Village/College Compact

"Walking on Main Street in Geneseo is like stepping into a vintage postcard. The 19th-century architecture of the storefronts, in an area designated a National Historic Landmark Village, seems to meld into the 220-acre campus of SUNY Geneseo. Unlike places where town-gown relations are often uneasy, Geneseo has particularly warm ties to the university."

This passage, taken from a feature story in the 2012 edition of U.S. News and World Report's Best Colleges, describes one of the many things that makes living and going to college in Geneseo special. The mutually supportive relationship that exists between the Village and the College has not come about by chance but through the close collaboration of all those invested in the quality of life in our community.

One of the principal determinants of the quality of the SUNY Geneseo student experience and the quality of life for the residents in the Village of Geneseo is the cooperative relationship that exists between the College and the Village. In January 2012, the Village of Geneseo and SUNY Geneseo convened a Task Force on Town-Gown Relations for the purpose of examining areas of mutual concern and for drafting a statement of mutual responsibilities, with the intention of enhancing already strong village and college relations.

The agreements that emerged from the task force meetings became the basis of the first Geneseo Village/College Compact (2012), a set of principles that describe what the Village and the College can expect of each other, what both can expect from students, and what students can expect from the community members. The compact represents a mutual commitment to the common good, and the strong bond that exists between college and community. In 2016 and in 2021, the statement was revised and renewed by the Village of Geneseo and SUNY Geneseo.

• Village-College Relations Compact (signed November 10, 2021)