Senior Adrian Klenz said he’s accustomed to community members having a lot of animosity toward students.

Before taking office as Student Senate president, Klenz said he received many angry e-mails from residents in neighborhoods, such as the Third Ward and Randall Park.

Thanks to concentrated efforts from students and community members, those angry e-mails mostly subsided and have become either praise or constructive suggestions, he said.

Senate is making an effort to improve relations by declaring October “Responsible Student Citizenship Month,” and Klenz hopes it will bring attention to an issue that should be encouraged year-round.

“Some folks think students simply don’t care,” Klenz said, adding that he’s working hard to change that perception.

Intergovernmental Affairs chair Randy Winsand is hashing out details of a proposed “Meet Your Neighbor Day” for Oct. 26.

The idea is to have an opportunity for students to meet their non-student neighbors.

“We would like more students to become more familiar with who their neighbors are,” Winsand said.

“I’m hoping that the majority of students will have enough respect for their neighbors to keep things on the up-and-up.”

Specific details of the day should be finalized this week, Winsand said.

Klenz said simply knowing who is next door is important to maintaining a livable environment.

“I think the biggest thing is to personalize it,” he said. “We live in our own little bubble sometimes.”

Klenz said he believes the majority of community members respect students and 99 percent of students are decent neighbors.

But it’s the 1 percent of the population that causes problems on a much larger scale.

It’s to the point, Winsand said, where if there are problems, such as noise, litter or vandalism, in a neighborhood where students and community members share boundaries many assume the students are responsible.

That is happening along the 700 and 800 blocks of Chippewa, Niagara and Broadway streets, Winsand said.

Repeated incidents of petty vandalism triggered many community members to scoff at efforts to improve relations.

There has not been any implication that students are responsible for the vandalism, Winsand said.

Because of the vandalism, he said he is focusing a lot of the community relations on these blocks.

Chancellor Donald Mash and Klenz recently sent a letter to off-campus students encouraging them to be responsible neighbors.

It also listed meeting times and places for the Historic Randall Park Neighborhood Association and the Third Ward Neighborhood Association.

Klenz said even though problems still exist and many never will make the effort to get along, it’s important to keep trying.

“I think it’s starting to pay off,” he said. “The big thing is to keep that momentum so we don’t slide back.”