Purpose

• to build bridges with JMU and surrounding communities
• to provide a comfortable, fun forum where students and community members can interact
• Harrisonburg is our (meaning the students') home too, and we care about the community
• to come together socially, providing for all members of our area
• to create a fun family environment
• to show your school spirit

The ultimate goal of jMubilee is to foster better relations between JMU students and the Harrisonburg as well as to highlight the strengths and talents of our student and community organizations. Finally, we hope that many organizations will be able to use this opportunity to network with other organizations at JMU and in the community to develop partnerships. Neither JMU nor Harrisonburg can achieve it's full potential or grow smoothly without working together with the other. In the future we hope to work with community leaders to provide an open disccusion for both groups to voice their opinions about topics that involve everyone in the community, students and residents alike.

Why is this needed?

This was taken from the article on James Madison University 2007 in Wikipedia (2005):

JMU has recently experienced a sour relationship with the residents of surrounding Harrisonburg. The University’s rapid expansion has created tension in the city-university relationship with issues such as growth planning. The Board of Visitors recently approved the invocation of eminent domain against a neighboring business to make way for the school’s new Performing Arts Center which is slated for groundbreaking in 2007. In the May 2006 city election, incumbent mayor Larry Rogers (who also serves on JMU’s Board of Visitors) lost his bid for reelection at the hands of a disenchanted electorate while other anti-JMU growth candidates won. In the 2005 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges, Harrisonburg is described as "not embracing the college."

JMU students are generally regarded by Harrisonburg residents as "snobby." This reputation is occasionally reinforced by students, such as in an editorial for the school's student-run newspaper, The Breeze, which stated that, "Wal-Mart didn’t build two SuperCenters within a five-mile radius of the Quad for the farmers and the mountain people."