Civic Responsibility Task Force Recommendations

The Task Force's study led to the recommendations listed and linked below. They are grouped into four themes -- Education, Enforcement, Communication, and Collaboration -- reflecting five guiding principles:

Collaboration

Develop a framework to facilitate cooperation and coordination between the city, university, permanent residents, and students in addressing both strategic and tactical issues related to increasing civic responsibility.

1. By the end of 2004, establish a standing committee charged with continuing the strategic discussion of how to best increase civic responsibility. In effect, the Committee becomes the symbol of the united approach from campus and community. The standing committee should have the following attributes:
   
   
   1. Representative of stakeholder groups among students, permanent residents, university faculty/staff, law enforcement, landlords, and city government.
      
      
   2. University senates (student, administrative, faculty) should be involved in appointing university members; the Mayor would appoint city representatives
      
      
   3. Committee responsibilities should include:
      
      
      1. Provide liaison between University and City to continue developing cooperative strategies to address civility problems and recommend collective action on improving them.
         
         
      2. Develop broad community service initiatives that can direct sanctioning options and opportunities to integrate students into neighborhood associations.
         
         
      3. Provide advice and counsel to the OCLC, City Council, and other such bodies as appropriate.
         
         
      4. Provide a forum for discussion and development of joint approaches to addressing common concerns regarding civic responsibility.
         
         
2. Neighborhood associations should grow initiatives to welcome students and integrate them into the civic life of the neighborhoods. These efforts should recognize the shared needs of students and permanent residents. Specific ideas for implementation include:
   
   
   1. Social activities designed to orient new student residents
      
      
   2. Opportunities for students to join neighborhood associations
      
      
   3. Community improvement efforts where all neighborhood residents can participate
      
      
   4. Investigation of how appropriate course credit can be granted for educationally purposeful neighborhood involvement by students
      
      
3. The university should focus increased effort on communicating plans and ideas with the city and its representatives. Coordinating communication centrally and positioning responsibility close to executive decision-making would best serve this effort. Ideas for implementation include:
   
   
   1. Designate specific responsibility for "community relations" within the President's Office.
      
      
   2. Renew the practice of scheduled "University-City-County" lunches where officials of the university, city, and county could meet and discuss mutual projects and ideas.
      
      
4. Communication strategies for enhanced University interaction with community thrive upon access and commitment. The above recommendations offer avenues to open the dialog, but maintaining it across a variety of projects and their backdrops remains critical to this approach.
   
   
   1. An additional opportunity might be to create lines of shared or common interest. Sometimes the micro-details derail interaction at a high level, but when APD and OUPD have come together, the shared concerns resonate. Would the same be true for communicators? Identifying counterparts and opportunities for interaction beyond senior administration may hold some promise.
      
      
   2. Partnerships on such initiatives as "Athens is my town!", PreCollege, recreational offerings, fire safety, etc., combine with the more traditional dialog or conversation to provide enhanced opportunities for productive conversations and discussions

- Education
- Enforcement
- Communication
- Collaboration