Fundamentally, Harvard’s relations with its neighbors come down to trust, as fear of Harvard’s influence on its host cities keep relations from maintaining stable footing.

“There’s a lack of trust on one level that anything that’s done won’t be positive,” Power says. “We’re dealing with the history of a generation ago.”

“There are high standards set for Harvard,” HPRE’s Spiegelman adds. “It’s hard to make business and academic decisions that make everybody comfortable.”

But Harvard officials say that stereotypes of Harvard are often unfounded, and that any fears about the University should be put aside for the mutual benefit of both Harvard and its neighbors.

“The idea that Harvard is this elite, arrogant, self-regarding institution is invoked sometimes, but it’s a cartoon of the situation at this point,” Grogan says. “Despite the periodic outbursts, I think in general, we manage to have a productive relationship and get a lot of things done.”

Rudenstine agrees, saying that while problems exist, a continued dialogue and understanding between Harvard and its neighbors independent of politics is the only way to allow productive relations to form and continue.

“There are certainly a lot of channels open now,” Rudenstine says. “There’s always been the possibility of getting dialogue going, and most of the problems that happen are solvable.”

And Galluccio says that the city of Cambridge—no matter what is said in public—also realizes that the dialogue must continue.

“Both sides realize that turning our backs to each other and walking away doesn’t accomplish anything,” Galluccio says. “I think that a majority of residents and councillors would like to see Cambridge and Harvard working together.”

But as residents and city officials have shown, if Harvard does anything to alienate itself from community desires, no matter what they do to patch relations, it will face a continually uphill battle.

—Staff writer Imtiyaz H. Delawala can be reached at delawala@fas.harvard.edu.