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College Town News:
College Town News is a collection of news stories from national, local, and student newspapers. Articles are chosen for linking because of their relation to college town life. The College Town News hopefully will provide residents of college towns and university cities with information on current events in other communities, and provide links to examples of best practices at home and elsewhere ...

- Community Development
- City Plans
- Student Volunteerism
- Student Perspective
- Town and Gown Alliances
- New Businesses
- Housing Issues
- Near-Campus Neighborhoods
- Politics
- Historic Preservation
- Zoning

Snippets of news text are kept brief. Readers are strongly encouraged to follow the link to the news source for complete information provided by the originator.

"Like individual human beings, landscapes and civilizations display distinctive characteristics. While they change in the course of time they retain a uniqueness derived in large part from the set of conditions under which they emerged and also from the factors which influenced their subsequent evolution. The phrases "genius loci" and "spirit of place" symbolize the forces or structures generally hidden beneath the surface of things which determine the uniqueness of each place."

Rene DuBois


Included in WorldCat database, OCLC FirstSearch (2001) as Families and students living in a college town.


College Town Life ™
College Town News ™
College Town Issues ™

College town life
College towns make great hometowns. Students, singles, families, working people, and retirees all can find connections and a niche for themselves in the wide variety of college towns across the United States.

CollegeTownLife
P. O. Box 223
Oxford, OH 45056
Robert Karrow, editor

 

“You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.
- Yogi Berra
College Town Redux
(.pdf format)
presentation by Robert Karrow, editor of CollegeTownLife.com at

Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference
November 3-4, 2005
University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Co-sponsored by EPA, SCUP, APPA, and
the University of Maryland College Park

 

21-27 October 2007

Piscataway gets kick out of Rutgers
News Tribune - 27 Oct 2007
... PISCATAWAY, NJ - "We have a quasi-Big East mayors association," said Wahler, who explained that one topic of recent discussion has been how to attract retirees to a town with college environment.

"People like to retire in a university setting, an academic setting, with an availability to transit and things to do in their spare time. We're looking to see how Livingston and Busch can help us capture that market," he said, referring to two Piscataway campuses that are part of the university ...

Future of 21 issue 'in the hands of the public'
Press-Citizen - 27 Oct 2007
... IOWA CITY, IA - Supporters predict approval of the ballot question will curb alcohol abuse among students at UI, a nationally known party school where nearly 70 percent of students here report binge drinking compared with 46 percent of college students nationwide, according to the most recent Harvard University College Alcohol Study.

Opponents argue that problems will move to house parties and kill the vibrancy of downtown ...

Party patrol keeps peace
UWM's campus 'shusher' aims to ease neighborhood tension
Journal-Sentinel - 27 Oct 2007
... MILWAUKEE, WI - The partying hours have arrived in the neighborhood around the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and students are starting to get noisy: on duplex porches where they gather in bunches; on the street, where they travel in boisterous, Halloween-clad packs; and at house parties, where they turn up the music and talk more loudly with each drink ...

Middlebury College, Town Hall Theater form partnership
Free Press - 26 Oct 2007
... MIDDLEBURY, VT - Middlebury College and Town Hall Theater, Inc. have formed a partnership that will benefit both organizations as well as the local community, college and theater officials said Thursday ...

Art will be all over Oxford area this weekend
Oxford Press - 26 Oct 2007
... OXFORD, OH - This weekend, area artists will get a chance to share their world with the community as the sixth annual Art All Over Tour takes place.

The tour features local artists in their studios and homes throughout the area. The self-guided driving tour will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday ...

Information at: artallover.com

Ladies & gents, your limo awaits
Journal - 26 Oct 2007
... RIVER FALLS, WI - Fritz said before buying the limo, he researched transportation issues and options other college towns use. He uncovered an interesting fact: Students won’t ride shuttle vans or buses.

Why? Best he could tell, students feel it’s an “uncool” way to travel so therefore don’t use it. Fritz suspects young people attach a stigma to small-bus or big-van transportation.

But a stretch limo?

“Now that’s cool,” said the 31-year-old businessman ...

Groups assert need for affordable housing in Austin
Daily Texan - 26 Oct 2007
... AUSTIN, TX - Rising incomes, a burgeoning population and the presence of the thousands of University students have made living in Austin less affordable for its working-class residents, said citizens groups and city officials at a summit Thursday.

The affordable housing summit, hosted at the offices of the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department in East Austin, provided an opportunity for citizens to give input on a proposed housing market study that would examine affordable housing in Austin and guide future city policy efforts ...

