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Off-campus Students vs Homeowning Neighbors
| Short Descriptive Title: |
Off-campus Students vs Homeowning Neighbors |
| Primary Parties Are: |
Student (Undergrad) and Staff
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| Conflict Topic: |
Interpersonal |
| College/University Type: |
Medium-size Public Liberal Arts
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Description of the Issues in the Case:
Our campus is in a smallish town and the campus butts right up against the surrounding neighborhoods. We have been receiving increasing numbers of complaints from community members (usually homeowners as opposed to renters) who are upset with students who are making noise or leaving messes on streets where there are student households or apartments with lots of students living in them. Often the police get called and the students get angry and neighborly relations sour even more. Our committee has been asked to set up some kind of intervention service or team to try and resolve some of these neighborhood disputes and improve the image of the university and student body in the process.
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Status of Intake/Intervention Efforts:
A tenants association in town is very interested in helping out, as many of their members are students and they see the problem. Some campus administrators are ready to fund an initiative, hoping it might involve a call hotline that would substitute for police intervention, and which would invite the use of mediation or at least a visit from a campus based person rather than a police officer.
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Special Issues or Challenges:
Student households change composition quickly, students don't seem to know their neighbors, and vice versa, some students seem helpful, but have unruly roommates who don't seem to abide by agreements made by their housemates in informal discussions. Homeowners are looking to create lots of new noise codes, etc.
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Questions for Reviewers to Address:
Any advice on how we might be started on a project like this, and what form it might take?
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 Comments submitted by Jim Muskey on 9/18/02.
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The complaining residents must clearllly be involved as a quasi association if you believe. They along with the offenders must sit down with a referee/mediator and place concerns on the table. These concerns must be addressed in terms of violation of existing law versus annoyance complaints both making it difficult for the residents to exist peacefully. It must be understood that the residents have pre-existing rights that should be honored and students are come and go temporary residents. Students should keep in mind that they would not want their parents to have their lives interrupted in the communities from whence they come and this should be a factor in reaching terms of peaceful co-existing.
Comments submitted by Bill on 9/13/02.
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I'd start by looking for other campus examples, like the one at Boston College (see http://www.campus-adr.org/CMHER/Articles/Warters2_3f.html ) for ideas.
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