I got some pointed criticism two years ago, on the pages of The College Voice, up on the hill at Connecticut College, after I chided then incoming President Katherine Bergeron for not offering more aid to the school's host city of New London.

At the time, Bergeron had told a reporter for The Day that the college was "not looking to revisit" the $12,500 it pays voluntarily in lieu of taxes each year to the city.

Remember that paltry number, which the new college president shamelessly defended. Whenever you hear mention of Connecticut College, think of the $12,500 it deems sufficient to pay back what it takes from the poor city of New London.

The investigation of one police call for domestic student violence on campus would eat up a hunk of it.

It's not even a quarter of a year of tuition for one student.

I've seen students at the school driving cars that cost four or five times that.

It's an embarrassment that the college, as an institution, with all that intellectual firepower, thinks that $12,500 is sufficient annual compensation for a host city, one struggling to pay its own bills, that does so much for the college community.

If not for the tax-exempt status generously allowed by the state, Connecticut College would owe New London millions each year.

That exemption from property taxes for colleges came under legislative scrutiny recently in the General Assembly, and it may again.

The recipients of this munificence need to be mindful that it is not guaranteed and there are many ways to show gratitude and play a more contributory role in the community.

I couldn't help but think of Connecticut College's insular attitude toward New London when reading recently about the new community investment by Wesleyan University in its own host city, Middletown.

Wesleyan has agreed to build a new college bookstore in downtown Middletown and signed on esteemed independent R.J. Julia Booksellers to run it.

The store will become a new retail anchor downtown and also will bring students into town on frequent shuttles.

Wesleyan also is forming an advisory committee of other retailers, business owners, faculty and students to help shape the new store's role in Middletown.

The university has worked with the city on other projects, helping establish an inn and a learning center.

"We're committed to strengthening the ties between the campus and Main Street," Wesleyan President Michael Roth said in a statement about the new store.

What is so great is that the school is not just writing a check. It is forging partnerships with the community, like a good neighbor.

You don't have to look far, either, to see other good examples of schools helping their host communities.

Yale University makes $8.2 million in voluntary payments every year to New Haven. Brown University, which pays more than $4 million a year to Providence, volunteered another $31 million over 11 years, back in 2012, when the city was in a financial crisis.

The point of the comparison is not the amount of money — they are much richer schools — but the spirit of helping a host community, as Wesleyan has done.

President Bergeron has had some highs in her term, including the opening of the renovated college library and logging the largest donation in the college's history.

There also have been some lows, like her letter to the college community in March asserting that anti-Semitism, contrary to a prevailing impression, is not rife on campus.

That had to be a hard letter to send out.

But it's time to live up to some of the promises of community involvement she made years ago, in another community letter.

"The connections between Connecticut College and the city of New London go back a century ... I look forward to nurturing this historical relationship and deepening our educational involvements, to the mutual benefit of both our students and our community partners," she said in a letter to the community quoted in a 2014 edition of The College Voice.

I see no evidence whatsoever of nurturing or deepening or any mutual benefit. That, it turns out, was empty rhetoric in a community letter.

Cheers to President Roth of Wesleyan for trying so hard to be a good member of the school's host community.

Shame on President Bergeron for turning her back on hers.

This is the opinion of David Collins.

d.collins@theday.com