Norwood resident’s open letter: X.U. students’ bad behavior

One of us found the following letter on the front porch Saturday morning and was able to speak with its author Russell Johnson and his wife just a couple of hours later. The Johnson’s South Norwood home is nearly surrounded by Xavier houses. They said many of the students living in them are routinely rowdy, destructive, and, yes, publicly indecent. Russell is organizing a neighborhood picnic to which two key Xavier officials will be invited. This a great opportunity for residents to band together to find solutions to a problem that is negatively affecting the quality of living for many Norwood families. We applaud Russell for stepping up to address it, and we hope readers who share his concern will email him at the address he provides.


Norwood Residents!

Are you tired of getting awakened up at 2am by a Xavier Student party?
Do you request that they quiet down only to have them get louder after you leave?
Do you wake up to beer cans and fast food wrappers in your yard and strewn in the streets?
Have you had enough of disrespectful or disruptive behavior by Xavier students?

Xavier’s off campus policy states that students living off campus should ‘integrate into the community and be good neighbors’. If you don’t feel the Xavier students living near you are living up to this expectation it is time to take action.

I am looking to organize a neighborhood picnic with guest Dr. Luther Smith the Dean of Students at Xavier, as well as Angie Kneflin the Assistant Director for Apartments and Off-Campus Living for Xavier. This is an opportunity to open a dialog with the Xavier administration, air your concerns about existing conditions, and provide feedback and suggestions for how to improve the situation. If you are interested in such a forum, please e-mail me at xu.in.norwood@gmail.com let me know your name and e-mail address where I can reach you with an invitation.

In the mean time, Xavier has encouraged us to report any disruptive behavior to the Xavier Police in addition to the Norwood Police. They should create an ‘Off Campus Incident Report’ which should include the address of the house being disruptive and the names of any students involved (if you have them). Included below is a quick glance guide for reporting incidents (nice and easy to read for those 2am phone calls).

Sincerely –
Russell Johnson
Concerned Norwood Resident

Xavier Incident Reporting – Quick Reference
Please report rowdy parties, excessive alcohol consumption, property disrepair, inappropriate or illegal activity with the following procedure:

1. Write down the address of the house.
2. Write down any students involved.
3. Call Xavier Police to report the incident.
a. Call 513-745-1000
b. Give them the address and student names collected above.
c. Be sure to request an Off-Campus Incident Report be created.
4. If it is warranted, contact the Norwood Police to report the incident
a. Call 513-458-4520
b. Give them the address collected above.