Institutions like Cornell currently have no legal obligation to pay anything to their home communities. Many institutions, and more every day, believe that they have a social obligation to pay their fair share and that their privileged tax-exempt status needs to be updated, and adjusted for the realities of the times. There is a movement afoot around this issue. Communities with large tax-exempt footprints are rising up against the burden they create. It’s happening in college towns all over the US. The burden and the movement are not myths. Big universities have enjoyed their tax-free status for more than 50 years. The 1969 Tax Reform Act created universities' tax-exempt status by developing Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Code: to support public goods such as education and philanthropy. But when educational institutions activities are in fact for-profit under the umbrella of non-profit it's time for change. And change is coming. If you’re g