First-year students wandering campus with maps and class schedules are the most visible indication that a new crop of students has arrived at the University. Yet beyond campus, a less noticeable but equally important group of students is preparing to live independently for the first time.
Unlike the newcomers to campus dorms, these students will be living off-campus in neighborhoods alongside families. To facilitate this transition and improve the vibrant community that makes Chapel Hill the quintessential college town, students and the University should take part in the Good Neighbor Initiative.
While it is true that Chapel Hill can fairly be called a college town, it is still home to families who live their lives more or less independently of the University’s presence. Children in the Northside neighborhood go to elementary school across the street from homes full of college students.
Unlike residential communities on campus, these neighborhoods do not exist for the convenience of students.
Parking, loud parties and the town ordinance preventing more than four unrelated students from living together have placed students and residents at odds in the past. But these tensions can be mitigated through a greater emphasis on community and common courtesy.
The initiative, currently coordinated through the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, is a coalition of interested parties including community groups, local businesses, the town police and the University.
It works to build community and teach students how to be better neighbors by sponsoring public activities like block parties and neighborhood walks.
In the last five years, an influx of student volunteers has allowed the initiative to expand dramatically beyond its roots in the historically residential and black neighborhoods of Northside and Pine Knolls.
Students looking to support further expansion of the initiative can volunteer with the state and external relations branch of student government, through the Campus Y or with various Greek chapters.
