Editorial: The balance between colleges and communities — and the quest for responsibility

There has always been a complicated relationship between colleges and the communities where they are located.

The schools are economic engines that drive employment and business. At the same time, they can drive real estate prices out of local reach or create law enforcement issues with problems like binge drinking or disruptive noise. For every high, there is a corresponding low.

The shorthand for the relationship is “town and gown” — the struggle between college on one side and the community on the other.

But is that really the issue?

That traditional us-vs.-them situation ignores the fact that it isn’t a binary equation with school on one side and residents on the other. It’s a lot more complicated.

The colleges are their own tug-of-war between the students on one side and the administration on the other. That makes the situation much more three-pronged.

Penn State has struggled for years with how to control the uncontrollable with things like off-campus frat parties and the student-created drinking holiday “State Patty’s Day.” Such events have ended in significant legal problems, including student injury, death and sexual assault.

On Saturday, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania version of the Irish-themed college drinking binge — IUPatty’s — had a similar public catastrophe during a party at an off-campus apartment. Police can’t say how many people were at the Elm by Traverse Commons apartment, but estimates have ranged from 50 to 100. Regardless, it was enough for 12 people to be injured when the floor beneath them collapsed.

It’s the kind of thing where the school may want reassurances from local government about student safety issues or the residents may want the college to keep the students restrained.

But that’s where people have to realize that the students can be a wild card. Schools have little jurisdiction over what they do off-campus. It is something that more college communities and the real estate companies that cater to them should take into consideration.

Landlords have the option of more control when it comes to cosigners, guarantees and legal responsibility, the same way car rental companies do in not leasing to legal adults under a certain age. Municipalities also can craft more restrictive ordinances about off-campus events — and enforce them consistently and sternly.

No one will stop college students from drinking to excess. But if there’s one lesson that every college student should take away when they leave campus, it’s one of responsibility.