March 2012

Off-Campus Life

In This Issue:

• Spring Break Intro
• Preventing Property Theft
  
• Alternative Spring Break
• Tip of the Month
• Helpful Resources

About Us:

The Office of Student and Community Relations (OSCR) provides resources, education, and support to UVM students so that they have successful experiences moving and living off campus. We also work with students, neighbors, and city partners on creative initiatives to improve the quality-of-life in our shared community.

Tip of the Month:

Thinking About Subletting?

Post a free sublet ad on the UVM Off-Campus Housing Website and click here for a  Sample Sublease Agreement. Also make sure your sublettor has a copy of the Off-Campus Living Survival Guide so they know about their rights and responsibilities as a tenant.

Helpful Resources:

• UVM Off-Campus Housing Website
  One site where you can find off-campus housing & UVM roommates, post free sublet ads, and more!
• VT Tenants Inc.  864-0099
  tenant advocacy and counseling services
• Burlington CODE Enforcement
  863-0442
  minimum housing code enforcement, housing condition questions, complaints and requests for inspections
• Burlington Police Dept 
  emergency 911
  dispatch 658-2700,Admin. 658-2704
• Student Government Association
  656-2053
• UVM Student Health Clinic
  656-3350
• UVM Counseling Center
  656-3340
• UVM Women's Center 
  656-7892
• UVM ALANA Center  656-3819
• UVM LGBTQA Center
  656-8637
• UVM Academic Support Programs
  656-4075
• UVM Student Financial Services   656-5700

For a more extensive list of resources, please go to page 24 of the Off Campus Living Survival Guide.

Wishing you a Happy Spring Break!

    Greetings off-campus students!  As you finalize your plans, just some inspiration and some crime-prevention tips so that you come back home and find everything as it should be!  The first are some nuggets for you to put in place before you leave for adventure, rest and relaxation, or whatever you need to recharge your batteries. The second is an Alternative Spring Break story about Jarrod Szydlowski’s trip to an animal rescue operation in New Orleans.

All the Best,
The Office of Student and Community Relations: Gail, Megan, Cate, Jake, and Devan

         Preventing Property Theft
                 During Spring Break

    Burglaries and larcenies are often crimes of opportunity. If you are planning to leave town during Spring Break, make sure to keep the following tips in mind to reduce the likelihood of a break-in. 

• 
  

• Make sure all doors and windows are locked and close your curtains and blinds. 

• Do not hide spare keys in places outside.

• Arrange for a friend, a neighbor whom you trust, or your landlord to watch over your house while you are away.

• Take anything of value home with you. Don’t leave any valuable items near windows.
  

• Stop mail and paper delivery (https://holdmail.usps.com/duns/HoldMail.jsp) or arrange for a neighbor to pick it up daily.

Also, consider buying Renter's Insurance or Personal Property Insurance. It can cover your losses if you do experience theft. For additional crime prevention tips and to register your property visit the UVM Police Services  or the Burlington Police Department website.

Note: If you are leaving town make sure to keep the heat above 55 degrees to avoid frozen pipes!!

Alternative Spring Break: Caring for Animals in the “City that Care Forgot”

by Jarrod Szydlowski

    There is no one word to describe the sound that sixty dogs make when they know that breakfast is on the way. All the barking, baying, and yapping forms a kind of canine symphony, an orchestration that is, to the human ear, more cacophonic than melodic. This dogged din almost knocked us to the ground as we entered the “Breezeway ” of Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) in 2011. Tim, a local volunteer, casually opened one of the cages and, in one deft move, caught a lunging pit-bull by the collar, slipped a choke-chain over his wrinkled neck and affixed two leashes. “Who wants to walk him?” he asked us—a group of wide-eyed UVM students. As I reluctantly grabbed hold, the pit-bull hurdled down the street like a powerboat tugging a first-time water skier. It was in this spirit of apprehension and, yes, maybe even a little fear, that I knew it was going to be a long week.

I was wrong.

Click here to see the full story...

Photo: UVM Junior Katy Thomas walks one of ARNO's abandoned dogs (photo by Brett Robinson, UVM Senior)

VM Service Network Partners