Article: Finding the Balance Between VCU Student Renter and Oregon Hill Resident

Last year multimedia journalism graduate student Jaclyn O’Laughlin created an article on neighborhood tensions between VCU students and longtime Oregon Hill residents. I have purposely waited to post it here until the semester started. Here’s an excerpt: “For many students that are here, they are away from home for the first time and they can […]

September 1, 2010; 8:00 AM • by Oregon Hill

Here’s an excerpt:

“For many students that are here, they are away from home for the first time and they can go hog wild. It all comes down to the kids being young, which is not a problem, but they don’t have a lot of experience and some of this stuff hasn’t occurred to them,” said Jennifer Hancock, interim president of the Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association. “The point of view for some of them is that they are only going to be here for four years and they don’t care.”

The residents of Oregon Hill are not trying to pick on or “dog pile” the students, Hancock said. She believes that students have a different perspective than the long-term residents that live in Oregon Hill, because most students know they will only live in the neighborhood for a few years and eventually move away.

Read the entire article and see online video by clicking here.