| Conclusion The University
of Pennsylvania's experience in research and redevelopment in the fifteen years
or so leading up to the creation of the University City Science Center greatly
influenced the Center's early history. In this time, Penn had been willing and
able to take advantage of the fact that the federal government spent more and
more money each year on research projects, and the Science Center seemed like
a potential gold mine for this type of work. At the same time, Penn had undertaken
a very successful program of campus expansion through the urban redevelopment
process. The University most likely believed that redevelopment would proceed
just as smoothly for the Science Center. Penn's assumptions indirectly caused
several problems and conflicts in the first few years of the Science Center. The
public relations disaster that followed served to cloud the Center's real mission
- to provide an outlet for beneficial (and profitable) research. First of all,
the land allocated for the Science Center site was occupied mainly by black renters
of generally small means. For many of these people, relocating meant either living
in a worse neighborhood than before or paying more rent than they could afford.
In addition, the UCSC appeared to some to be just another means by which the University
of Pennsylvania could exercise control over University City, and it was not hard
to find a basis for claims that racism was involved. The other major conflict
over the Science Center was related to classified, military-related research at
its facilities. For several years, UCSC officials made no concessions to the pacifist
and radical groups, especially at Penn itself, that protested research of this
nature. Its officials' reactionary comments made the Science Center a popular
target of hatred for many years. For these and other reasons, citizens and students
protested at nearly every step in the development of the Science Center. In
the 1970s, however, the UCSC remade itself into a friendlier neighbor to the University
City community as a whole while at the same time gradually weaning itself from
Penn's influence. Conceding to protestors, the Center returned some of its land
for public housing and stopped accepting all research of a destructive nature.
As the controversy surrounding it gradually disappeared, furthermore, the Science
Center's real achievements became more apparent to many people. With a new image,
new buildings, and new tenants, the UCSC came into its own, and if it has not
evolved exactly as its creators intended, it has nonetheless made a significant
contribution to Philadelphia as a whole. End of Conclusion.
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