunk, a research firm that specializes in profiling communities, listed Columbus and Cincinnati as fourth and ninth, respectively, on its 2002 list of top-ranked college towns by community size.

David Creamer, senior vice president for administration at Kent State University, cautioned when making such comparisons. In an e-mail, Creamer said comparing Kent to communities such as Athens, Oxford and Bowling Green are fair, but a comparison of Kent to Columbus and Cincinnati is uneven.

"I don't see the absence of Kent from these lists as a problem but as an opportunity," Creamer said. "We need to be working on ways to not only add (Kent) to the lists ... but to lists like the best places to live and work in Ohio and the U.S."

But even small Ohio towns are establishing an identity based upon their institutions of higher learning. The Web site CollegeTownLife.com, a compilation of small, U.S. university community news postings, listed the Ohio colleges of Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Antioch College in Yellow Springs and Hiram College as "Colleges that Change Lives."

In June 2005, the Princeton Review and Campus Compact, a national group which promotes the civic purposes of higher education, released a book titled "Colleges with a Conscience." The book named Defiance College in Defiance, Oberlin College in Oberlin and Miami University in Oxford as conscientious colleges in small Ohio towns.

Creamer said Kent has the ability of making such lists because of the efforts of city and university officials and volunteer efforts like the Main Street Kent organization.

"Kent is a nice college town but it isn't an exceptional college town from the perspective of students, which is why it isn't on the rankings," he said.

Kent Mayor John Fender, a graduate of Ohio University, said KSU President Lester Lefton has talked about one aspect many people agree with -- KSU is a hidden treasure within the city.

"I know at OU you step off the campus and you're right downtown," Fender said. "One of the dilemmas we have is the distance from the university to the city. But I think what we're doing is we're looking at how there can be a better and more viable connection.

"That would help us tremendously in becoming a college town," Fender said.

Heidi Shaffer will take over as Kent's Ward 5 council representative in January. Shaffer said in an e-mail there has been a divide between town and gown that has contributed to a general decline.

"That is being turned around by a greater participation of residents, civic leaders, and KSU staff in envisioning and moving toward a town that is alive with possibilities," Shaffer said.

Mary Gilbert, director of Main Street Kent, said successes like the Water Street Tavern receiving Scene magazine's "Top College Bar" title of 2007 highlights improvements underway downtown.

"I believe you'll see more successes like this in the future," Gilbert said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has also honors college towns with a smart-growth achievement award. Though the EPA, ePodunk and the Princeton Review thoroughly examined hundreds of towns, other lists can be more subjective and therefore considered less credible.

Ohio University and OSU also appear on the Party School Network's Top Party School list for 2007. In 2006, OU landed on Playboy magazine's top 10 party schools list.

Councilman Garret Ferrara said such general compilations do lack credibility.

"Kent is not on (any lists) because we are too busy enjoying all that Kent has to offer," Ferrara said in an e-mail.