Spring Break
University to crack down on students
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"The behavior of Hopkins students on Friday and Saturday nights is abominable," said Charles Village Community Benefits District board member David Briggs at the District's board meeting last Tuesday.
Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Paula Burger said that the administration has been receiving more calls this year than usual regarding student misbehavior off campus. According to Burger, reports have indicated that, "Student behavior has been more disquieting to neighbors than had been the case previously."
The Student Code of Conduct does cover the behavior of students off-campus. It states, "The school expects students to be law-abiding citizens, to respect the rights of others, and to refrain from behavior which tends to impair the school's purpose or its reputation in the community." Members of the Charles Village Community are now demanding this existing code be more consistently enforced.
"A Code of Conduct already exists, but nobody knows, including the students, because it was never publicized," said President of the Charles Village Civic Association Beth Bullamore. Bullamore added that she felt it had little influence on student behavior: "Things don't have a deterrent effect if nobody knows. "
Hopkins administration has recently pledged to "toughen" the code, as Bullamore presented to the board members at the meeting. Burger said Hopkins is considering a number of options for community and student rowhouse relations.
"We're looking at whether or not there are ways to have positive interventions," Burger said. She referenced the University of Pennsylvania which has a "community specialist," who is called to mediate late night student and community conflicts as they happen. As part of a short term solution, Burger said the administration plans to mail out a letter to off campus students at the beginning of every term, reminding students of their off-campus behavioral standards, as well as trying to encourage student and community relations.
"Sometimes, it is the case that students aren't connected with their neighbors, and have loud parties, late parties with impunity, without seeing consequences," Burger said.
Burger said that the administration plans to send updates to the Association of all disciplinary action related to students off-campus. She said that the University cannot provide student names or information, but would give summaries of behavioral violations.
"We need to report in aggregate what happens to the students, we need to get back to the community that there are warnings imposed on students that violate norms of behavioral expectations," she said. "My concern is to make sure the unfoward behavior of some does not threaten the reputation of many." Bullamore said that these infractions were not typical of the majority of Hopkins students. "It hasn't been a lot of students," she said, "but even if its 10 percent, it's still a lot running amok."
Nonetheless, Bullamore said the University is taking unprecedented action in terms of community cooperation. "For a long time, Hopkins was buying everything in sight and didn't really care about the community," she said.
With the Charles Village Project set to begin construction in Winter 2004, Burger emphasized the importance of community understanding. "As we move to promote a renaissance of the Charles Village, that would enhance life for our students, as well as the community, it's something that we want to have their support on," she said.
As Coordinator of The Office of Community Relations, Salem Reiner said the University is increasingly considering the concerns of the Charles Village residents. "As the University becomes more and more integrated, there is more and more a sense of the University needing to be more directly involved in where Hopkins is off campus," he said.
Morgan Allyn, President of the Board of the Charles Village Community Benefits District Association, said this involvement comes none too late: "Hopkins has generally tried to be a good neighbor, but has viewed our complaints as simply complaints."
Bullamore said that she was encouraged by the progress. "We're beginning to see things accomplished," she said, and encouraged the extension of the Student Code of Conduct. "Students [would] know you're expected to behave in a way that your mother expects you to."