NEW BRITAIN — Identified party houses and apartments frequented by students may soon be listed online, members of the Central Connecticut State University’s Town and Gown Task Force were told at an open meeting Monday night.
This was the first of two task force meetings open to the public scheduled for the semester, both in the Connecticut Room of Memorial Hall. The second meeting will be held Monday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m. Two closed meetings will also be held, one in March and the other in May.
The task force was first established four years ago as a collaboration between the New Britain and CCSU community as a way to facilitate cooperation and to find ways to head off disruptive off-campus behavior by CCSU students, particularly in the Belvedere neighborhood. Membership is comprised of city residents, law enforcement and community leaders as well as representatives of CCSU faculty and administration and the student body.
At the meetings, residents can hear what is going on with students and what actions CCSU is taking to prevent community disruptions. The program seeks to end the disconnect residents might feel, allowing them to voice their concerns directly.
“We were able to provide the facts,” about anything residents might have seen or heard, said Tim Corbitt, director of the university’s Counseling and Wellness Center. The meetings serve to make area residents “part of the solution.”
Among other things, the meetings have helped CCSU learn the location of off-campus party houses. Once identified, university representatives will go to a residence to give the students living there information on party-hosting laws, the legality of serving alcohol to minors and other information. Five apartments were visited Jan. 25 and four more Feb. 4.
Through suggestions made by the task force, CCSU has implemented a number of initiatives and policies designed to “have students use alcohol responsibly,” said Jonathon Pohl, CCSU’s alcohol and drug prevention coordinator.
The university includes non-alcoholic events weekly as an alternative to drinking. CCSU is also attempting to discredit false assumptions people make about alcohol use, showing that fewer students drink excessively than might be assumed, and thus reducing the pressure to follow their example.
City residents are encouraged to attend the meetings and provide feedback. “We want to get as many people as possible here,” Pohl said.