Neighbors to Manhattan College students: shut up!

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With spring and outdoor party season around the corner, residents of streets near Manhattan College are renewing calls for the school to reign in students they blame for noise, littering and other kinds of less-than-neighborly behavior. 

Many say the college’s administration is not doing enough to enforce its “Good Neighbor Policy,” which asks students to maintain respectful behavior both on and off campus. 

“The students are destroying the peace and tranquility of the neighborhood,” said Bill Kirchner, a resident of West 238th Street’s Riverdale House.

Mr. Kirchner, a graduate of Manhattan College, is one of over 100 neighbors who have signed a petition asking college officials, local politicians, Community Board 8 and the 50th Precinct to “restore a culture of respect in the neighborhood.”

Day and night, the petition alleges, students in large groups meander up and down the streets, often shouting, cursing and creating a general ruckus.

Student parties at off-campus housing keep residents up at night. In addition to the noise, the petition alleges drunken behavior like vomiting, public urination and the trampling of bushes and flower beds on private property, along with littering yards and sidewalks with beer and soda bottles and cans. 

“Every single statement of [Manhattan College’s] Good Neighbor Policy is not honored,” said Mr. Kirchner’s wife, Judy Kahn. “Our street is punctuated every half hour, all night long, with shouting, drunken kids.” 

Jean Rincon, a member of the 238th Street Neighborhood Coalition, is spearheading the efforts. She began compiling e-mail addresses of disgruntled residents in September after what she described as a “horrible, horrible spring of disruption from the students,” adding that student behavior has been a problem for years. 

“The students are not treated like they’re part of the community,” she said. “They’re treated like they’re immune from any obligation to the community.” 

Manhattan College, noise complaints, Good Neighbor Policy, Michael Carey, An Beal Bocht, Maya Rajamani
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