Beth Bullamore gets phone calls every weekend from neighbors complaining about noisy students.They grumble about "drunken Hopkins louts," late-night noise, neighborhood vandalism and trash-littered streets.
"We don't want the students to go away," said Bullamore, president of the Charles Village Civic Association. "We just want them to behave."
Neighborhood complaints received by the University reached an all-time high last semester.
"Mostly it's just about loud noise," said Susan Boswell, dean of student life. "Students are not conscious of how at night, when it's quiet, their voices are carrying much more."
Complaints have ranged from fireworks to loud music."Fireworks were lit off in the middle of the night in the porches of some of the older row homes, which is a fire hazard," said Salem Reiner, University director of community affairs.
Students also attract rats to the neighborhood when they fail to put trash in dumpsters or leave old, dilapidated furniture rotting on their front porches. This is against city code, said Bullamore.
"There is a seeming inability to put trash in a trash can and put it out timely," she said.
The biggest problems are alcohol-related, University and community representatives agree."A lot of the complaints are related to excessive drinking," said William Miller, executive director of the Greater Homewood Community Corporation. "When the students are not drinking excessively, they behave very nicely."
The recent hike in complaints may also be an indication of the University's growing involvement in the community within the past year, said Miller.
"It is possible that there has been more reporting of it because there is a lot more community consciousness and a lot of discussion between the community groups and the University," he said. "There's been a heightened discussion of student behavior rather than more problems."
As part of its project on 33rd St. and its goal to improve the undergraduate experience, the University has taken greater responsibility for student behavior off-campus.
"For many years, the University basically said [students] were legally adults and that their behavior off-campus was outside their control," said Bullamore.
The University has a student code of conduct that has rarely been enforced, and never off-campus.
Now, the University has told neighborhood groups that it will begin enforcing the code, although neighbors do not expect the same "draconian" restrictions imposed by Loyola, where students are forbidden by a college-neighborhood contract to live in any of their surrounding 12 neighborhoods.
"Hopkins is a much better partner in community relations now than it was 15 years ago," Boswell said. "When I first came to Hopkins, you kept the community at an arm's length. What happened off-campus was very separate."
Boswell sent an e-mail early this semester to remind students to control their behavior off-campus.
"I really wanted students to know that they're not perceived in the way they would like to be perceived," Boswell said. But neighbors and University representatives also agree that the problems are limited to a small percentage of students.Most neighbors appreciate the positive role students play in the community, from volunteer work to a sense of economics stability.
John Christenson, who has lived on N. Calvert St. for eight years, moved to Charles Village knowing that the community surrounding the school would never deteriorate, and the students have never been a problem for him.
"They're pretty tame for college students," said Christenson, who went to Penn State. "It's not even what you'd expect living near a college."
Boswell recommends that students get to know neighbors as a way to allay tension.
"In some of these situations, once the neighbors get to know the students as people, and vice versa, a lot of the behavior changes," she said.
Nikhil Joshe, who lives in a rowhouse on 29th street and is a member of SigEp, sends out letters notifying neighbors several days in advance about parties.
"It's a courtesy to let them know," Joshe said.The fraternity also tries to stop partygoers from congregating on the front lawn so noise won't carry down the block.Fraternity parties are often the sources of complaints.
"There are always complaints about the fraternities around 33rd and St. Paul," Miller said "That is pretty much a continuous problem."Bullamore, laughing, said she lives near the rugby house."They can actually make the entire block vibrate with their speakers," she said. "Many students simply don't realize the quality of the neighborhood they live in," she continued. Houses on Saint Paul Street and North Calvert Street often sell for as much as $400,000.
But neighbors also have to be aware that they live near a college."Most of the neighbors in the area do remember when they were young," Miller said. "As long as they're not kept up all night, there is a reasonable level of tolerance."
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