Harlem is a neighborhood dotted with orange traffic cones, yellow construction tape, and blue tarps. Bright vibrant meshes caution the dangers that lay behind their colorful barriers. Hope of renovation and fear of change reverberate into the community as more buildings change to orange, yellow, and blue. These colors will soon take over Manhattanville, as we know that it will soon be home to the new Columbia University campus. This expansion of Columbia will likely stimulate the transformation in Harlem. It will attract more developers and residents into the community while changing racial and socio-economic demographics. The new Columbia expansion project in Manhattanville raises contemporary issues of urban universities moving into surrounding neighborhoods as well as the growing power of educational institution. The three ‘players’ of this story have vastly different backgrounds. The histories of Harlem, Manhattanville, and Columbia have been largely shaped by their physical locations and racial and socio-economic demographics. Although all three locations share edges, many distinct factors have created three very distinct places. And while both Columbia and Manhattanville are technically considered a part of Harlem itself, their unique characteristics have placed them as smaller and often very separate sub-neighborhoods within the larger neighborhood of Harlem.