How Lehigh University shapes and shadows the South Side

When Carlos Diaz has a day off from work, he likes to find a spot on Lehigh’s campus to slow down and read. 

Every Tuesday, the South Side resident surrounds himself with books as early as 7 a.m. and continues reading until late evening. Diaz then heads home to his house on the corner of Fourth and Hayes Streets, a few blocks away from the university.

Diaz’s grandfather moved to Bethlehem from Puerto Rico in the early 1950s when he was recruited to work at Bethlehem Steel. Soon after, he brought Diaz’s grandmother, mother and her six siblings to the South Side. 

Born in Bethlehem in 1974, Diaz has spent almost his entire life on the South Side. After living briefly in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, with the mother of his children, he was drawn back to his home where the majority of his sizable family — including 32 first cousins and six aunts and uncles — resides.

“All the best memories of my life are here,” Diaz said. “Unless we’re talking about Puerto Rico itself, (South Bethlehem) is where I see myself.” 

He, like all other South Side residents, faces the reality that his neighborhood is also home to Lehigh. 

Anna Smith, the director of Community Action Development Bethlehem, said the relationship between Lehigh and South Bethlehem is similar to those between other universities and their towns.

She said the nuanced relationship between a college and its surrounding town inherently involves tensions, as the mission of a private institution will never perfectly align with that of the town’s residents.

Smith said the town and college must work to manage their relationship as best as possible, but “nobody has a perfect formula for how to live in perfect harmony.” 

Diaz has been a firsthand witness to these tensions. He said his uncle, who lives on Fifth Street, once woke up to find a broken antenna on his truck after asking his student neighbors to be quiet when they were partying late the night before.

“This is our home,” Diaz said. “These kids come here, and they’re visitors. They’re guests. They don’t act like it.” 

Beyond the surface-level strife lies issues from an ongoing housing crisis that dates back to the 2008 recession, Smith said. 

She said the current pattern of expanding student housing reminds many South Side residents of the university’s expansion in the 1950s and ‘60s. During that period, the university demolished the area between Packer Avenue and East Morton Street, which residents now refer to as “The Lost Neighborhood.” 

“Lehigh bought up whole neighborhoods, let the homes deteriorate and then knocked them down to build the area where Fairchild Martindale Library is,” Smith said. “To some residents, echoes of that seem to be happening again.”

Smith said while most of the current student housing expansion is the work of private companies like Amicus Properties rather than the university itself, it feels the same to many South Side residents.

Diaz said pushing community members out is the main issue he has with the university. 

Growing up on the South Side, Diaz said he could walk from his house on Hayes Street to the McDonald’s at Five Points, stopping at his friends’ houses along the way. He said he thinks this experience is being taken away from children today because Lehigh students now occupy housing that was once available to residents.

The intersection of Hayes Street and Fourth Street is pictured on Dec. 2. Lehigh student housing is now offered throughout both streets. (Amadea Lehoczky Escobar/B&W Staff)

“There’s people whose lives are being affected by (Lehigh’s) selfish, greedy choices and by their decisions to not invest in student housing on their campus,” Diaz said. “So in that respect, f**k Lehigh.” 

Diaz doesn’t blame Lehigh students for this, but rather the university for not investing more in university-affiliated student housing options. He said this lack of investment forces students to look for residences off campus. 

“(The university) is grabbing up land as much as they can to serve their self interest without giving a s**t about the city,” Diaz said. 

In addition to the housing crisis, Lehigh has a history of denying Bethlehem’s requests to contribute to balancing the city’s budget, which has caused economic shortfalls. 

However, Diaz said he appreciates Lehigh students’ contributions to the community and the money they bring  into the local economy. 

He also said he believes the majority of students are respectful of the neighborhood.

Sean Ziller, the deputy director of economic development for the city of Bethlehem, said Lehigh is an institution that encourages its students to get involved in the community. 

He said many businesses owned, operated or supported by Lehigh students are located in Bethlehem’s Keystone Innovation Zone — a region where the city works to foster innovation and entrepreneurship by providing financial support and other resources to small businesses.

South Side business owners are familiar with the market fluctuations that occur when Lehigh students leave for the summer, Ziller said. 

He said Lehigh students make up a large portion of the economy and help boost the partnership between the university and the city. 

“(South Bethlehem) is a community that really suffered after Bethlehem Steel closed, and I think because of the committed community, it has been able to rebound from that closure,” Ziller said. 

Smith said the symbiotic partnership between the school and its community contributes to the complexities of their relationship. 

“There are some people at Lehigh that think, ‘Everyone on the South Side hates Lehigh,’” Smith said. “It’s easy to jump to that conclusion initially. As soon as you scrape a little bit below the surface, you learn it’s actually way more complex than that.” 

In many ways, Diaz embodies this complicated relationship — a lifelong South Side resident who appreciates Lehigh students’ contributions to the community but wishes the institution would have a heart for the people of Bethlehem.

Diaz’s passion for a better South Side is rooted in a love for his hometown. He said he hopes the future of Bethlehem consists of more affordable housing and a central community center.

“South Side Bethlehem is the greatest place in the world for me,” he said. “The people here are overwhelmingly good, decent, hard-working people trying to have a good, decent life.”