Resident Evil?

All stereotypes turn out to be true. This is a horrifying thing about life. All those things you fought against as a youth: you begin to realise they’re stereotypes because they’re true.” So David Cronenberg, a famous director, once commented, but was he simply living too deeply in the world of his films, or do stereotypes have a grain of truth inside of them?

Students as a collective are often seen as noisy, wild party goers – it’s a stereotype that has existed throughout the ages, along with the presumption that because of this, it’s probably the best time of our lives. Popular culture has similarly encouraged this stereotype to exist and indeed flourish – while the antics of students Mike, Rick, Vyvyan and Neil in the sitcom The Young Ones are often ridiculous, they’re only over exaggerated concepts of how students supposedly behave.

Perhaps there is a sense of nostalgia involved in this specific stereotype, in that people who did go to university like to look back on the “good ol’ days” and reminisce about how they used to have wild, extreme lives, whereas now the craziest thing to happen to them is getting a call from BT asking them to change their internet provider, a call which they desperately keep running on for far too long just to feel some human contact…Possibly that’s stretching it, but do students in reality have this obnoxious quality to them?

National newspapers jump on the chance to highlight that this is the case, but looking at the stories there often is some justification to it – the case of Philip Laing and the unfortunately watered poppy war memorial being one such instance.

Students of the University of York undoubtedly know how to have a good time, but in general it seems that they’re able to do this in moderation. In fact, the last wide scale disturbance on the actual campus of the University was when The Boomtown Rats played in Central Hall in 1983, where Bob Geldof urged the students to get up and dance in an all-seated arena, causing over £1,000 worth of damage. A sad time for all, as Central Hall was no longer allowed to be used for bands to perform in, and Geldof walked out of the rubble unscathed.
However, while on campus, students may be disturbed by the occasional “I love you Derwent” and annoyed by the midweek returnees from Ziggys, residents living in places containing high levels of students have for a long time battled with what they deem as students “spoiling” their area. Residents from Badger Hill, an area well-known for its sudden “studentification”, were so roused by how students affected their neighbourhood that in 2006 a group entitled the “Badger Hill Action Group” was set up and a petition protesting the letting of family homes to students was created.

Badger Hill is still a common point of contention for residents living there, with one inhabitant complaining of “some students displaying a flagrant lack of consideration for their living environment and fellow residents”.

Nevertheless, York Uni students are not the only ones to rile the neighbours. An area known as The Groves behind York St John’s University is notorious for having residents up in arms against noisy students, but recently the Students Union decided to show their support for residents, by setting up the Night Marshals Scheme. The scheme which ran during Freshers’ Week of the Uni saw a team of marshals patrolling the area between 10pm and 3am each day, and was largely deemed to be a success.

Jason Wallis, current Students’ Union President of York St John and leading member of the scheme, stated that “The Night Marshals Scheme was set up in response to complaints from residents that our students were causing Anti-Social behaviour late at night. We felt as a city centre University it is our responsibility to ensure that a minority of our students causing trouble do not spoil it for the rest of our student body.” Still, some would argue that spoiling it is exactly what this scheme is doing, with one third year York St John student commenting that they don’t want to feel like they are being hassled “merely for coming home late”.

Wallis however also points out the benefits for students in the scheme – referring to the fact that the scheme is “also there to help those that may be vulnerable on their way home from a night out or those who just want someone trustworthy to walk them to their front door through particularly dark streets.” Whilst this could be deemed useful for areas in the centre of York, it remains to be seen how transferable the scheme would be if it was taken on by the Union here at York University.

Even in being deemed a success, the trial Night Marshal Scheme for St John’s only had to respond to two calls in the entire week, whether this was due to the scheme or in spite of it is uncertain. One bartender working at The Charles, a popular pub frequented by York students, stated that they “couldn’t remember any incidents involving students” and that in general they were “fairly polite and friendly, always leaving when told to and never violent.”

Nevertheless, it seems that noise is still the biggest problem between students and residents, and Wallis has stated that current YUSU Welfare Officer Ben Humphrys has shown “interest” in the scheme, and has “asked for some help with the possibility of setting up something similar at areas such as Badger Hill where there is a potential issue at the moment.” For York St John, after the successed of the trials, the Night Marshal Scheme is likely to become a permanent fixture but the question of how it will be funded is a major one – one that without extra funding from the Council or the University could mean that however well meaning students intentions are to help improve situations between locals, the matter of money could still ruin everything.

Students have often complained about their harsh treatment from locals in York and there has been much contention as to whether this actually illustrates the ill-informed stereotypes of locals that students hold or whether this is reality. However, now the tables are turned, and whether students will come out of the situation as the solution or as a continued problem to the residents of York remains to be seen.