Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 19, 1995                   TAG: 9504190026
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium

CAMPUS-COMMUNITY DIALOGUE MAY GO BEYOND CONVERSATION

The session, held April 11 at Radford University, was aimed in part at easing the sometimes-tense relations between students and city police.

"My perception was that it went very well," said Betty Jones, a member of the City-University Joint Commission on Public Affairs. In the wake of student complaints about treatment by city police, Jones spearheaded efforts to organize groups with facilitators where both sides could talk over the troublesome issues face-to-face.

The commission and the Radford Prevention Coalition sponsored the community dialogue. Commission members Paul Harris, Polly Corn and Bill Yerrick also attended.

Nearly 40 people turned out, and all "came away with an increased awareness" of each other's viewpoints, Jones said. Each of the three groups at the session had several students, representatives from campus and city police departments, commission members and a trained facilitator.

Students seemed to represent a good cross-section of the campus community, not just the student leaders, Jones said.

"So far, everything that I have heard has been very positive," she told her commission colleagues Monday. "I was very encouraged."

Jones said she'll prepare a formal report on the gathering - including recommendations for future activities - for the commission's next meeting in June.

"Maybe we at the university need to go beyond just telling students what the law is," said Jones, who coordinates substance-abuse- and sexual-assault-education programs at Radford University.

Jones suggested building on the dialogue's success by organizing a cleanup day to let participants from city and campus "interact at a different level." She said envisions something going beyond a litter pickup, to also embrace community building.

On the downside, Jones and others who attended the dialogue noted that few members of the community at large showed up for the session. Jones said she anticipates organizers "will put more effort into inviting permanent residents" who live near campus to future sessions.

Jones said if the commission is open to the idea, another community dialogue could happen in the fall, after students return to campus.