Starting August 2010, the university’s institutional presence in West Georgetown and Burleith will be a bit more palpable, and students who opt to live off-campus could be worse off for it.
At its most recent meeting with residents of the Georgetown neighborhood regarding the Georgetown University 2010-2020 Campus Plan, the university announced it will install two community advisers to act as hall directors in the neighborhoods most concentrated with student residents – West Georgetown and Burleith – to alleviate conflicts between students who live off campus and their neighbors. According to Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson, each of these two paid professionals will be provided with an apartment rented by the university.
Ostensibly, they will be a resource for students living off campus and their neighbors; the program would complement the current Student Neighborhood Assistance Program and the Alliance for Local Living. The specifics of the advisers’ roles are subject to discussions between university officials and community leaders.
But because the most obvious root of conflict between residents and students is parties and noise, we see this newest initiative taking a sour turn from friendly resource to policing authority.
The university must clearly delineate the duties of these community advisers. Will they be making rounds through the neighborhood and citing them for infractions, like a resident assistant does in on-campus dormitories? Or will they work more closely with the current SNAP staff that patrols West Georgetown and Burleith on weekends to respond to noise complaints? If community advisers are charged with handling SNAP reports, they would likely assume a role similar to a hall director’s in punishing students for infractions. Moreover, how effective can this program be if only one adviser is devoted to each neighborhood? Each area is much too large for one person to cover effectively.
The program will cost Georgetown. The university will have to hire and pay two full-time staff members, in addition to housing them off campus. There are not many single apartments located in either neighborhood, and accommodating these two advisers will cost the university at least $24,000 a year. In the midst of an already gloomy economic environment, Georgetown’s money could be used in more worthwhile places.
Safety concerns arise as well, particularly if the off-campus advisers were charged with patrolling the neighborhood at night. The university has said that it is looking into the best options for protecting the community advisers in their line of duty, and we encourage them to take this issue seriously.
Furthermore, if the community advisers operate like hall directors do, their relationships with the off-campus student population – beyond their function of reacting to SNAP reports – would be largely irrelevant. One of the primary responsibilities of on-campus hall directors is to create an active residential environment for students. But students living off campus don’t need book clubs with neighbors to foster community and improve town-gown relations. Community advisers won’t change the reality of conflicting interests and noisy parties.
But the most troubling aspect of this proposal is unrelated to cost or safety – it is symbolic. Such a program would infringe on the independence a student gains when he or she lives off campus. While these students remain subject to the Student Code of Conduct, they have earned and paid for the right to be treated just like any other neighborhood resident. Students, like their neighbors, ought to be held strictly to the laws and regulations of D.C. – and when found in violation of them, they should be punished accordingly.
We encourage the university to alter its approach to community issues and the way it deals with students who live off campus. Individual student-neighbor conflicts should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, not through the costly (and likely ineffective) installation of these advisers.
The program will be preceded by a conversation with students to address their concerns about the program, according to Olson. He has the right idea: As the university implements this program, the student voice must be heard just as clearly as the voice of the neighborhood has been. And it’s time for Georgetown students – especially those interested in living off campus – to speak up.
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