Boston Globe, by Tim Logan

The East Village tower at Northeastern University looks like any other dorm in Boston, if a bit more shiny and new than most. But in one important way it's the first of its kind. East Village is the first dorm in Boston to be financed by private developers, and two more, including a second one at UMass Boston, are being planned using private financing and private operators. Several other local colleges and universities are exploring the idea, and other schools are watching closely. "There's a lot of potential for this," said University of Massachusetts president Martin T. Meehan, who launched the state's first privately built dorm when he was chancellor of UMass Lowell and has also helped steer the school's Boston project toward the finish line. Private student housing deals are more common elsewhere, but now one of the nation's biggest college towns finally appears open for that business.

The Morning Sun, by Patrick Richardson

Four historic buildings in Pittsburg may soon see a face-lift if a $15 million project approved by the Pittsburg City Commission Tuesday night comes to fruition. The city has engaged the Vecino Group, a development and housing specialist based in Springfield, Missouri. The project would involve converting four historic downtown buildings into a mixed-use development featuring more than 100 student housing units, commercial space and business incubator facilities. The City of Pittsburg will be putting forth $1.5 million from the revolving loan fund in two installments, $750,000 initially when financing for the project is obtained and $750,000 once the project is complete. Vicino's Chief Operating Officer Mat Burton said the key to the project was funding an "anchor tenant" to lease much of the space.  Burton said PSU will be working on private funding to add to the city's contribution. 

The UB Spectrum, by Ashley Inkumsah

UB Students living off-campus will often sign a lease to a new apartment and end up inhabiting unsafe living conditions. UB's off-campus housing listing website looks to alleviate that problem. The Off-Campus Student Services website provides students with a list of houses and apartments that have passed a municipal safety inspection in the last 36 months. The website provides students with a list of landlords that have successfully kept up-to-code on their properties. It also gives students a checklist of things they should look for prior to signing their lease. Dan Ryan, director of Off-Campus Student Services, said students often end up making poor decisions about selecting housing based on a lack of experience. Ryan and a group of City of Buffalo inspectors perform "housing blitzes" where they check for housing viola-tions in a neighborhood that has absentee landlords and unsafe conditions.

The BG News, by Jessica Speweike

Amid coffee and doughnuts, Bowling Green citizens join-ed members of the Bowling Green Police Division and University police for an opportunity to voice their con-cerns. The BGPD's first annual Coffee with a Cop, a national  event hosted by police divisions in the US, was held on March 23 at Bowling Green's Tim Hortons.  Also in attendance were Leslie Galan, co-chair of Not in Our Town, members of the Human Relations Commission of Bowling Green, Mayor Edwards and Fire Chief Tom Sanderson. Marcy St. John of the Human Relations Commission in Bowling Green said with college towns come a "basic set" of divisions between the campus and city and hoped this would help "erase" the divisions. A more serious concern brought up was the heroin epidemic affecting Bowling Green and other local cities. The sense of community-building and communication prevailed during the week. 

NJ.com, by Matt Gray

Rowan University and the borough maintain their own police departments and responsibilities often overlap between the two in this growing college town, where population swells from 19,000 to 35,000 when fall and spring classes are in session. Given the close relation-ship between police agencies, borough and university officials want to find out if there are ways the two agencies can collaborate and function more efficiently. They are seeking a consultant to study the matter and return recommendations. A consultant could suggest anything from new ways the agencies can work together to a full merger of the two departments, though a merger is not the intention of the exercise. The police departments already work closely, said Bob Zazzali,

Rowan's senior vice president for community and economic development. The borough and university will share the cost of the study.

Boston Globe, by Brian MacQuarrie 

The University of Vermont has a long reputation as a party school, perhaps the legacy of work-hard, play-hard students who liked to hit the slopes as well as the books. But now, led by a medical school professor who totes a brain-shaped football to class, the university is expanding a dormitory program where drugs and alcohol are out and round the clock incentives for healthy living are in. The first year project, called the Wellness Environ-ment, included 120 freshmen chosen from three times the number of appli-cants. Because of its popularity, the program will nearly quadruple next academic year and move to a second residence hall. "If they can get really good health habits now, we've done our job," said Annie Stevens, vice provost for student affairs. Officials say the concept is drawing attention from Georgetown, Tulane, and Virginia Commonwealth universities.  

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.