UMassHoops.com

[InnervisionsUMASS]

http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/reader-email-%e2%80%93is-umass-slowly-becoming-a-police-state/

According to that, as well as the revelation of Larry K's site, yes. Portnoy's commentary is his normal blowhard stuff, but he makes a few good points. Beyond that, though, is the email from the landlord to his tenants. That is the key here.

Why is it that students and the towns can live together in Ann Arbor or Chapel Hill or Durham or Columbus or Madison or Storrs without any real issues, but in Amherst it is World War III??? I don't get it. I didn't get it when I was there, and I don't get it now.

Have the town folk been overreacting and now have pushed students too far? Have students just gotten progressively worse over the years with their partying? And if so, why doesn't it seem to be a problem elsewhere?




EDIT: Add SFL's post about Puffers to this as well....
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Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

[SFL89]

IV, I can't speak to how things are now (other than the stuff we both just posted) as I haven't lived there in over 20 years. When growing up there, from a local perspective, the return of the students at the end of the summer was kind of a mixed blessing. Of course UMass and the other colleges provide the reason for many of the residents living there in the first place (I'm a "faculty brat" myself), but historically, students haven't treated the area with a lot of respect. My little hometown next to Amherst actually had (and probably still does) laws limiting the number of unrelated people who could live in a house, and that was specifically aimed at keeping student party houses out of the town. When you drive around Amherst, the houses used by students are usually very easy to identify, with little to no care to exterior appearance of the house, to the extreme of leaving couches out on the front lawns, or lawns turned into parking lots. The fact that students seem to think it's their right to close down and occupy an entire cul de sac (Hobart Lane), that doesn't endear them to the locals. Just because the colleges are the major economic force in the area doesn't entitle students to think they can party all they want with little regard to either the residents or the non-partying students. UMass also is not alone with "celebrations" getting out of hand, look at Lexington, KY this year.

Obviously, UMass is a huge population of students, and not all of them trash the area, but there is a critical mass of very disruptive students with entitlement complexes that don't seem to give a _____ for the community at large. You mention other college towns that are a lot more "peaceful", since I've never lived in any of them, I can't give any first hand opinions. I hope other folks here can share their experiences and shed some light on the situation.

[Swampy]

Puffers Pond after the UMies "go for a swim."

[InnervisionsUMASS]

[SFL89]

IV, do the math, UMass has ~25,000 students, Hampshire and Amherst probably combine to around 6,000... While they did not specify where the students were from (and how would they know), most likely a HIGH proportion of UMass students.

[OutlawPete]

People here have little respect for each other, the facilities, and pretty much everything else. For one, the bathrooms are disgusting everyday. People rip up toilet paper, throw it all over and do other things I'm sure you can guess. I've actually started picking up the trash people throw in the stairway and hallway because it's gotten so out of control. Monday is pretty much the only non-party night and people roam the streets screaming all night. Did I mention that's just in the drug & alcohol free dorm?

I wouldn't say it's out of control, but seeing that trash doesn't surprise me and I'd be willing to be the cops acted appropriately.

As somebody above said, entitlement complexes.

[InnervisionsUMASS]

[DoctorJ]

Yeah, I agree with IV. UMass gets a bad rap.

When a group of kids does something stupid in Amherst, the whole campus is vilified in the media. Sometimes at a state-wide level.

In other states, the same exact stuff happens and it is a sentence or two buried in section D-- and only in a local town rag that is free in the supermarket.

That is my two cents.
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Refuse To Lose!!!

[Marty Peretz]

I often wonder how Pee simultaneously loves his school so much and yet seemingly can't stand a majority of its students. It's fascinating. And I say that without an ounce of condescension. I actually kind of admire it.
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[Swampy]

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

Why would you compare a public space in Amherst to a UMASS Football game? Too much Beam this morning??
_________________
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades

[runner_bric]

This is all rather depressing. On the one hand, it bugs me when people move into a college town and then get all upset when there are parties around... on the other, when students do this to a place I truly cherish... disgusting. I wish we could all be a little bit more responsible about stuff like this.

[EBox]

Its a shame that kids can't be more responsible. I know its easy for some of us who are out of UMass for a while now (I graudated in 1994) who have become taxpayers, homeowners, parents, and other titles requiring one to maintain a strong deal of responsibility to feel this way.

However, even in college, there were different levels of people who "partied". I had my good share of parties, post-Uptown afterhours and crazy late night antics. But never to a point where it involved having police summoned, public destruction, etc. Some others condier the latter a requirement for having a good time.

As a tangent, I do think part of it is the time we live in with Twitter, Facebook and social media where pictures getting pasted in real time of events and commentary that draw crowds immediately. Back in the "old days" the only way to know about a party or gathering was to hear about it ahead of time, and hope when you got there, it was rocking. How many times did people come back and ask "How was the party"? Well, today you know in real time how it is. And the bigger and rowdier the social media communications, the bigger and rowdier the crowd who shows up. I think this is probably more of a national trend than specific to Amherst.

That said, I agree that if you have issues with students who party and make noise - don't own property in Amherst! One of the key differences between Amherst and some of the other college towns mentioned (Ann Arbor, Columbus, etc.) is that the student housing tends to be clustered together with little to none residential owners, who tend to live in different pockets. Amherst is a smaller town and especially in Puffton or the apartment complexes, you have a heterogenous mix of both, leading to the complaints and issues.

[Swampy]

[InnervisionsUMASS]

^

Because you made a dumb comment first. It is what it deserved.

Again, you don't know that, which was my point. And a point that still stands.
_________________
Stop waiting for UMass to do something big and help UMass do something big. - Shades