Saint Rose V SUNY Albany

'http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Riot-a-rift-in-town-and-gown-1132965.php

So here's an article about the recent Kegs and Eggs incidents on Hudson ave, which is in 'the student ghetto.' Having lived on the intersection of Hudson and Quail, I had some violent, interesting responses to this article.

"While the shaky videos of the mayhem burned up local websites, UAlbany officials -- who have taken pains to distance the university from its former No. 1 party school reputation -- condemned the students' actions as "reprehensible" and "hooliganism." In an apology letter issued to the news media, University President George M. Philip said the school "shares the outrage of community members and wants to assure them that UAlbany does not condone such behavior." The full letter is published in the Letters to the Editor section."

So, the SUNY kids are Caught! Those out of control renagade degenerate, whatever other rhetoric we can think of to vilify anyone at a public institution sorts of kids have been caught! We have irrevocable evidence that they are guilty. We're assuming here that everyone involved was a student, and more specifically a SUNY student. We also assume that in such a large group of people, everyone was just fine and dandy with what was going on. These are false assumptions. A large number of the houses on Hudson are rented to Saint Rose students. Not everyone drinking in the streets are from Albany.

"What many said was the worst incident in the city's student neighborhood in recent memory also underscored long-standing friction between permanent residents of Pine Hills -- perhaps the city's most diverse middle-class neighborhood -- and the transient student set known for trashing low-grade rental housing one semester at a time."

So here's some nice rhetoric pitting established home-owners against students. Not all students 'trash' apartments. Believe it or not, many land lords do not follow state laws in terms of keeping apartments neat and clean, and students choose this housing because it is near to campus. Students who have leases lose their security deposit, and are held responsible for damages when they leave the apartments on the street in question. 

"In an unguarded moment, one College of Saint Rose official recently suggested to the Common Council that it may be too late to save those blocks, which are now nearly devoid of resident homeowners.
"We've lost Hudson and Hamilton," said Mike D'Attilio, Saint Rose's executive director of government and community relations, "we don't want to lose Morris and Myrtle as well."

I'm not even sure how to respond to this chunk. Way to demonize your own students, that themselves or through their parents pay for your school, and your salary. Way to assume that SUNY students are vandals and that Rosebuds could have nothing to do with property damage. Way to assume the home-owners have rights that outweigh those of people who don't. Saint Rose suggests in this article that the way to 'save' Morris and Myrtle is to have college faculty live there and buy houses. 

Saint Rose apparently also did not receive any reports that it's students were involved. The article goes on to say that Saint Rose has students with parents so disgusted by Albany they do not want their children staying there (read: will not pay for their children to stay there). Were no Saint Rose students involved? How about Siena? HVCC? Or is Albany being criminalized in a way that no one wants to contend with. What happened, happened. It's not ok to start riots and cause property damage, but who gets blamed, who is pitted against each other, and who gets more police attention are not accidental and should be a factor in the analysis of what is going on in Albany, and what happened on Saint Patrick's day.