City needs more from USC to curb unruly behavior, councilman says

A Columbia councilman said the city needs more cooperation from the University of South Carolina to tackle the issue of unruly students in neighborhoods that surround the university.

Councilman Howard Duvall, an at-large City Council member, said the city has taken the steps to enact tools, such as the new rental housing ordinance that went into effect July 1, to curb the deterioration of the city’s neighborhoods.

But the city has been inundated with an increase in student population at the university. And its officials “don’t seem to want to accept the responsibility” that would require off-campus students be supervised as closely as those living on campus.

Since school started, there have been reports of vandalism and of students falling asleep on the property of university-area home owners. Residents of Columbia’s neighborhoods worry fed up homeowners will just sell their homes, leaving mainly rowdy students behind.

“It would help the situation greatly if we could work with the university to put some supervision on the students,” Duvall said. “The university owes it to those neighborhoods to help curb the behavior of the students they’re attracting.”

Duvall echoed university officials, saying homeowners need to call the police when they witness illegal behavior or a party getting out of hand. Calling the police is the only way the city can track how and where the unruly behavior is taking place, and it can help USC understand the magnitude of the situation, Duvall said.

USC spokesman Wes Hickman said, in recent years, the university has stepped up its partnership with Columbia’s downtown neighborhoods to ensure students know how they should behave when they move into an off-campus property.

USC also works closely with the Columbia Police Department to make sure officers patrol areas with lots of student activity to deter unruly behavior, Hickman said.

“It’s a multipronged effort to kind of help curb negative behaviors in the neighborhoods,” Hickman said. “It’s very important for us to have those good relationships with the neighborhoods around us.”

Councilwoman Tameika Isaac Devine, also an at-large council member, said she was hesitant to “react too quickly” with another ordinance. Devine said having USC remind students how they should behave is probably what’s best, considering school just started a few weeks ago.

“I think that we already have adequate laws and rules for behavior when it gets out of hand,” Devine said. “USC has made a really good job partnering with us, helps us reinforce those kinds of ideas. I think it’s going to have to be an ongoing effort.”