CAMRY DEAN
Staff Writer
For the past two issues, The Leader has published two Guest Op-Eds from Fredonia faculty, including President Virginia Horvath, on recent vandalism in the Fredonia community.
Last weekend, Horvath was included in several threads on social media about the vandalism and property crimes evidently committed by SUNY Fredonia students, specifically on Temple Avenue.
“Most troubling to me, as threads continued to describe other acts of vandalism and disrespect, was a statement from a community member that said, ‘We pay the taxes … we keep our property … and it [is] okay for students to do whatever they whatever,’” Horvath wrote in her Op-Ed. “It is not okay.”
In addition to Horvath’s article, professor of mathematics Dr. Julia Wilson wrote about how her friends were affected by reportedly drunk students who vandalized their porch.
“My friends are scared,” Wilson wrote. “They’re sad, hurt and a little scared. They’re not sleeping well at night, knowing that their home was violated, and they’re wondering how far it will go next time.”
Because of the constant vandalism and disrespect from students, some Fredonia community members have even mentioned moving.
“There were a couple individuals from the community who came and said, ‘I’m thinking about moving out of my house’, because the vandalism is so bad,” Bridget Doyle, a senior history and political science double major and the chair of Community Relations for the Student Association (SA) said. “This struck a chord to me because Fredonia is all about community, every student will tell you that. We have things [at Fredonia] that make it a home here, yet we’re driving people out of theirs.”
Doyle, who was previously a student representative for the Campus and Community Coalition, explained that the group serves as a place for landlords and community members to come and speak about the problems that they face.
“This is a long-term problem,” Doyle said. “This is something that our community has always kind of known to be true — that college students come back for the academic year and there’s a lot of vandalism.”
As Chair for Community Relations for SA, Doyle has created campus and community clean-ups on Sunday afternoons where, for an hour and a half, student and student groups meet by the Williams Center to walk through town and clean up the streets and community lawns.
Although the clean-ups provide temporary relief from the weekend, it’s not a permanent fix.
“It proved to be helpful, but it’s not [having] a lasting impact because it’s just a short-term fix to a long-term problem,” Doyle said.
Working with Horvath, Doyle is hoping to hold a forum for the entire campus and community in the next few weeks, which will hopefully garner a lot of attention to the issues.
“President Horvath and I have teamed up to try and make a longer-lasting impact out of what I tried to make a short-term fix to the problem,” Doyle said.
As far as long-term solutions, Doyle explained what the committee doesn’t want to do.
“A lot of Fredonia community members are calling for Fredonia students to pay a reparation fee. [They’re calling] for every single student to pay a dollar out of their pockets to fix the amount of damages,” she explained.
With only a few from the student body involving themselves in these crimes, many would find a reparation fee unfair, and it’s the last thing the committee wants to do, but it shows how serious community members are.
“But how does the University target who is doing this?”
In her submission to The Leader, Wilson put a huge emphasis on what students can do to prevent this.
“If you speak up this time, maybe the person who was about to do something stupid will get to thinking a little after they’ve sobered up, and there doesn’t have to be a next time,” Wilson wrote. “Don’t underestimate the power of your courage and your voice.”
“If you don’t want to put yourself in the middle of a situation, University Police has this great thing called, ‘The Silent Witness Program,’”Doyle said. “It’s a form that you fill out online and say, ‘I saw this happen, here, and at this time, and this group of people were involved.’ It’s completely anonymous. They’ll never know it came from you, and you will never be contacted about it. UP will know that it happened, and they can look into it, or at least they have an idea of who it is to tip off the Village of Fredonia Police.”
If you want to be involved in the next campus and community clean-up, you can meet at 1 p.m. at the Williams Center on Oct. 2 and 9.