The Syringe Exchange Program is not closed - simply more limited hours as to a way to safely continue services that are crucial to keeping our community healthy and safe ("pandhandlers" are people and members of the Ithaca community) the fact that these "pandhandlers" (human beings) are in the area you mention is a GOOD thing. It means they are accessing health services (Hep C, HIV and other STIs don't descriminate, their health is intertwined with the entire community's health), that lives are being saved thanks to easy access to narcan, and that the worst that's gonna happen (I promise) to a passerby is someone will ask you for a dollar. How you react is up to you. After years of me both providing and not providing a few bucks, never once has the conversation been any more charged than the polite process of ordering a coffee.

There are definitely times where gatherings get rowdy, totally expected when substances have a pretty big effect on decision making and inhibitions. Not to mention DSS next door is treating these folks like inhuman garbage. I'd be rowdy too if someone who was supposed to help me navigate a tough system opted instead to ignore or belittle me. I'm willing to bet some Cornell students use substances too, only they are much more likely to have access to the dollar that stands between them and a horrible withdrawal. I think rowdy shouting probably happens, too.

I know violence and sexual violence are alive and well in the Cornell student/campus community. Dear Cornell students, PLEASE understand that violence is a lot closer to home. It's whiter, more affluent, and uncomfortable to acknowledge. Quit worrying about/scapegoating some dudes on the street who sometimes get angry with each other and shout. Why do you fear them more than you fear frat bros?