Over the past few years that I have attended UW-Eau Claire, I have come to notice the conflicts and problems associated with the university, the local neighborhoods and the City of Eau Claire in general. These hostilities have come to the forefront of the local debate with the parking issue in the Third Ward and now a state-wide debate over the potential new Davies Center, which come August shall erupt even further when the Board of Regents will hear the debate.

There also has been a great amount of criticism of a former Eau Claire Chancellor, Donald Mash. The UW System on a whole has been losing a public image battle in recent months.

But my biggest concern, here in Eau Claire, is an “event” that will take place on Friday.

The city’s police department will be taking community leaders to the bars on Water Street, with police escort of course, after midnight. Also, they will be riding the “drunk” bus. Apparently there is a need for the police department to show off the students of Eau Claire at their “finest.” So now students are like caged animals for the city, to be watched, criticized and if some community leaders had it their way, gotten rid of.

This action is completely unnecessary and uncalled for. If community members want to see the bars, they should go by themselves and not with police escort. Are the bars really that dangerous that police escorts are needed? I don’t go with a police escort, and I feel fairly safe; maybe I shouldn’t.

I also wonder if other bars in the city are going to be toured because there are numerous other ones that have less-than-stellar reputations. To me, this is another sad step in a brewing relationship problem between the city and university. It seems more and more that the university is the city’s enemy and not its partner.

After all, the university does bring in $161 million every year to the Chippewa Valley and seems to me to be a very good partner.

The university also happens to be one of the largest employers in the city of Eau Claire. The university brings numerous other positives, but sadly only the negatives seem to be brought forth. But as students here at the university, we need to make a positive effort towards making this relationship better and, in turn, making this wonderful school’s image better.

It’s time as students we become good neighbors and citizens of this fine city. A lot of these negative attitudes can be linked directly to negative experiences community members have had with students.

One bad experience makes the entire population of the university bad apples. So I ask, is it really that hard to keep your lawns mowed and clean? Parties are the biggest problem, of course, and I say meet your neighbors and exchange phone numbers.

If they have a problem, have them call you and not the Eau Claire Police Department; they have other, bigger issues to deal with anyways. Heck, why not even offer to mow your neighbor’s lawn when you do yours?

If Eau Claire wants to improve its image publicly, then the neighbors need to trust us, and the students must respect them for their right to live in a student housing area. We must work together to find a solution for many of the problems community members have with the university and problems the university has with the community. Eau Claire can and will be a much more cohesive unit if these two entities get along for a change.

Nelson is a junior history major and a columnist for The Spectator.