Brochure aims to link students, area residents

The booklet is intended to improve relations between students and community residents. Local residents often complain that Penn students living off campus throw loud parties, dump trash wherever they want to and fail to interact with their non-student neighbors. Now administrators, student government leaders and community groups have created something they hope will remedy the situation: a brochure. The pamphlet, to be distributed beginning February 2 to all University students living off campus, advises students on such issues as safety, rules for holding parties, trash collection, neighborhood beautification and community involvement. It represents the University's first attempt to provide off-campus students with a single document that addresses many common concerns, according to Office of Community Relations Director Glenn Bryan. The University's Office of Off-Campus Living currently distributes separate information sheets on different aspects of off-campus living. "It's meant to bring both the community neighbors and the students together," Bryan said. "We want students to have a common understanding of what living in West Philadelphia is about." The main purpose of the brochure, entitled "Tips for Living Off Campus," is to encourage increased interaction and involvement between students and community groups such as the Spruce Hill Community Association, which helped write the brochure. Membership in the group, which handles the area from 40th to 46th streets between Market Street and Woodland Avenue, is open to all residents. "It will serve as kind of a welcoming from Spruce Hill to students who will reside there," Bryan said. Bryan's office, the the Office of Off-Campus Living and the Undergraduate Assembly's West Philadelphia Committee also collaborated on the brochure. College junior Hillary Aisenstein, a member of the UA committee, said the brochure will improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods by helping to bring students and local residents together. "When the student and community neighbors know each other they are nicer," Aisenstein said. "They do things for each other, like students helping to set up a neighbor's computer or driving someone to the grocery store." The brochure also helps students deal with their landlords, explaining students' rights as tenants, how to get repairs done and where to go if students encounter problems. It also lists the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of a variety of community members, such as SHCA President Joe Ruane, University administrators and a UA representative. Bryan said he got the idea for the brochure last spring when he received a number of calls from area residents complaining about parties students were holding at their off-campus residences. "I went out to talk to the students and neighbors and found out they have never met each other," Bryan said. He decided that "it was time to find mechanisms to bring students and community members together." The brochure is the latest effort by administrators and students to bridge the gap between the different groups living in University City. During the previous semester, it held a series of "Getting to Know Your Neighbor" receptions. These programs, jointly sponsored by the University and the SHCA, were designed to increase the interaction between students and the surrounding community by bringing them together in a social environment. Three receptions were held last semester, and another is planned for February. Although the student-community efforts are on a relatively small scale, Aisenstein cautioned against underestimating their importance. "It's only a brochure, but it contains a lot of helpful hints that will make life better for everyone in the community," Aisenstein said.

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