Sunday, December 30, 2007

Padavan: SJU no good

Once the plan was discovered by local residents, then and only then and with great reluctance did St. John's discuss the Henley Road dorm by revealing the fact that they entered into a 10-year lease with the builders of the facility. When asked about the lack of disclosure to the community, St. John's President Father Donald Harrington, by his own admission, wrote in a letter to my office that, "any earlier dialogue would have been premature, speculative and fiscally irresponsible".

St. John's Off-Campus Dorm Is A Threat To Our Community

Faced with this complete lack of transparency and disclosure and in violation of their own self-proclaimed declaration of being a good neighbor, I have called upon Father Harrington and the St. John's Board of Trustees on numerous occasions to immediately stop building this dorm in the middle of our neighborhood. Countless community members and I have protested three times in front of St. John's to make our opposition to the Henley Road dorm loud and clear.

Beyond questioning the secrecy and motives surrounding St. John's decisions to build this off-campus dorm, I have also questioned St. John's ability to maintain order at this facility. According to St. John's own public records on reported incidences on campus, over the past three years there have been 735 liquor law violations, 106 drug law violations, 84 burglaries, four forcible sex offenses and one arson.

5 comments:

georgetheatheist said...

Liquor law violations...drug law violations...burglaries...sex offenses...and arson.

Now you see why my old HS English teacher, a St.John's grad, called it "The Club".

This is a Catholic institution?

Does anyone know if Fordham in the Bronx has a similar rep?

Anonymous said...

"Come out Virginia, don't let me wait; You the Catholic girls start much too late,"

well on second thought...

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the Jamaica Estates Association, the Civic which is supposed to protect this community, is "in bed" with St. John's University. The reigning officers are more interested in retaining their yearly "stipend" from SJU for the security patrol. You can bet that a deal was reached in which the JEA would get a lot more money for the patrol by keeping a lid on the residents who are protesting this dorm. The question to ask now is HOW MUCH MORE they will be getting than their usual $10,000 a year. You can bet it's an enormous raise. SJU has a history of threatening to withhold these monies if they don't like what Jamaica Estates is doing vis a vis their University, and they have done it. Just ask people who know. SJU blackmails Jamaica Estates - there is no other word for it.

Anonymous said...

the school is trying to accomodate rising admissions while you're trying to keep property value up. why do you even think you have a valid point? and you KNOW your children are 80% likely to be attending St. John's University in the coming years, so what's the point bashing their students? it makes your 'community' look even more childish and petty, so, congratulations. way to make a 'point'.

Anonymous said...

hey guess who was there first? ST. JOHNS. I'm a STJ student and although we're not angels, this college is alot more tame than most colleges. You act like there are kids stumbling through the streets smelling like Vodka and Pot, we're not, you really have nothing to complain about. You know why there are burglaries, sex offenses and arson? BECAUSE IT'S JAMAICA QUEENS! If you don't like it move, the college was here first this is a college area you shouldn't have bought here if you didn't want to deal with college students or college life.