Town/Gown

http://www.middleburycampus.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=59f36067-e66b-40d3-b405-df2bf5b3fbe5

And the problem looks like it will probably get worse, with Addison County losing one of its essential advocates for people in need of housing: http://www.addisonindependent.com/?q=node/2079/lightbox2

I also think the article came off as insensitive, making a joke out of a serious and not uncommon situation. I hope the family found help, and I hope Public Safety did more than simply "escort them off campus".

That said, I probably would have treated the situation the same way when I was at Midd...if I could do it all over again, I would get off campus more. Duh, rural homelessness is a problem, but you don't really think about it when you're at Midd.

I hope the students involved in this incident (and the reporter) take it to heart and get more involved in the community. It was a little ironic to read this in the same issue of the Campus that reported on the "housing crisis" on campus. While the college does many wonderful things for the town, there are some ways that it exacerbates the town-gown relationship, and one of those ways is housing. Midd controls the number of students who live off campus, but the students and their generally large purses still have an effect on pushing up housing costs in the community. In many ways, it is worth it to the community to suffer housing cost inflation bc the college provides many well paying, steady jobs, but it would be nice if the students would take it upon themselves to mitigate their negative impact on the housing market by informing themselves about the community and getting involved with organizations like Hope, John Graham, CVOEO, and ACCT that are trying to combat rising home prices and enable the people who work in Middlebury to live here too. Many middkids already do, which is awesome bc you have a lot on your plates, but I think this article showed that there is room for improvement. It betrayed a certain level of ignorance, but it also showed empathy and a dedication to the community. So get out there!