Campus, community to come together

GC&SU is unique in that it is the only university in the state of Georgia located entirely within a historic district. A new promotional campaign, “Your Campus, Your Community,” urges students to be considerate or this fact.

The green and blue mini-banners around campus lampposts are just a small part of a new larger, campus-wide promotional effort to encourage students to consider themselves as participants in both the university and historic Milledgeville, and to treat our historic district with respect.

“It’s a dual citizenship,” Dr. Bruce Harshbarger, vice president for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, said. “There’s no way to be a member of the campus without being a member of the Milledgeville community.”

Harshbarger said the number of complaints about off-campus noise was at an incline this fall.

“(According to the Milledgeville Police Department), the city is going to have a more streamline way of responding to noise,” Harshbarger said. “In the past, one of the things that would happen at a party with a lot of noise is that people would call the police three times, and three different officers would come out.”

Now, noise levels will be more enforced, and officers will collaborate to see who has been to what party each night.

“Frankly, I think that because of limitations and staffing, they haven’t fined people for things like parking violations and trash violations,” Harshbarger said. “But now they’re probably going to be more attentive to that.”

This effort will be a collaborative one, with the newly-established GC&SU

President’s Council on Responsible Alcohol Use.

“There will be allied approaches to irresponsible drinking,” Harshbarger said. “I know there’s some increased enforcement that’s coming to the city from that.”

Dr. Mark Pelton, associate vice president of Extended University, is part of a group which has been cataloguing rental properties and landlords, and contributing to the renters’ brochures that were handed out to 120 students as part of the campaign. The brochures will also be distributed to landlords to pass on to student renters.

With 5,000 college students living among permanent residents, Pelton said the potential for tensions and misunderstandings are likely to exist. The brochures, published by the GC&SU Division of Student Affairs, were designed to guide students to off-campus living and being a good neighbor, and to guide students on how to maintain good relationships between students and downtown owners.

“Most of our students come here fresh out of high school, and are just learning how to live on their own in society,” Pelton said. “While the vast majority of our students are wonderful citizens and assets to the community, others need more guidance. If students follow the guidance of the brochures, they will take a huge step toward developing good relationships with their neighbors, the permanent residents of the district. As one of those residents, and as a university administrator, I can think of nothing better than students and district residents living together in harmony and treating each other with the respect and consideration we all owe our neighbors.”

The Week of Welcome Committee for next fall met Wednesday and discussed

building neighborhood awareness. They also brainstormed on events that would give neighbors the opportunity to come out into the community.

“The Student Judicial Board has agreed to hear cases from the downtown area if they directly impact the quality of life downtown, even if they don’t come through Public Safety first,” Harshbarger said. “We’ve talked about doing a taste of Milledgeville in the fall and getting some of the downtown restaurants to bring out things for local residents and students, as well.”

The Office of Student Affairs and Kendall Stiles, director of the GIVE Center, will work together to honor one student each month on the myCATS Web site for commendable community service.

“I think students really are involved to a large extent,” Harshbarger said. “We had over 15,000 volunteer hours last year in the community, so we have a lot more students doing fabulous things in town rather than students who create problems. I think the best things students can do is to hold their friends accountable and apply some peer pressure for people who are acting out in inappropriate ways.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 20 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry