While thousands of Dukes celebrate graduation, neighbors of those students worry about the partying they say comes with it.

Some of those neighbors have created a coalition to curb what they call "out of control partying." In the last Harrisonburg City Council meeting, the public hearing portion nearly took an hour as neighbors expressed their frustrations to council members, asking them to do something about what they identified as noise, vandalism, and rowdiness from students.

"We are happy to have them have gatherings and socials, but there's a proper way to do that and then there's also a time and place to do that elsewhere," said concerned neighbor Michael Zook. "There are other places in Harrisonburg where there could be gatherings for large groups."

Now, these neighbors are uniting to brainstorm solutions. They told us they'd like the property owners get more involved in the conversation. James Madison University spokesman Bill Wyatt agreed with this point.

Wyatt says JMU's Office of Off-Campus Life hosts events to help students learn about the challenges and responsibilities they face when living off-campus. He added that there have been a number of initiatives designed to improve the relationship between students and their neighbors.

According to the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Emergency Communications Center, since January, they dispatched officers to a total of 567 noise violations. The majority of them, 472 to be exact, were in the city.

City Spokeswoman Mary-Hope Vass said in a statement that several city agencies have been discussing this topic. She said Harrisonburg City Attorney Chris Brown, the Harrisonburg Police Dept., and the Community Development Dept. will work together with JMU to come up with a resolution. City staff also plans to reach out to other college towns to see what's worked for them and if Harrisonburg can implement those ideas.

The concerned neighbors intend to attend the next city council meeting on Tuesday, May 10.

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Spokesman Bill Wyatt with JMU sent the following statement: