University officials are remind- ing students to practice neighbor- ly behavior after complaints from Dallas Township residents.
Gary Samuels, Coordinator of Student Affairs and Community Standards, sent the reminder to students via a Sept. 6 email after community residents voiced their complaints at a township supervisors meeting.
Residents told officials they were concerned with noise and trespassing as well as violations of a township code that reads, “no more than four unrelated people can reside inside a dwelling,” according to the email students received from Samuels.
Officials were not able to provide the names of the students causing the disturbances, so specific disciplinary action was not taken, said Interim Vice President of Student Affairs Kit Foley.
“We had no idea who the stu- dents were so we couldn’t speak to them directly. So, at that point, we thought that it was very impor- tant to remind all of our students that we are neighbors in the Back Mountain, that we want to make sure they understood what being a good neighbor means and that, if they choose to go off campus to a friend’s house – they’re certainly able to do that, that’s not a problem – but to think about what kind of behavior they’re exhibiting,” said Foley
Officials from Harvey’s Lake, Dallas Township and Dallas Bor- rough have raised concerns about MU students in the past.
“This is the first time since I’ve been here – this is only my second year here – that we’ve heard from a township supervisor telling us about these issues and complaints that families have had,” said Samuels.
Samuels has policies in place in the event that the university receives notifications of student misconduct.
“When they (issues) do come to our attention, we do deal with them. We call those students in, and they go through the normal conduct process like they would if they were living on campus,” said Sammuels.
Assistant Director of Residence Life A.J. Nudo urges students to be aware of the kind of rules, ordinances and rights that are involved with moving off campus.
“Students need to understand that when they move out into the
community that it is different. It’s not the same rules that are here at Misericordia when you’re living on campus. You have to understand the laws and the codes and all those things for being a renter when you move off campus because the rules, even though there may be come similarities be- tween what we do, there are major differences in terms of living off campus and what you have to do,” he said.
Nudo wants students to know that their actions impact the university’s reputation.
He encourages students to think about how moving off campus will change their lives, before they take action and remove themselves from the on campus lifestyle that they are used to.
“If you’re living in a residence hall and you’re being loud, what’s most likely going to happen? Your RA or RD is going to come to the door and is going to say ‘Hey, can you be quiet?’ If you’re living next door to – again, that family that might have young children – and the noise level gets excessive or they see lots of people show up at the house and noise level gets very high, it’s not going to be an RA showing up at your door. It’s going to be the police showing up at your door,” Nudo said.
Samuels believes that students should always remember what it means to be a student on and off campus and what responsibilities come with that role.
“I think what our students need to remember are what our core values are here, or what our four charisms are: mercy, service, justice, and especially hospitality, and that’s being a good commu- nity member and being welcom- ing. We want people to feel, in the Dallas community, that we’re giving more to the community rather than taking away and being a nuisance because it has a really bad reflection on the college, on the university itself, and we hope that students will want to reflect Misericordia in a positive light
as opposed to a negative light,” Samuels said.
Samuels is responsible for contacting students and addressing them about their misconduct on and off campus, and he works closely with Foley to determine consequences of students’ misbehavior.