University of Nottingham, by Staff Writers

A new campaign, Hello Neighbour,' was launched at the end of the academic year to target students who may be moving into the local community. Some resident groups expressed concerns that students might not be aware of the diversity of the community they are potentially moving into and suggested that these stu-dents could benefit from having information about their responsibilities. The 'Hello Neighbour' campaign provides information on the diversity of the community and messages from student focus groups. At the heart of the campaign are four different posters featuring existing commu-nity members, each providing their own 'pearl of wisdom' message. The message of the new campaign is welcoming while being pragmatic, realistic and clear about what a community is, and how individuals and groups can affect others. To see the the new campaign posters, click here. 

Tallahassee Democrat, by Byron Dobson

Tallahassee City Commissioner Curtis Richardson said he was shocked to learn 70 percent of recent college graduates in Nashville remain in the area after grad-uation. Part of that is Nashville's success in branding itself as "Music City," but that is coupled with economic development that spurs job creation and opportunities for young people. "We haven't totally agreed on a vision for Tallahassee, but were getting there," Richardson said. "I believe young people can add a lot to his community. Richardson was part of a panel of elected officials, community leaders and business executives at City Hall for a discussion on efforts to make it more attractive for college graduates to stay in Tallahassee once they graduate. Panelists touched on familiar sub-jects such as creating new jobs, encouraging affordable housing, increas-ing entertainment options and promoting Tallahassee's values.   

Lewiston-Auburn Sun Journal, by Andrew Rice

A neighborhood meeting in response to complaints about Bates College off-campus housing will be held Thursday by Lewiston police. Representatives from Bates College security and Lewiston code enforcement will also be in attendance. Police have been asked by residents to set up efforts to address disruptive parties in off-campus housing within the neighborhoods sur-rounding the college, while city officials have also been grappling with how to respond. On Tuesday, the City Council extended a moratorium on estab-lishing lodging houses until Feb. 2018. The City Council and Planning Board held a joint workshop in June to discuss multiple options for addressing the issue of loud party activity, and while no decisions were made, the majority agreed that greater enforcement is needed. For Bates officials, the issue is boiling over as the college gears up for another semester. 

NYTimes.com, by Nicholas St. Fleur

On Aug. 21, by some cosmic serendipity, this college-town will be among the best to witness the Great American Eclipse. Carbondale, population 26,000, will be host to tens of thousands of visiting skygazers. Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, senior research scientist with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, will be among them, studying the solar spectacle. Three years ago, Bob Baer, a staff member at the university's physics department, learned of Carbondale's cosmic destiny: The city is near what NASA calls "the point of greatest duration." Officials hope the eclipse will be a boom for local businesses. "The biggest challenge has been trying to get people to understand how big this can be," said Gary Williams, city manger of Carbondale. People have called from Europe, Japan, Panama and Brazil seeking to snag a spot for the "Total Eclipse of the Heartland." 

Collegiate Times, by Izzy Rossi

The beginning of fall semester is quickly approaching and university officials are preparing for their largest freshman class to date, with almost 7,000 incoming students. Along with the influx of new students comes a new set of challenges. One challenge is shortages in on-campus housing. Virginia Tech officials have identified several strategies for expanding occupancy of campus spaces. "One, we are taking our larger doubles and converting a good number of those to triples, and those students will receive a reduced rate in their housing, said Frank Shushok, senior associate vice president for Student Affairs. "A second strategy is that all of our residents advisers will have roommates, which we never like to do...and our RAs are often terrific in responding to that need. The third thing is that we have identified a number of lounges or other spaces that we are converting to bedrooms.   

University of Wisconsin-Madison, by Steve Wagner

For the first time in its 169-year history, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has a Campus Master Plan ap-proved by the City of Madison Common Council. This approval shifts the majority of campus zoning from residential, commercial or manufacturing to "Campus-Instititional" zoning. The university also now meets the requirements of the City of Madison munici-pal zoning code and can utilize the C-I zoning to held guide redevelopment projects. The master plan also allows the university to streamline its local entitlement process, saving six to nine months of development time. Each new university capital project will take less time and cost less money, reducing the impact on scarce state funding and private gift funds donated to the university for building projects. The final plan was developed over the course of 260 stakeholder meetings. The entire campus and all of the local neighborhood associations were fully engaged throughout the process. 

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