Last night, a student committee presented a list of proposals on how to improve current student-community relations to an audience of Georgetown residents. The committee called for better education of University students on off-campus affairs and the building of closer partnerships between neighbors and students.
The committee, consisting of Advisory Neighborhood Commission commissioners Justin Wagner (CAS ‘03) and Justin Kopa (CAS ‘03), Student Activities Commission Chair Meghan Gallagher (SFS ‘02) and Georgetown University Student Association committee member Mark Holloway (CAS ‘03), was formed two months ago in response to discussions on students’ rights.
The committee saw a need to create “an on-campus culture and awareness,” Kopa said. This “culture” would encourage students to stay on-campus on the weekends. By improving on-campus programming, through such means as encouraging on-campus groups to hold events on Friday and Saturday nights, the number of students making noise off-campus would be reduced, Kopa said.
Kopa also said that it was important for students to be more educated about their roles as members of a greater community outside of the University. He said that seminars similar to the mandatory meeting held this fall for juniors and seniors living off-campus should be held as early as the first week of school.
“I think it’s important from day one for students to be aware that they are part of a larger community,” Kopa said.
Wagner said that it was important for students to be better informed of the problems that they may face before they move off-campus.
“What a lot of students do not have when moving into a neighborhood is information,” he said. “A lot of problems we have had deal with students and their not knowing the rights that they have,” Wagner added.
Wagner also addressed the issue of increasing safety in the off-campus community and an increased quality of life. Suggestions made by the committee included expanding the Department of Public Safety’s role in the community to provide a greater presence in the area, asking the Metropolitan Police Department for additional reserve officers for the Georgetown area and increasing funding and the hours of operation for the SafeRides program.
Coordinator of Off-campus Student Life Julie Fultz said that the University is looking into creating a shuttle service from the University to M Street. The University is trying to find a private corporation to provide the vehicle so that Georgetown will not be liable for students aboard, Fultz said.
The committee also proposed that increased publication of on-campus events to non-student residents could improve student-neighbor relations. The committee suggested that on-campus organizations invite community members to University events, such as lectures and plays.
To do so, the committee suggested increased accessibility to community letters and University newspapers, as well as formal student liaisons to community associations.
