At the center of Georgetown University’s work to keep good relations with Foxhall and other nearby communities is Cory S. Peterson.

For the past three years, since taking on the post of director of the Office of Neighborhood Life, Peterson has been pushing for closer connections with the communities, rapid and thorough response to student disorderly conduct, and a mutual approach to accountability.

Cory S. Peterson, director of Georgetown University’s Office of Neighborhood Life, enters his office at 36th and N streets on May 20, 2016 after a day on the Move Out Drive beat. The program provides free bulk trash collection for students and nearby neighborhood residents. Peterson said the program this past year netted $45,000 in in-kind contributions to KEYS for the Homeless, which distributes surplus furniture, books and other goods to those in need. Photo Credit: John A. Bray

Peterson acknowledges that many longtime University neighbors have an “extensive history of frustration with us.” In an interview with me at his townhouse quarters at 36^th and N streets, he said that his appointment and the accompanying reorganization of the approach to community relations amounts to “turning over a new leaf.” It came in the wake of what was a long and fractious effort to gain city approval of the campus plan for 2012-2017 amid the outcry of neighbors about rowdy student conduct and university development ambitions. Much has changed.

The Office has responded to and tracked outcomes of hundreds of complaints from neighbors, developed the Georgetown Community Partnership (GCP) that includes a half-dozen working groups, published a 30-page glossy Hoya Living Guide that maps resources and explains conduct expectations, and led screening of rental properties for compliance with city business and safety regulations.

The expansive mission of the Office is to “support all students, non-students, and permanent residents” in the surrounding communities.

“I was the new guy on the block who was just here to help,” said Peterson, 37, who started at the University in 2006 as a residence hall director and was named to his current post in August 2013 after a brief interim stint. He has a master’s degree in higher education from Texas A&M and hails from Utah, where he spent nearly a decade in administrative jobs at Utah’s Hogle Zoo, including events management.

Staff in the Office was boosted from three to five, including two community directors, one who lives in Burleith and one in West Georgetown. Peterson himself has a 45-minute commute into work.

The commitment of additional resources came with elevation of Peterson’s role and his office’s profile. It is senior enough to merit a standing Monday meeting with the university’s vice presidents, with direct supervision of his work by the vice president for government relations and community engagement. “It allows us to be more nimble and have a quicker response,” Peterson said. “I set the agenda … Here’s some stuff I had over the weekend, here’s where I’m seeing some push … I can get buy-in right there and we can work it as a group.”

“My thought is we’ve gotten better because we’ve organized ourselves better. All complaints come to us.”

“Fast-forward three years and we are seeing better student behavior,” Peterson said.

How much better might not be reflected in the detailed statistics Peterson keeps. The numbers of for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 look similar, with just over 480 contacts with off-campus residents, many of them not University students. Regarding outcomes, for example, 81 properties were noted as being placed on party restriction in 2013-14 and 83 in 2014-15. For Foxhall, the data report shows three noise incidents adjudicated by the Office of Student Conduct in 2013-14 and one in 2014-15, when one property was reported placed on party restriction. More current data has not been finalized.

Law and medical students have a separate conduct process that isn’t reported in the statistical profile.

Peterson said he did not anticipate seeing shifts in the incident trend lines for a couple of years because it takes time for students to cycle through and recognize the new standards. He said that more recent data is showing fewer incidents with students. “When you’re receiving sanctions on the first offense that often include disciplinary probation, which triggers a letter home to your parents, I think that’s a big change,” he said. He said he did not have data about incidents occurring prior to his tenure.

Changes are noticeable. It was about three years ago that I fielded a complaint from a neighbor about rowdy alcohol consumption at a Foxhall rental house. I contacted Peterson. Peterson followed up with me at the time and explained that a member of his team visited the house, provided a copy of the Hoya Living Guide and informed the students of their responsibilities, and explained that disruptions could result in follow-up by the Dean of the Medical School. The conduct ended and no other complaints have emerged, at least within my earshot of my Foxhall residence.

