Representatives from four Syracuse-area colleges and universities gathered Thursday night at Onondaga Community College to discuss different ways the universities educate students about living off campus.

Syracuse University, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Le Moyne College and OCC are looking to uniformly educate students on how to be good citizens, understand neighborhood ordinances and use safety resources, said Darya Rotblat, director of off-campus housing and commuter services at SU.

‘It’s about students being responsible and understanding that they’re not the only people living in the community,’ Rotblat said. ‘They could be living next to a family, a senior citizen, a professor. The community is diverse and they have to act as a responsible participant.’

After complaints surfaced last semester about off-campus college students disturbing neighbors with late-night activities, area colleges began coordinating efforts to educate their students. A meeting was held last October after SU students were blamed for parties held by OCC students. Currently, there is not an overall system to cope with behavior of off-campus students from the various colleges.

No specific plans were set in place Thursday. The next meeting is scheduled the week of June 8 to establish a new program that will begin during the 2010-11 school year.

Rotblat said she felt the meetings had been received positively from all sides and that she looked forward to collaborating with a group.

The biggest concern the colleges have is drinking, but each college has a different approach to that issue, Rotblat said.

OCC has had problems with students going off campus and coming back to their residence halls intoxicated, but SU’s problems deal more with student partying disturbing the quality of life in the surrounding neighborhoods, Rotblat said.

Lt. John Sardino of SU’s Department of Public Safety said he agrees that alcohol consumption and the noise generated from parties are large issues the universities face when dealing with students who live off campus.

With Syracuse as a ‘social hub for colleges and some high schools,’ otherwise typical neighborhoods are vastly changed by the influx of young people, Sardino said.

‘I mean, our students aren’t criminals. They’re doing typical college things. But if you’re living next door to it, it can seem like a huge problem,’ Sardino said.

Capt. Paul Dillon of the Syracuse Police Department serves the neighborhood area of Syracuse that surrounds the colleges and attended Thursday’s meeting. He said he considers the fact that the colleges are meeting about the issue to be a positive change for the neighborhood judicial affairs.

‘There is a genuine interest and concern in helping students living off campus be successful students and responsible neighborhood residents,’ Dillon said.

Dillon said there was no way to measure complaints about students living off campus.

Sardino and Rotblat said the negatives of having college students as neighbors are discussed too often. Sardino said a good number of students have positive interactions with neighbors.

‘We hear stories all the time about students that help bring in the trash can or shovel the sidewalk or stoop,’ Sardino said. ‘It can be as simple as that.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on February 22, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride