When Central Connecticut State University Professor Clifford Anderson rang the doorbell to ask CCSU college students partying inside to tone it down, the last thing he expected was to have beer dumped on his head or for the city not to address the situation properly.

“I was harassed more than the guy who dumped the beer on my head,” Anderson said. “I felt like I was the guilty one for ringing the doorbell and I just went to say that it’s time to quiet down. The city did nothing.” 

Anderson’s negative experience with CCSU students was a trend amongst New Britain residents who came with grievances to the semester’s first Town and Gown Meeting this Monday.  Voices rising in volume and tempers fuming, the residents conveyed their vexation with Central students’ conduct in the neighborhood and what they perceived was an inadequate response by the university.

“We have a big concern with students who are really out of control,” one resident, who lives on Vincent Avenue and asked not to be named, stated. He added that students threw beer bottles on his home’s front lawn—the property that is dear to him, as it belonged to his parents. “My parents had this house. They built this house. They rented the third floor out to college students. I grew up with it. It was never anything like this.”

“If you haven’t seen the movie ‘Animal House,’ watch it. That’s what’s [going on],” he continued. The resident sitting beside him, a neighbor on Oak Street, said that the eight parties she had experienced ranged from “terrible to unbelievable.”

Another resident who lives on Convington Street and has been a New Britain resident for 43 years recalled students urinating in plain view on her yard, saying that one student’s “thing was out” and that he denied any wrongdoing even though he was standing directly in front of her.

“Back in the day, the kids weren’t bad. But now they’re violent. I never disrespected anyone older when I was younger. It’s got to stop,” she said. 

Residents were also dismayed by the fact that the meeting was not advertised enough, with Krista Tulisano, who came on behalf of Hillcrest, saying that she was tired of coming to the Town and Gown meetings for over 10 years and not seeing any results.

“I just wanna live here with clean streets and no problems. I need some help letting the community know. I think this meeting would be packed if people knew,” Tulisano said, going on to demand that the university better promote the meetings. “I try [to let people know]. I print out flyers and put them in people’s mailboxes. I don’t wanna have [to do that].”

The residents’ complaints made CCSU President Dr. Zulma Toro, who’d initially planned on not intervening, stand up and issue an apology.

“What you are sharing with us makes me ashamed,” Dr. Toro told the room. “It makes me think something that we are doing is not effective. We need to do something with [our students] and come up with a new system that considers their behavior in the neighbor. This is not acceptable and makes me sad.”

“There are no excuses for us to be in front of you and hear these stories,” she went on. “I take full responsibility and I am here encouraging every member of the CCSU team to take responsibility.”

Though Dr. Toro said she does not know what exact direction Central will take at this time, she and Interim Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Peter Troiano emphasized that they are both committed to making improvements.

“It’s a constant effort on our part to educate and re-educate students,” Troiano said. He and Dr. Toro explained that they would take the residents’ suggestions to address the issue with all of Central’s students instead of especially focusing on incoming freshmen during orientation.

“I’m optimistic that we will turn the problem around,” Troiano said.