One day in November 1989 a University of Chicago first-year graduate student walked into an apartment building lobby to conduct a survey.

Instead, he met a gang leader.

Tonight, Sudhir Venkatesh will speak in the IMU about what happened in the seven years that followed that encounter. Those years he spent living among gang members — and those who had learned to cope with them — in one of Chicago’s most infamous housing projects.

Venkatesh, now a sociology professor at Columbia University, will give a lecture in the IMU Main Lounge at 7:30 p.m. as a part of the University Lecture Committee Series.

The author of several books, including Gang Leader For a Day, will also discuss how underground economies operate and their effect on young people.

Venkatesh told The Daily Iowan that his sheltered upbringing in suburban California is what probably allowed him to approach a group most of his peers were warned repeatedly to avoid.

“I was pretty naïve,” he said. “That’s what helped me get by … I knew so little as to be very curious.”

Venkatesh writes about following J.T. almost daily, as the gang leader checked on various drug dealers, negotiated with the leader of a rival gang on what to do after a shooting, and held birthday parties for his children.

Vankatesh also spent time with pastors, social workers, school principals, and others who lived in the high-rise J.T. essentially controlled. Venkatesh said he was able to build close relationships with many community leaders.

“He becomes very steeped in a specific cultural context, and he examines in very meticulous detail the types of connections that occur between people,” said UI sociology Professor Kevin Leicht. “And he’s very good at it.”

Venkatesh was able to examine phenomena that can’t be easily measured, such as the illicit business activity that doesn’t show up in any official statistics, Leicht said.

This type of research is difficult, he said, because it takes a lot of time to gain the trust of the people a researcher is examining. While some researchers may visit a setting often, few will spend the amount of time there Venkatesh did, Leicht said.

That’s one reason the University Lecture Committee invited him to speak.

“He had unique experiences,” said committee head Alex Metcalf. “It’s completely different from what you would expect from an academic.”

Leicht said he, and the UI, would be worried about the safety of any student who suggested a similar study, and Venkatesh’s advisers in Chicago were also concerned about his project.

But the papers and books that came out of his research affected the way the public and officials look at urban policy, and Metcalf noted students will also benefit from hearing him speak.

“He has a really interesting story to tell,” Metcalf said. “It can also show students they can go into academics and do something interesting in both academic and pop culture.”

A panel discussion about Venkatesh’s work, led by UI professors, will air today on KRUI at 3:30 p.m.