Second Town Conversation urges partnership

5 p.m., April 18, 2005--Newark residents, city officials and UD students and administrators attended the second Town Conversation held Thursday, April 14, and shared ideas on how to build beneficial relationships between the University and the community, to promote the acceptance of UD students as responsible members of the community and to deal with alcohol abuse by students.

The event was organized by the Town & Gown Committee, a group of city and UD representatives dedicated to addressing issues affecting the campus and the community. The open forum is designed for interested persons to express concerns and discuss the relationship between the city of Newark and the University of Delaware.

During the meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Willa Road, more than 60 participants broke into three focus groups that each discussed a key issue for about one hour and then reconvened to share their findings.

“We covered a lot of things,” Jim Neal, member of UD’s Board of Trustees and former Newark councilman, who moderated the discussion on alcohol abuse, said. “I learned a few more things; I think we all did.”

Glenn Schmalhofer, a Newark landlord who rents housing to UD students, praised Mayor Vance Funk’s administration for encouraging and supporting the Town Conversation and creating a “very favorable environment” for improving relationships between students and the Newark community.

“If more people come down and get involved, the word will get out a little quicker and maybe we can alleviate some of these issues a little faster,” Schmalhofer said.

Funk said he was impressed by the positive response from students who joined in a clean-up event of city parks in the fall. He announced that the city is planning to designate several streets around the University as clean-up areas and assign them to various student organizations, beginning with 18 fraternities, sororities and honor societies that have already signed up.

John Bishop, UD associate vice president for counseling and student development, said the second Town Conversation was not only more focused than the first one, but it underlined the need for continuous dialog.

“It’s clear that some people in the community don’t understand how strongly the University has enforced alcohol policies,” Bishop said. “Any time there is an opportunity to clarify what’s really going on, that’s beneficial. One of the nice things we saw is that there wasn’t a lot of finger pointing or blaming one group versus another. People do have the sense that this is a community issue, and we are all members of the community. It’s a great conversation.”

Jim Flatley, interim director of Public Safety at UD, said the meeting was an important channel to maintain communication with Newark residents. “They get positive and correct information, so people have a better understanding of the different policies that exist. It’s an education for all of us. When we hear what they have to say and how it pertains to the University, we can take some of that back and implement change, if needed,” he said.

Heather Griffiths, professor of sociology and criminal justice and a member of the Town and Gown Committee, said the Town Conversation offers students an opportunity “to show that they are not all party-hearty drunks and the residents get to see that there are reasonable students, that they are community activists.”

Article by Martin Mbugua
Photo by Duane Perry

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