UC takes on revitalization
Major project to improve off-campus neighborhoods
News Record - 25 Oct 2007
... CINCINNATI, OH - To assist the rising number of students living off-campus due to increasing enrollment, University of Cincinnati President Nancy Zimpher wants to turn the Burnet Avenue area from a "crime spot" to a "prime spot" and make seven other off-campus areas more safe and livable for students ...

Penn Sprouts Down-to-Earth Green Roof
Architectural Record - 25 Oct 2007
... PHILADELPHIA, PA - The 12,000-square-foot green roof, which covers 20 percent of the Radian’s total footprint, was designed primarily to satisfy the city’s storm water control regulations. Special drains will capture runoff from impervious sections of the terrace, funneling it into an irrigation system for the plants. Locally based Pennoni Associates is responsible for the landscaping and engineering, while Roofscapes, a green-roof specialist also of Philadelphia, is providing technical assistance ...

Entertainment overload: Can so many music venues make it?
The Hook 25 Oct 2007
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Then, in April 2001, a town that had considered live entertainment to be Fridays after Five and opera at Ash Lawn suddenly found itself with a 50,000-seat venue when UVA pumped $100 million into its football stadium-- capable of hosting the hometown boys in the style to which they'd become accustomed. Among the surprises of their homecoming was that rock legend Neil Young was on the bill... as the opening act.

And further shocks were in store ...

Zoning requests rebuffed
Register - 25 Oct 2007
... RICHMOND, KY - Property owner Jessie Lackey Fennell had requested R-3 (Multi-family Residential) zoning of her property on Barnes Mill Road so developers Bill and Brian Ramsey could construct a privately owned complex which would be marketed primarily to students of Eastern Kentucky University.

Attorney Michael Eaves said the developers wanted to build seven residential structures that would contain 144 apartments units totaling 276 bedrooms. A club house, outdoor swimming pool and pond would be part of the development ...

$20M Financing Buoys 244-Unit Acquisition
GlobeSt - 25 Oct 2007
... ATHENS, GA - Champaign, IL-based Campus Acquisitions LLC has acquired the 244-unit, 462-bedroom River Mill Apartments with $20.2 million in financing. The fixed-rate loan was provided by GE Real Estate ...

Ulster's cut-price student life
Telegraph - 25 Oct 2007
... ULSTER, IE - Push's index of living costs uses three indicators - the price of student housing, groceries and drinks - to measure how each university's living costs compare to the national average, represented as 100 on the index.

The range varied from the University of Bradford, which was cheapest at just 73% of the national average, to the Royal Academy of Music with an index of 168 ...

City to host housing hearing
Democrat - 24 Oct 2007
... TALLAHASSEE, FL - City leaders say the ordinance aims to encourage student housing near the universities while preserving neighborhoods. They say the neighborhoods are already changing because of the increase in student population and that the city wants to encourage students to live close to their schools while protecting homeowners to the extent possible ...

Candidates grapple with rental issues at forum
News Tribune - 24 Oct 2007
... DULUTH, MN - The other ordinance change mandates that no home can receive a rental license if there already is a rental property within 300 feet. Because of that rule, few homes in Duluth remain eligible to receive a rental license ...

RTP growth spills into area
Daily Tar Heel - 23 Oct 2007
... CHAPEL HILL / CARRBORO, NC - "The electorate in Chapel Hill moved here because of special characteristics," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Public Life. "Chapel Hill's self-image is of a university town, a village."

He said because of that perception, both Chapel Hill and Carrboro have taken steps to limit growth.

The towns have placed a moratorium on development in the northern part of the area, and each town has built in a rural buffer ...

Growing pains
Diamondback - 23 Oct 2007
... COLLEGE PARK, MD - Farvardin mentioned that the committee is open to any suggestions from the entire university community. I have but one: Focus on the basics. We all want a university that fosters a creative, dynamic and productive academic environment. We all want our graduates to succeed for decades to come, and ultimately, we want others to recognize the quality of the university's experience and express it through the national rankings. But in order to achieve that, we need to address the basic needs of the campus, such as housing, transportation and community development. If we create an environment where we don't have to worry about crime, where we can easily interact with metropolitan Washington and where we can live without being rent-poor, then we can attract the top students, faculty and staff. Once we do that, the rest will take care of itself. Like plants in a well-tended garden, faculty and students in a safe, pleasant and affordable environment will become a flourishing academic community ...

