By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
A group that represents both town and gown decided last week to hold a community gathering on problems faced by international students here in Bowling Green.
Ongoing discomfort for international students at BGSU bubbled to the surface during the presidential campaign. Since then, some students have reported being harassed and feeling threatened in the community.
So members of Bowling Green’s City-University Relations Commission agreed last week to show international students that they are welcome here.
A student from Tunisia spoke to the organization in November about poor treatment in the community. So members of the city-university commission decided to talk with members of Not In Our Town, the Bowling Green Human Rights Commission, and the international students program at BGSU about partnering to tackle the problem.
Daniel Gordon suggested that an open community event be held to encourage a conversation between international students and city residents and officials. The meeting would focus on student concerns and offer some solutions.
“We can look at what we can do as a community to better support our international students,” Julie Broadwell said.
The discussion must go beyond the concerns, and not just conclude with “good luck with that,” she said.
It was suggested that international students be given handouts of resources available to them in the community. One of the concerns already expressed is that students here on visas don’t know who to report incidents to – or if it is safe for them to make reports.
The group debated the best location for such a community meeting, since the students may feel more comfortable attending an open discussion like this on campus.
Lisa Mattiace, a member of the city-university commission and chief of staff in the BGSU president’s office, said that international students go through an extensive orientation when they arrive at BGSU. However, that orientation can be overwhelming and new students may not realize at that time what problems they might face.
Also at the city-university meeting, the efforts to coordinate trash cleanups in neighborhoods on the East Side were discussed. Sean Herman, who had offered to organize the efforts through the Common Good group, reported that the first pickup went well with about 25 volunteers helping.
The Wood County Solid Waste District donated trash bags and gloves for the project.
The pickups will continue on the third weekend of each month, with more frequent cleanups possibly being offered later.
“I really appreciate your dedication, your reliability and your passion for doing this,” Gordon said to Herman.
More community members will be sought to help out with the neighborhood cleanups.
The city-university commission also talked about changing its meeting time in order to improve attendance by BGSU student members.
