"Be Seen in Eugene in 2017" and learn strategies and emerging practices for improving your campus commu-nity relationships. Professional development opportu-nities include participating in the Certificate in Town-Gown Relations, level I or II. In addition to the keynote speakers, educational sessions and roundtable discus-sions, you have the opportunity to network with fellow professionals while exploring a revitalized Eugene neighborhood for its booming food and beverage service industry. You must pre-register for this event. Eugene offers a wide variety of cultural and recreational opportunities. The Eugene Cascades & Coast area has exten-sive running, biking and hiking trails in town and near conference hotels. With no sales tax, shopping opportunities abound! If you are looking for a great place to eat, Eugene is legendary for offering world class cuisine. To learn more about the conference, click here. Registration closes May 15. 

Town-Gown Conference, by Gary Stewart

Shared challenges and opportunities in regional college towns, with inputs from government, higher education, business, and non-profit sectors, will be discussed. Speakers will include Mary Beth Labate, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities that represents New York's 100+ independent colleges and universities on issues of public policy. A program will be finalized in mid-March. The Cornell University Town-Gown Confer-ence will convene Friday, April 7, 8:30am-2:00pm at the Hilton Garden Inn, 130 E. Seneca Street, downtown Ithaca, NY. A tour of the nearby business incubator Rev: Ithaca Startup Works will be available for anyone interested at 2pm. There is no charge for this conference. If you would like to attend, please RSVP by Friday, March 10 and include your title, organization and the names and email addresses of any colleagues attending with you.  

It may soon be easier for fraternities and sororities to open or expand chapter houses around the University of Minnesota, thanks to proposed changes to the city's zoning code. Under the new guidelines, chapter houses could be taller, house more people and be built on smaller lots. It's an effort to serve the U's growing Greek community. Students, alumni and the U admin-istration drove the push for zoning code changes said Maggie Towle, asso-ciate vice provost for student life. The U has 33 fraternity and sorority chapter houses, all privately owned. Since 2011, Greek membership at the U has grown from 6 percent of undergraduates to about 11 percent. Under the updated zoning code, chapter houses still will be confined to within a half-mile of campus. But new chapter houses could be built on lots where a fraternity or sorority hasn't been located before.  

The Tufts Daily, by Catherine Perloff & Liam Knox

Medford City Council unanimously passed the University and College Accountability ordinance on Feb. 28, re-quiring Tufts to provide an anonymous list of the addresses of students living off campus in Medford. The ordinance requires any university in Medford to send the city a list of student addresses on a semesterly basis. City officials say the list is a tool to protect students' safety, especially as it relates to overcrowding. Code enforcers can use this list to ensure students are not violating Medford's occupancy laws. Rocco DiRico, co-director of the Office of Community Relations, said that Tufts plans on fully complying with the ordinance and that the university respects the city's intentions in passing the measure. DiRico added that while Tuffs will provide all off-campus addresses being used by its students, the names of student residents will not be provided to the city.  

The new Off-Campus Housing listing site allows users to search for housing options, post their own sublease listings and talk on message boards about housing questions and concerns. These listings can then be sorted through over 100 filters, including distance to campus, type of housing, amenities, cost and length of lease. The project is the culmination of several years of work, primarily by the one-woman office of Off-Campus Outreach and Communication, which is run by director Jen O'Brien. Almost 35 percent of students at Miami sign a lease before their sophomore year according to a survey that O'Brian ran as one of her first actions as director. With more than 16,000 spots for off-campus housing in Oxford, she felt this percentage was too high and didn't reflect the popular rent-housing-early myth. These facts led her to work with Off-Campus Partners, a company that specializes in creating these kinds of listing sites for colleges. 

A growing and impressive group of professionals from campus communities across the globe continue to network and share strategies for improving town and gown relations. Join us on Twitter and LinkedIn.  

The ITGA strengthens town and gown partnerships by providing a network of professionals and resources, identifying and sharing leading practices, innovative solutions and professional development opportunities for municipal and university communities.