Editor’s Note: Throughout the week, TommieMedia will be featuring stories on drinking and campus partying. Make sure to check out the Perspectives on Partying page for daily updates.

Waking up to late-night swearing and fighting, or early morning urine and vomit, is not out of the ordinary for St. Thomas neighbors on any given weekend.

“We’ve even had reports of people waking up in the morning and having students passed out in their yards,” said Scott Banas, co-chair of the West Summit Neighborhood Advisory Committee. “It’s troubling to neighbors.”

Attending a university in a residential area, St. Thomas students have been known to cause late-night disturbances. But this year’s reports are down from last year’s, according to neighborhood liaison John Hershey.

“Last year, [the complaints] were really uncomfortable to listen to and deal with,” he said. “The number of calls I’ve received this year is about half the amount I got last year.”

In September, Hershey dealt with 99 issues.

“The angst behind [this year’s complaints] is much less pronounced,” he said. “Is that because it’s not happening anymore? Are people just tired of calling? I don’t know. But I’m glad they’re down.”

Issues with neighbors

In a TommieMedia survey of 100 students, 54 percent believe student drinking has hurt St. Thomas’ relationship with the community.

Banas said neighbors have complained about the behavior of students, not only from St. Thomas, but also from many surrounding colleges.

“There is widespread frustration in the neighborhood with students,” he said. “We can’t say which school they’re from. There are many schools surrounding the neighborhood. We can identify UST students because they wear UST sweatshirts and say things like, ‘Go Tommies,’ late at night or early in the morning.”

Some neighbors have found lawn ornaments broken and porch furniture in the middle of the street, Banas said. Over Labor Day weekend, an intoxicated student broke into a front porch and tried to break into the house.

“That’s not the only time that drunken students have wandered into someone’s house,” Banas said. “It’s not an effort to break in and steal. It’s more so that they don’t know what they’re doing.”

For neighbors with families, this could be a deeper issue.

“My kids were asking me what happened, if it is safe,” Banas said of his two children, ages 10 and 7. “They were concerned about someone breaking into our house.”

Impact on families

Drunken students especially affect neighborhood families with their behavior.

“When students wander by late at night using profane language and fighting, my 10-year-old daughter notices college students and asks questions about going to college,” Banas said. She also asks about the students at night.

“I’m always a little hard-pressed to give her a good response,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a very good impression that they are leaving with her.”

Hershey, who lives six blocks from campus, had similar reactions from his two sons when they were young.

As a second grader, Hershey’s son drew a picture of a party house across the street. He drew sound waves coming out the house and a car parked in front. He drew beer cans in the front lawn and people going to a party, Hershey said.

“That was Kevin’s perceptions of what I had to deal with [at my job],” he said. “That was through the eyes of a second grader. … It colored his perception of the students who go here.”

Working in his own neighborhood

Hershey’s job is to mediate between neighbors and students without discipline.

“I’m not the dean and I’m not the cops,” he said. “I don’t have any legislative say of what happens to the students who live in the neighborhood.”

“…My goal is to try to keep students out of the dean’s office and in their houses, living in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. I’ll deal with whoever is involved with that and try to make some lemonade out of some lemons, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.”

When Hershey receives a report from neighbors, he said he contacts the landlord and the students to talk about the issue. Typically, he said, the students disagree with the report.

“Most of the time, students are honest,” Hershey said. “Sometimes they lie. Sometimes the report may be misrepresentative. But I put it all out there. I don’t make judgments. I try to make everything better.”

And while he has worked at St. Thomas for 12 years, Hershey has lived in the neighborhood for more than 25.

“My job is very odd because I live in the neighborhood, so it’s kind of like I’m a small town minister,” Hershey said. “Wherever I go, someone wants to ask me about my position. They want to know the stories. They want to know the details. They want to tell me their stories. … People feel compelled to tell me how my flock is doing.”

Living in peace with neighbors

Neighbors know that students aren’t all bad, Banas said.

“I enjoy the vibrancy and energy that students bring back when they start school in the fall,” said Banas, who also has St. Thomas students as nannies. “We, in the neighborhood, like young people. We like having them around. Many UST students are very courteous and they are involved in charity activities. … Everyone appreciates that very much.”

But Hershey said students need to remember that this isn’t their neighborhood, and they won’t be here forever.

“I used to have a rental house across the street from me,” he said. “So for the first year, I baked brownies and went across the street to introduce myself. But then, by the end of the year, they break my heart and move away. They’re replaced by new folks. And ultimately, they all are going to go away. There’s kind of a wearing down effect [on neighbors] that makes it hard to bridge that gap.”

But students can make the effort to create the bridge.

“The only thing a person can do is reach out to people around them and see how they are welcomed,” Hershey said. “If you make a genuine effort at that, you’re doing your part. You’re trying to live in harmony. And you never know until you try.”

And of course, students can refrain from vomiting in lawns and urinating in bushes, Banas said.

“Most importantly, please be aware that you are going to school in a residential neighborhood,” he said. “Families live here with pets and kids and jobs. We would hope that students would be respectful of the fact that there are a lot of hard-working people who live around the university. Their property and neighborhood should be respected.”

Mary Kenkel can be reached at mlkenkel@stthomas.edu.