Teaching College Students to Be Good Neighbors

Going off to college often means moving away from home for the first time, and for a significant number of students, that includes renting their first home or apartment in their college town.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of colleges and universities have seen crunched housing situations and difficulty placing students in residential living pushing even more students to venture off campus for housing.

To encourage students to be good stewards of their neighborhoods, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill partnered with local towns and community partners to create the Good Neighbor Initiative (GNI). Since 2004, the program has helped strengthen connections between UNC students and longtime residents and teach students what it means to be a good neighbor.

The background: The program was initially led by the Chapel Hill Police Department to make door-to-door visits to student rental properties in neighborhoods that had previous been reported for loud noise and disruptive behaviors.

“The idea was to talk to students before the academic year got underway about the local laws and ordinances that, if followed, would reduce the likelihood of problems between neighbors and visits from the police,” according to the university’s website.

Since launching, the initiative has grown to include additional neighborhoods and stakeholders. Today, GNI is facilitated by the university’s Off Campus Life team, the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, EmPowerment Inc., the Jackson Center, and other community partners.

Being neighborly: On the program website, staff encourage students to follow five guiding principles:

1. Meet your neighbors, learn their names and exchange phone numbers.
2. Know your neighbors and how they engage in the community, such as a family with young children or a retired elderly couple and how that determines their expectations for the neighborhood. UNC leaders also encourage students to get familiar with the historic neighborhoods they live in, specifically historically Black areas Northside and Pine Knolls.

3. Help your neighbors with little tasks, such as borrowing items or collecting their mail while they’re away, or more serious issues like calling police for suspicious activities.
4. Respect your neighbors by following reasonable community expectations and considering or compromising on requests to adjust behaviors that may be bothersome. Students should consider how their behaviors may establish a positive relationship with neighbors or put them at odds with others living nearby.
5. Communicate with your neighbors by addressing concerns early, such as making neighbors aware of parties or other gatherings that could be disruptive. Students can also register their parties with the Chapel Hill Police Department, which limits students’ chances of getting a citation for a noise violation and helps police mitigate disruptive behavior more effectively.

Scaling up: The university’s local partnerships have expanded over the past decade to better meet students’ and community members’ needs. GNI still organizes door-to-door visits for students, led by over 70 volunteers who visit more than 1,200 homes, distributing swag items that list resources available to students.

Since 2007, GNI has included a community cookout at the start of the academic year to bring residents together. The cookout is open to the public and includes free food, music, games and a photo booth.

In 2011, UNC and the town of Chapel Hill established the Tar Heel Citizen Times, a monthly e-newsletter with resources, helpful information and tips for off-campus residents. In 2018, the university launched an off-campus housing website, which provides a database of local housing listings and roommate profiles for learners looking to move out with their peers.

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