Over the past few weeks, almost 20,000 students have descended upon Ithaca, moving into new dorm rooms and apartments, making multiple trips to Target and lugging textbooks from the bookstore. For the most part, we have been greeted by local residents warmly: a bright smile from the clerk at the registrar or a friendly “welcome back” from our favorite barista at CTB. But not all Ithaca residents are as warm or welcoming.

In last year’s “Best of Ithaca” survey by the Ithaca Times, respondents were asked to name the “best thing that should happen to Ithaca.” The second response listed was “get rid of half the college students.”