Students must sign an agreement that covers responsible and respectful conduct. If behavior draws a complaint, the agreement serves as a reminder of expectations, and students are asked, “What happened?” Peterson said sanctions have been strengthened.

Disorderly conduct includes making noise that can be heard beyond the property line an incident reports include layman’s descriptions of the noise, such as audible from the street over the sound of a running car. Penalties range and escalate from a first violation that includes a $50 fine, five work sanction hours, likely disciplinary probation, and party restrictions up to “likely suspension” for a fourth violation.

Peterson said the University also keeps space open for special circumstances that arise with housing conflicts. “If the violations are egregious, we will move them back on campus,” Peterson said, adding that it’s happened a couple of times in the past three years.

“Then you’re responsible for paying rent in a place you can’t live in and paying the university to live on campus. Students say, OK, that’s not a very fun thing to do. When I talk to colleagues at other universities they say, You do what! How do you do that?”

Accountability Drive Goes Beyond Students

Some landlords don’t keep their property up to code and lack the Basic Business License required by the city and enforced by the DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. The license includes an inspection.

Working with the Environment and Landlord Initiative working group of the GCP, and the regulatory agency, Peterson’s office launched screening of properties in Foxhall, Burleith, Cloisters, and West Georgetown for compliance. Only properties housing four or more undergraduate students were covered initially, which yielded 185 properties. Peterson checked the sites against the regulatory agency’s Property Information Verification System, which showed that 51 either lacked a license or the license was expired. The results are provided to the agency to facilitate inspection.

Over two years, 144 properties have been inspected and brought into compliance, according to Peterson. The effort was expanded to cover all properties in the city housing three or more University students, both graduate and undergraduate. The screen yielded 402 properties, and a list of 72 problematic sites was sent to the agency in early May 2016.

Students also bring housing complaints to Peterson. So do their parents, including one who asked for inspection of on-campus townhouses too. The university owns about 65 in the area around the campus, according to Peterson. The request was met. “The University should be a good landlord, too,” he said.

The motive for inspection has a visceral element. In 2015, a University graduate who had earned a master’s degree and a Fulbright Scholarship perished in a fire at her DuPont Circle rental. The dwelling lacked a Basic Business License, according to DCRA.

Peterson eventually wants to cover all properties housing even one student. But there are limits. “I can’t overwhelm DCRA and send them a list of 1,000 properties every year,” Peterson said. “We’re only a tiny little piece of their rental property pie.”

Peterson declined to provide figures for the budget that the University devotes to his work. But he said “we’re committed,” and that the University works closely with the communities and strives to manage resources efficiently.

For example, three years ago, the University employed seven off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officers to patrol nearby neighborhoods from 11:30 p.m. to 4 a.m., Thursday through Saturday, and three officers, Sunday through Wednesday. “It was a lot,” Peterson said.

When community members expressed need for daytime patrols, the University responded by reducing the Thursday to Saturday complement by two and using the savings to fund SNAP (Student Neighborhood Assistance Program) patrols during the day. SNAP is manned by full- and part-time workers who are University employees and receive training two or three times per year. The pay is $30 per hour, and, in May 2016, Peterson said 17 people were on the waiting list for a slot.

Noise from students was among the daytime concerns. The city’s noise ordinance, where making unreasonably loud noise carries a penalty of up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine, only covers from 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. The University student off-campus conduct code’s noise component applies day and night.

“We will respond to anything,” Peterson said. “If they are not our student we will go right back to our car and call 911. If it’s another university’s student I will follow up and file it and send it to their dean’s office.”

He keeps on his office wall a photograph from his Texas alma mater. It shows a towering bonfire, a traditional event that turned tragic in 1999 when 12 died when the nearly 60-foot-tall tiered log structure collapsed as it was being built. He said the incident changed universities’ approach to managing risk.

“It’s not one person’s sole responsibility, which is probably why I’m so supportive of the GCP,” said Peterson, who was attending the school when the memorial was dedicated in 2004. “We don’t point fingers. It’s, how do we fix it together?”

© 2016 John A. Bray