City sprawl control raises concern
Neighborhood leaders will hold a meeting to discuss the effects of increased housing density
Daily Emerald - 23 Oct 2007
... EUGENE, OR - The Neighborhood Leaders Council will meet tonight to discuss a variety of issues involving the city's 24 neighborhood associations and their residents.

University-area neighborhood leaders are voicing concerns about the city's plans to increase population density by curbing outlying city sprawl, and residents will hear a report dedicated to this initiative known as infill compatibility standards. City councilors want to preserve the city's growth boundaries while still increasing its population, but local residents worry pressing too hard toward the middle of the city will have negative effects.

"The neighborhoods don't want to be wrecked by willy-nilly housing standards," said Bob Peters, chairperson for the South University Neighbors Association. "This is a neighborhood that wants to get along with students and invite them in, but parking and parties on the weekends change the environment of the neighborhood." ...

UNF to break ground on dorm
Business Journal - 23 Oct 2007
... JACKSONVILLE, FL - The University of North Florida will break ground Wednesday on a 1,000-bed student housing project.

Osprey Fountains will be on Kernan Boulevard just north of Alumni Drive. The $86 million project is scheduled to be finished in summer 2009 ...

Campus-area alder tenant proposal garners mixed reactions
Badger Herald - 23 Oct 2007
... MADISON, WI - A downtown alder’s recently proposed city ordinance designed with tenant rights in mind has been received with mixed feelings among students and property managers.

The ordinance would require landlords to document any damages deducted from their tenants’ security deposits with photographs ...

Twice Bitten
Herals - 23 Oct 2007
... POULTNEY, VT - It was in May 2005 that Wendy and Frank took over the Grill. It was July by the time it opened, and in spite of turning out much local food innovatively and expertly prepared and presented, there have been the same ups and downs that most restaurants travel, even those that aren't a little ways down that road to Poultney.

However, we tend to forget that Poultney is a college town, home to Green Mountain College, which has an environmental studies program offering a concentration in sustainable agriculture and food production, and thus spawns a community with an intense interest in good food ...

Downtown arts and entertainment district thrives
Daily Reveille - 23 Oct 2007
... BATON ROUGE - LA - A guitarist with Chicago Al and the Backburners, who are performing Thursday night at Boudreaux and Thibodeaux's on Third Street, calls out for a cranberry juice on ice.

Farther down the block, two University alumni share drinks at Happy's Irish Pub. Karen White and Paul Holmes graduated from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center 10 years apart. Now colleagues, they are relaxing after work ...

Train Derails in Vermont, Spilling Gas
AP - 23 Oct 2007
... MIDDLEBURY, VT — A freight train derailed in this college town Monday, spilling gasoline into a creek, sparking a brief fire and forcing evacuations because of fumes. No injuries were reported ...

14% of students want property in uni town
AboutProperty - 23 Oct 2007
... UK - As the new term starts it has been revealed up to 14 per cent of all students in the UK are considering buying a property in their university town.

This is according to new research from Abbey, and equates to some 154,000 students who are willing to move out of student accommodation and purchase their own property while still in education ...

A tale of two campuses
Princetonian - 23 Oct 2007
... PRINCETON, NJ - Consider the following scenario: Two universities exist in close proximity to one another in the suburbs. Both are private institutions with about 5,000 students studying a variety of subjects. Students at both universities abuse alcohol and drugs, but students at University B are much more likely than their counterparts across town to abuse hard drugs, like heroin, or to drink hard liquor exclusively and excessively. While these are occasionally used at University A, those students generally drink beer because it is widely available, and the overwhelming majority of drug violations are marijuana-related ...

21-only backers voice concerns
Daily Iowan - 22 Oct 2007
... IOWA CITY, IA - Also present at the event was Gary Sanders, who leads Citizens Against Drunken Students Ruining Downtown.

"If allowing 18- to 20-year-olds in bars would reduce the number of dangerous house parties, then college towns across the country would be doing that," he said after the event ...

[Editor's Note: Sanders clearly does not understand the dynamics of underage drinking in university cities. Preloading/pre-gaming, a common practice, is where underage college students load up at private, off-campus house parties before (and after) going to the college town entertainment district. So in many cases the drunken antics downtown are a direct result of unregulated house parties for students who are under 21. See College Drinking. The Harvard School of Public Health study never has seriously looked at off-campus, private residence drinking as a variable.]

