If GUSA President Kelley Hampton (SFS ’05) and the Citizens Association of Georgetown President Victoria Rixey (MSB ’98) have their way, town-gown relations will improve before the end of the fall semester.

Following last year’s tensions between Georgetown students and CAG members over the proposed video surveillance of the neighborhood in response to student vandalism and disorderly behavior, Hampton and Rixey met over the summer along with administrators from the Office of Off-Campus Student Life to brainstorm initiatives that would increase a sense of community between students who live off-campus and their neighbors.

Rixey said that she regrets the escalation between students and residents and thinks it was blown out of proportion.

“There were a few very specific problems with a few group houses and it was so traumatic for the neighbors that some were driven to move out of the community,” she said. “No one is to blame, but it wasn’t dealt with such that it was fixed.”

Among the initiatives mentioned was the pairing of students who live off-campus with their neighbors to create new avenues of communication.

“We are working to encourage a personal connection between student residents off campus and their neighbors,” Hampton said. “As an off-campus resident myself, it helps a lot to know that there is someone living near you who is willing to help you or just to talk with.”

According to Hampton , the pairing process could begin as early as the end of September.

Rixey envisioned the program as a grassroots movement rather than a mass organization from above, similar to the experience she and her husband have had with their student neighbors.

“My husband teaches them to clean out their drains and they bake us cookies,” she said. “If there’s a loud party, then you can call them up.”

Other ideas that were raised include inviting members of the community to campus events and encouraging students to attend CAG meetings and become active in the off-campus Georgetown community.

“The best thing to come out of the meeting is the idea that we can not continue to harp on the same old issues,” Hampton said. “We need to get beyond them and this would be the perfect avenue to do that.”