Your recent op-ed, “Non-Profit Means Big Savings,” (Nov. 11) prompts me to respond under the usual “Big Bad Bowdoin” banner, you decry the tax exemption the college enjoys and its supposedly one-sided relationship with the town, claiming, “The people of Brunswick give resources and amenities to the college,” without mentioning the vast resources and amenities Bowdoin makes available, largely free of charge, to the town. I’m a townie, all too aware of the effect of Bowdoin’s tax-exempt status on my own hefty real estate taxes.But Bowdoin is the very reason we moved here.

Educational institutions have nearly always been tax-exempt in this country because democracy requires both a well-educated citizenry and the basis for knowledge growth necessary to move a society forward. Let’s look at a few recent initiatives at Bowdoin that confirm the college’s deep commitment to those principles:

• Bowdoin is one of a bare handful of schools that is not only need-blind but also, since 2008, has converted all loans to grants, making it possible for the 46 percent of students on financial aid to graduate debt-free. (That includes 73 percent of Maine students, whose average grant is $45,000.) That’s possible only because of that $1.34 billion endowment you appear to want to get your hands on. But 50 percent of it is restricted to financial aid, so if you tax it, 50 cents of every tax dollar will come out of financial aid.

• Bowdoin is building a new Center for the Environment that, together with enhancements to its Coastal Studies Center, will make the college a critical resource for global and local environmental issues, especially given its location adjacent to the fastest warming body of water on the planet.

• Government Professor Andrew Rudilevige’s excellent video course on the Constitution, “Founding Principles,” a series produced by the college, is now on the PBS LearningMedia platform, which reaches 1.8 million K-12 teachers and is accessible to the rest of us, as well.

• Romance Languages and Literatures Professor Nadia Celis is currently using Bowdoin’s telepresence room to teach Puerto Rican college students whose own schools were wiped out by Hurricane Maria.

• Bowdoin students teach in our schools, mentor our young people and are dedicated volunteers in hundreds of programs locally, nationally, and internationally.

I could go on for weeks without exhausting the college’s contributions to society. Bowdoin is by no means the cocoon of privilege you imply it is.

“Great,” I hear you say, “but what’s in it for us?”

Well if you’ll stop throwing stones from Maine Street and instead amble onto Bowdoin’s open campus, you’ll find that, in fact, there’s a good deal in it for us. Got an hour? Wander through the Museum of Art, arguably one of the finest college museums anywhere, with stunning current exhibits and an incomparable collection of its own. And it’s free. Wonder what to do on a sunny Saturday afternoon? Check out the Bowdoin website for the myriad athletic events. Free time on a week night? The Bowdoin calendar is chock full of public lectures, often by luminaries. Free. Attend a play, or a recital, or a concert of one of the multiple musical groups, and let the extraordinary young people assembled at the center of our town inspire you. All free. Join the Bowdoin Friends. For just $40, you’ll be treated to monthly faculty lecture luncheons, access to Hawthorne-Longfellow Library, free hockey games, notice of lectures, and other events. And if you’re a bit more ambitious, audit a course. All you need is the professor’s permission. And did I mention the cost? For students, a single course comes to about $6,500. For you, a Brunswick resident, it’s free.

If all of that isn’t enough for you (and, believe me, I’ve only scratched the surface), let me point out some of Bowdoin’s direct benefits to the town that you failed to mention:

• $35.4 million annually in salaries to Brunswick residents.

• $226,899 in taxes! (Last year, tax-exempt Bowdoin was Brunswick’s 11th largest taxpayer.)

• An annual voluntary donation to the town that this year will be $167,200.

BHS hockey players use Watson Rink, BHS swimmers use Greason pool, graduation is at the rink, and all for just what it costs Bowdoin to operate those facilities during the hours of use. Not having to provide such facilities for the high school saves Brunswick a ton of money. As for the Longfellow/McLellan swap, Bowdoin was willing to take either building. The town chose to give up Longfellow, worth less than $1 million in 2012, and take McLellan, worth more than $4 million. I’m not sure how you can spin that as Bowdoin taking advantage of the Town.

Undoubtedly both Brunswick and Bowdoin can do things to improve our relationship with one another. But we’re more likely to encourage generosity on both sides by acknowledging the extraordinary gifts town and gown offer one another.

Frank C. Strasburger is a former Episcopal chaplain at Princeton, father and father-in-law of three Bowdoin alumni/ae, and a Brunswick resident.