Neighborhood asks for KSC involvement

Although Keene State College offers some help to students who plan to live off campus, members of one group of Keene residents have made efforts to provide more assistance. The Southeast Keene Neighborhood Group (SEKNG), a group of approximately 40 Keene residents living in neighborhoods occupied by students, aims to improve the quality of life among residents.

SEKNG member and City Councilor Janis Manwaring said living among students impacts the community members greatly. She suggested KSC appoint someone to act as a housing liaison in order to better prepare students for living off campus. 
“It would be a really good position to have so that students could have some sort of orientation to living off campus,” Manwaring said.

Manwaring said this would prepare tenants to deal with landlords. 
“It would be some sort of protection against landlords who don’t do anything,” Manwaring said,  “who collect a lot of money and leave things that need to be fixed.”
Manwaring and other SEKNG members have already taken steps to educate student-residents in their neighborhoods. 

“What we did this past year was go to students in our neighborhood and give them a handout about what you can do if you have problems with your landlord, what some of the rules are with parking,” Manwaring said.

Manwaring said she noticed some students moved their cars off the street after receiving the handouts. Assistant Director of Residential Life Mandy Martin said the Residential Life Web site offers a page in which landlords can submit information about rentals for potential student tenants.  Martin said there are typically about 100 listings on the page at any given time. Martin said Associate Director of Residential Life Jim Carley reviews the landlord’s requests before posting them in order to ensure they have included all proper information about the listing.

“We are not endorsing any particular group or person but we do make sure all the information we need there is there, such as what the cost is and how many people it can house,” Martin said.  “I wouldn’t say we approve them but we do edit them to make sure the information is there. Landlords can’t just post anything.”

Martin mentioned a recent improvement to the Web site includes a map function in which viewers can click on a property’s address in order to find out how close it is to campus.
Martin advised students looking to live off campus to be aware of the costs of living on their own. 

“What students need to be careful about is certainly the cost and what is and is not included in the lease,” Martin said.  “Plus, a lot of the leases are 12-month leases so even if you are not there over the summer you are still paying.”

According to The Arkansas Traveler, the University of Arkansas held a housing fair March 3 to educate and prepare its students for living off-campus.

The fair, called “Own Your Own:  Get the Keys to Living Off Campus,” provided students with information about budgeting, tenant rights and searching for housing.
The KSC Residential Life Web site offers information about housing standards provided by the assistant manager for the city of Keene, but Martin said students who want an off-campus housing event must formalize a request.

“If a student group wanted to request something about off-campus living they can contact student government or their RA or RD,” Martin said.

Senior Sara Litvaitis said she never looked at KSC’s off-campus housing Web site when she searched for an apartment. 

“I just saw the realtor’s sign across the street and called then,” Litvaitis said.
Litvaitis said she thinks Residential Life should do more to help students who do not receive on-campus housing.  Litvaitis said her high housing lottery number prevented her from living on campus.

However, Martin said there is no shortage of on-campus housing and most students who live off campus choose to do so voluntarily.

“Everybody who was on the housing wait-list last year was offered housing,” Martin said. “Sophomores are a priority in that group.”
Manwaring said she understands some students live off campus because the college did not grant them housing.

Manwaring said the purpose of SEKNG is not to displace students living in residential neighborhoods. 

“We don’t want to be at war with students because all we’re doing is calling up [the police department] for a late party,” Manwaring said.  “It would be great if there was more working together.”

Manwaring doesn’t lay all the blame on students. She said residents and tenants of Keene need to work together regardless of age.

“There are different interests.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be college students,” Manwaring said.  “I could start having parties every Friday night and my neighbors would say ‘That’s it, Jan,’ and I could be cited, too.”

Kate Kelleher can be contacted at kkelleher@keeneequinox.com.