A year ago, Caro Street bustled with activity on any given Friday or Saturday night, students hoarding in clusters in the road and streaming in and out of houses. This past fall, however, has shown a shocking change in the off-campus scene. The once chaotic streets remain deserted and quiet, and police cars roam around the area.
The diminishment of the off-campus party scene, triggered by highly publicized complaints from Worcester about the College's disruption to the community, has evoked mixed reactions. Some students both on and off-campus have been outraged by the loss of the parties, which they believe play a significant part of college life. Others agree that the change is for the best of the off-campus Worcester residents. Nevertheless, the Holy Cross administration, at Worcester's appeals, has been taking radical steps in hopes of modifying student activity off-campus.
Caro Street In Its Prime….Again?
Caro, Clay and College Streets were not always deserted and quiet on the weekends. The off-campus houses have been active with parties since earlier years in the school's history. "Historically there has been a cycle [on Caro St.]—before my time at Holy Cross things were worse. Every year brings about a new turn over in the cycle," said Paul Irish, Assistant to Vice President for Student Affairs and Director of the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards. For those who have been at Holy Cross for years, the surprise and dismay of the dead off-campus is not as severe as for those who have been students for more than two or three years.
"I think the off-campus situation has changed a lot since my freshman year," Said Mac Dolan, a junior. "I remember being able to go to parties without constantly worrying about the cops or Public Safety breaking them up. Now I see police sitting at the corner of Caro and Boyden almost every weekend just waiting to hassle kids who are just trying to have some fun." The change initially stemmed from harsh publicity of Worcester's complaints of Holy Cross being a "partyland," instigating indignant rage amongst many Holy Cross students. The loudest of the complaints against Caro Street came out in public coverage on Boston CBS local last year on November 11, 2010.
Underage drinking, though illegal, seems to be a significant part of the culture of all colleges and universities across America. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, approximately 2 in 5 college students across America engage in binge drinking. Several other colleges have had to deal with the same issues as Holy Cross regarding clashes with local residents. There are several processes that have been used by schools to deal with this concern. Some schools let students throw registered parties that are controlled by the administrators themselves. Others follow a similar method as Holy Cross, through promoting student involvement and programming on campus.
Worcester Police and Public Safety Team Up
The most directly visible conflict in the past years, which has lessened, but not fully diminished, lies between Worcester police and Holy Cross students. Although not widespread, there have been reported issues of both students and police officers acting in an inappropriate manner towards each other.
"No one wants to arrest anybody," said Chief Robert Hart, Director of Public Safety. "Some students commit blatant violations…they will refuse to listen to an officer and will walk around the street with open containers [of alcohol]."
On the other hand, there have been some complaints of officers talking abusively to students and entering homes without permission. Many students, however, though given the avenue of reporting police abuse, have not made formal complaints.
"I understand that when the cops are called they have to follow up, but I think in some cases they handle the situation in the wrong way," explained an anonymous student living off-campus. "Holy Cross students are good kids, but often times the police will treat us like we aren't. I think if the police were to treat the students with more respect, then the students, in turn, would listen to the police more and treat them with more respect. It's a tough situation because a lot of times both sides are misunderstood by each other."
In order to diminish some of these overarching conflicts, Holy Cross has made an effort to keep
Public Safety and the Worcester police more closely united, so that they can work together more often. This teamwork is highly beneficial as Public Safety officers have a greater awareness of campus law enforcement and can also directly begin to communicate where off-campus problems are building and can be prevented.
Changes Made Now
Despite rumors of clashes between the police and off-campus residents, the Holy Cross administration has generally positive comments about the progress of off-campus relations with the Worcester community.
"Yes, we are going in a positive direction," said Jacqueline Peterson, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs. "Ten years ago triple the number of students were living off-campus on College Hill. There were more pronounced landlord issues and a lack of follow-through with the tenants… there was not as much communication." Indeed, while as many as 500 students lived in apartments surrounding off-campus just a few years ago, only 225 students live off-campus now, which will likely be further decreased by the new off-campus application policy. As for arrests, there have been five off-campus neighborhood arrests of Holy Cross students this past semester; in comparison to the two dozen last year, this statistic reveals a massive improvement.
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3 comments
A smart competent wannabe journalist would have done that. It's a biased and poorly written piece of propaganda.