Buying houses not the way to solve town-gown issues

The decision for the University to buy up student-rented off-campus houses is insulting, disrespectful and underhanded. In the Feb. 28 article "University buys off-East houses," John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs and government relations, refuses to address why the houses were in fact purchased. He simply states that the University does not intend to purchase all of the off-campus houses traditionally rented by students. Without justification from Burness, one must infer that the University is addressing "town-gown" problems, as mentioned by Eugene Brown, Durham City Council Member, in the same article.

If the University does in fact have town-gown problems, then it should address this problem head-on instead of covertly buying up the properties from underneath the student body. Granted, the current lease contracts will be honored, but the fact remains that students typically rent these houses. With this knowledge in mind, the University chose to solve the problem of unhappy neighbors by skirting student discussion and simply opening up its wallet.

Duke is an institution that prides itself in the quality of people that it graduates each May, but it does not trust its seniors to be responsible for themselves in an off- campus setting. I thought living off campus gave you the opportunity to be responsible for your own actions, both good and bad.

If this is not the case, where then do you draw the line? I heard there was noise complaint at Partner's Place a few weekends ago. The Belmont had the pool-party issue in the fall. Erwin Square can get a little rowdy at times. If these locations start causing additional "town-gown" problems, will the University buy up all these leases as well?

Drew Hoffman

Pratt '08