Affordable 'green' homes
UA students out to prove that energy-efficient dwellings needn't be
Daily Star - 22 Oct 2007
... TUCSON, AZ - It's an odd job site, with far too many carpenters swarming over the shell of a single home and not a nail gun within earshot — just the timpani of nails being pounded with framing hammers.

The outcome will be equally unusual. These builders — 24 student architects of the Drachman Design-Build Collaborative — are designing and building five energy-efficient homes ...

Rural Community Colleges Are the Land-Grant Institutions of This Century (subscription)
The Chronicle - 22 Oct 2007
... USA - Community colleges in all areas of the country offer students opportunities for postsecondary education that they might not otherwise have. But the nearly 600 community colleges that serve rural communities play a special role in providing access, one that deserves greater understanding and recognition.

As Arthur M. Cohen, who was then a professor of higher education at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Florence B. Brawer, who was then research director of the Center for the Study of Community Colleges, noted in The American Community College (Jossey-Bass, 1982), for millions of students, the choice is not between a community college and another institution, "it's between a community college and nothing." That is particularly true in rural America ...

Web site guides off-campus students
Post - 22 Oct 2007
... ATHENS, OH - Students looking for a place to live off of Ohio University’s campus have a new resource to help them — Student Senate’s property-rating Web site, PickAProperty.

The site, found at pickaprop.admsrv.ohio.edu/pickaprop, allows students both to rate their current off-campus home and to search for information about other student properties ...

Officials see closings of three downtown ventures as hiccups
CitizensVoice - 22 Oct 2007
... WILKES-BARRE, PA - Marcello Ameti, who co-owns Toscana with his brother Amet, said with the right management and marketing, Wilkes-Barre is a market in which restaurants could be successful.

Success, “it all depends on how you manage,” he said. “When you do the right thing, you build your business.”

“There is a mix we need in this town. It’s not just a college town,” said Tim Gilmour, president of Wilkes University. “We’re seeing what happens everywhere with small businesses. Some make it and some don’t. We’re going to see this ebb and flow as we go along.” ...

Rowdy students rile residents
Wolfville RCMP ready paddy wagon in anticipation of barbarism
NovaNewsNow - 21 Oct 2007
... WOLFVILLE, NS - Acadia University spokesman Scott Roberts said last week that off campus students can’t be policed by the university. “They’d take offence if we tried to. Our capacity is limited and it’s a significant challenge with the amount of student housing off campus.”

Other Canadian universities take a different slant on the issue. Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, for example, has a code of conduct that does deal with students’ off-campus behaviour ...

Bowling Green looks to coal power despite 'green' practices
City eyes investment in SE Ohio project
Blade - 21 Oct 2007
... BOWLING GREEN, OH - Even with Al Gore sharing this year's Nobel Peace Prize with the world's most prestigious group of climate scientists, Americans may have a hard time weaning themselves off coal-fired power plants that spew carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas.

To understand why, look no farther than this Wood County city of 30,000 people.

Bowling Green is more than just another Midwestern college town. Hardly any discussion about Ohio's energy outlook occurs without it receiving kudos ...

Lankford sees downtown as all city residents' concern
Leaf-Chronicle - 21 Oct 2007
... CLARKSVILLE, TN - A graduate of Austin Peay State University and Clarksville Academy whose campuses are both downtown, Lankford has spent her entire life downtown.

"It is not necessary to be a native of Clarksville to fully appreciate the wonderful place called downtown Clarksville," Lankford said, "but it certainly gives me an abiding interest in the past, present and future for our community." ...

Former jail now a posh hotel
Tribune - 21 Oct 2007
... OXFORD, UK - For more than a century before it became one of Oxford's most posh venues, the Malmaison hotel served as a prison for inmates who scarcely could have imagined the change their stark home would undergo.

Being so near the center of Oxford's lively college town atmosphere didn't do the prisoners any good, but it's probably the best reason to stay at the Malmaison, which hasn't quite perfected the transition from jail to luxury inn ...

College students, neighbors ask for a little respect
News Tribune - 21 Oct 2007
... DULUTH, MN - Amy Wold knew it was time to move when it became clear to her that her neighbors would rather practice keg stands than practice civility.

The Duluth woman lived on Halsey Street with her husband and three children until June 2006. After problems with neighboring University of Minnesota Duluth students escalated and talks with them failed, the owner of that house — the father of a student who lived there — called Wold’s Realtor and asked if they would sell, “because they were not going to stop partying,” Wold said.

“It was like, all right, they are not going to change their behavior,” she said. “At two in the morning, my kids would wake up to the F-word.” ...

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