Pratt: Not In Our Front Yard
Yesterday, the Local blog broke the sad news that as of next month Pratt will begin enforcing its longstanding-but-long-ignored rule against loitering by non-school-related people. (Like one of the Brownstoner progeny above shown in happier times on a campus-trashing wilding spree.) Community members will still be able to cut through the campus on foot but…
Yesterday, the Local blog broke the sad news that as of next month Pratt will begin enforcing its longstanding-but-long-ignored rule against loitering by non-school-related people. (Like one of the Brownstoner progeny above shown in happier times on a campus-trashing wilding spree.) Community members will still be able to cut through the campus on foot but they won’t be able to sit and admire the sculpture. A spokeswoman for the school said the policy does not allow the use of the campus grounds as a public park or playground. Most of the commenters on the Local aren’t happy about this and we heard from one community resident that a group called the Clinton Hill Action Committee is forming to try to get Pratt to reconsider its decision; if you are interested you can contact the organizers at clintonhillac@gmail.com.
Pratt Rolls Up the Welcome Mat [NYT/Local]
I am Pratt Alumni and I find this plain weird, when the neighborhood was not as good it was open to everyone during the day and closed at night to only students. Pratt has worked hard with the community and the city to improve the area and make better connections with everyone living around the campus. This is not going to help that relationship at all. It is not like the Neighborhood is not banning drunk art students from wandering the streets at night disturbing the peace and vandalizing! I am not saying that Pratt Students are horrible people, but it is college in the middle of the neighborhood, and there always will be the occasional over served Freshmen walking home from the bar being stupid!
I think Pratt should keep the campus open to the community, that has accepted Pratt for the good and the bad that comes out of it!
@jxc187 – you said, “if pratt has a problem with parents allowing their children to draw with sidewalk chalk, then address it with the community.”
when i see security guards continuously address this with the community on an individual basis with the visiting community members and the mothers and nannies turn it into an argument, then i feel pratt HAS tried to address it face to face. perhaps their constant rudeness and disregard for the campus finally has a consequence. they have no one to blame but themselves.
in regards to the cease and desist letter, i would guess that it was due to the fact that the website was encouraging mothers and nannies to feast on campus, like hungry pigeons, without thought as to what their actions were bringing to campus – (broken sculptures, chalk graffiti on the streets, rose gardens being trampled, plants being dug up and murdered, one mother told a student to put out his cigarette around her child). the vitriol comes with seeing first hand how they talk to the security guards. they arent even there as a family! they let the kids run around without really watching them while they talk on cell phones or gossip with other mothers. its amazing at how attentive the parents become when the security guards come around. the website should not being saying pratt is a “destination for families”. (a destination for families can be museums, public parks, disneyland – not private colleges).
Here is a great link for a place I used to take my kids. its free!! http://wondertechlab.sony.com/
and in regards to “Visitors are welcome to tour the campus and Pratt’s contemporary sculpture park.” Oh really?” – TOUR the campus, not RUN AMOK. Set up a tour if you would like a tour.
i have nothing against children and their parents in general. some of my best friends are children and their parents!
Hey, I live in Willoughby Walk and I figure that if Pratt students are such danger magnets, why would we want them crossing through our property? If we can’t use Pratt, then make the Pratt students walk either through dog poo in the darkness on Hall Street or in the Classon Avenue “Danger Zone.”
Frankly, some (very few) of them already treat our property poorly by littering, tagging dumpsters and sitting on our benches drinking 40s out of paper bags like they’re in the “ghetto,” probably thinking they’re keeping it real.
Aaah, the irony and beauty of Clinton Hill middle class mostly black folks telling scruffy mostly white kids to stop drinking in front of our building.
davide5- I think the issue is that it feels arrogant and jackass-y, whether it’s their legal right or not. It’s _lame_, even if it’s well within their rights.
It’s also an example of the school taking an antagonistic position toward the neighborhood, which also causes a negative reaction, even if it’s completely legal.
Sure, they have the right to cut off access. It’s just a jerky, us-vs-them kinda action, and seems to be (whether or not this is their thinking) coddling the students and implying that they need to be kept in a cage for their own protection.
I went to a school that had a really antagonistic relationship with the city around it, and an excess of security/gates/checkpoints/etc. I thought it was bullshit then, and i think it’s bullshit now.
Umm, am I missing something? I really don’t understand why people feel they have a right to use a private campus. What about use of LIC’s facility’s down off Willoughby? What about St. Joe’s? Do I get to use their facilities and hang out in their manicured yards off Clinton? If anything I would think people would lobby for use of shut off city high school fields, tracks, courts, etc. that are truly funded with public money. I really don’t see a problem with a private school saying “sorry, time to tighten things up, we just got some BAD PR and students willing to cough up $50k/per are not growing on trees anymore.” Maybe it’s window dressing for Pratt, but window dressing is how we react to violent crimes around here (e.g., foot patrols seem to only appear in FG/CH in response to NY Post featured crimes).
From Pratt’s website:
“Visitors are welcome to tour the campus and Pratt’s contemporary sculpture park.”
Oh really?
@bxgirl – what should pratt do, then, that’s far better? if this is a reaction to a need for increased safety, then the only place that such a change is going to be apparent is on pratt grounds – security has no jurisdiction outside the campus.
@jxc187 – “pratt students participate in the community surrounding their college (sometimes in a way that’s very offensive to the permanent residents)” care to clarify? most of the students ARE permanent residents. are they loud & disruptive? do they get drunk? if this is the problem, the few that are truly disruptive hardly compete with the many “permanent residents” that do so on an almost-24/7 basis.
pratt has spent years giving back to this community, & by closing its campus to the public, it does not cease to do so. the gym is stilled rented out for community events & regional testing, PICCED is one of the most active & forward-thinking groups in nyc, the students & graduates in the neighborhood have brought in & kept open a lot of great businesses, etc, etc. you all make this out to be the end-all-be-all, when really, all it’s preventing you from doing is sitting your asses down. do you pay over 50k a year to go to pratt? no, you don’t – there is no outstanding ‘right’ to use of the campus by the public, it is a privilege.
“pratt students participate in the community surrounding their college (sometimes in a way that’s very offensive to the permanent residents)”
what do you mean by this, jxc187? I’m a Pratt student and to the best of my knowledge I have never offended any of the permanent residents in the community. Did someone do something to you?
barbaralahabara, what do you have against children and their parents? geez, so much vitriol! yes, a college campus is for the students, but it’s also very much a part of a community, as all local organizations/businesses/institutions are part of a community. pratt students participate in the community surrounding their college (sometimes in a way that’s very offensive to the permanent residents), and community members should also participate in the life of pratt. it is not an island. if pratt has a problem with parents allowing their children to draw with sidewalk chalk, then address it with the community. don’t unilaterally close off the campus with zero explanation. don’t send threatening letters to community members who deign to list pratt as a beautiful destination for families. i went to grad school at columbia and always appreciated how open the campus was to the community. i never imagined that a college would consider closing their campus to the general public! i am truly outraged by this decision.