Problems between students and beach residents took another turn for the worse this summer when the Princeton Review named Fairfield University as having the worst town-gown relations in the nation.
The focal point of the decaying relations between students and townspeople is the weekly confrontation between partying students and angry year-round residents at the beach, but town and university officials have been quick to downplay the conflict.
“The Review frankly fails to acknowledge the hard work that has achieved significant progress in the relationship between Fairfield University and the Town of Fairfield in recent years,” wrote Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., President of Fairfield University, and Doug Flatto, First Selectman of the Town of Fairfield, in a letter to the Connecticut Post.
Earlier, the Post printed an editorial stressing that town and university officials should continue to work together to improve relations, in addition to calling on the student government to make strides to help the strained relationship.
Kelley and Flatto criticized the Review’s method of evaluation for their rankings, saying that they are “based only on one question about a single issue asked of students on campuses.”
However, Kelley and Flatto never once in their letter mentioned work being done by students to help town-gown relations, only saying that town officials and university officials were working to alleviate the problem.
Student beach residents like Gina Dell’Aquila ’03 have mixed feelings about the ranking. “I definitely think it has gotten worse,” she said. “Last weekend didn’t seem like it was out of control here. Now that the ranking has come out, I’m sure the SBRA (Student Beach Resident Association) will work hard to improve relations.”
Karen Donoghue ’03, FUSA President, said that FUSA would work hard this year to improve relations.
“Not everyone at the beach is a troublemaker,” she said. “We’re going to engage in more community relations in FUSA through community service programs.”
Donoghue added, “Last year was a big improvement since two years ago and this year will be even better.”
Casey Butterly ’03, FUSA’s Vice President of Senate, agreed. “Apparently our students feel that there is a problem,” he said. “Other than the beach, I think we have good town-gown relations. Sadly, the beach issue overshadows these.”
Butterly added, “Actions of non-Fairfield students are invariably blamed on Fairfield students, which exacerbates the perceived problem.”
According to Butterly, FUSA Senate has created a new sub-committee to deal with off-campus issues, and he is “optimistic” about the future.
Most students questioned thought university-town relations aren’t as bad as the Princeton Review indicates, but still believe more work could be done to improve beach relations.
“I think it’s pretty bad that the townspeople and the university can’t come to some agreement,” said Matt Aurand ’04. “It really shows the immaturity of both the students and the townspeople.”
“I don’t think we have the worst relations,” Aurand added. “Every school has gripes with its townspeople. The problem here is magnified because people around this school are usually elderly and more conservative.”
Grant Pollworth ’04 agreed. “I don’t think it’s the worst in the nation,” he said. “People don’t get angry when there are parties on a weekly basis, I just think they get frightened whenever a big event is being planned.”
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