City and University of Arizona officials will meet with the public today to discuss student behavior in off-campus housing and its impact on the community.
The forum will be held at 6 p.m. in Room S202 of the UA’s Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering Building at 1130 N. Mountain Ave.
The meeting comes after more than a year of conflicts between the three high-rise apartment complexes that primarily house UA students and the Islamic Center of Tucson. The mosque’s property, at 901 E. First St., has been plagued by objects, including beer and liquor bottles, being thrown at it from balconies of the high-rise apartments, which are called Level, Hub and Next.
“I’m hoping it’s a solution-based conversation,” said Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik, who has been trying to eliminate unruly behavior in off-campus student housing.
The panel will include Kozachik, Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor, City Attorney Mike Rankin and members of the university’s Dean of Students Office, Community Relations Office, the UA Police Department and the Campus Community Relations Committee.
The behavior of some students has been dangerous and unfair to the Islamic Center and other surrounding businesses, Kozachik said. The community should not wait around for someone to get seriously injured before reacting, he added.
Tucson police responded to 24 noise reports from loud music or parties, 10 disturbances, five fights and seven disorderly conduct calls at the three complexes, the Star previously reported. Two red tags, which are warnings from the police for loud parties or disturbances, were issued at Level, Kozachik said.
Five evictions were implemented recently at Level after multiple incidents in which the management concluded that objects, including a plastic bottle filled with chewing-tobacco spit, were thrown at the mosque, he said.
Initially, eight eviction notices were served on two occasions, he said. Three of the residents were excused after cooperating with the management in identifying the resident who threw the spit bottle.
“My bottom line on this is that it’s the parents’ responsibility to raise and discipline their kids – not the mosque’s or the community’s,” Kozachik said. “Here we are picking up the pieces after the parents.”
