The history of tension between university students and the communities that surround campuses is a long one.

If you think it’s a modern manifestation of kids gone wild, consider this bulletin about an historian’s recent talk to freshmen at the University of Pittsburgh:

“Ever since the first universities were founded nearly a millennium ago, unruly students have been giving faculty, administrators, and townspeople headaches — sometimes by literally knocking them out. But students have brawled, boozed, duelled, protested, and slept in class for very different reasons over the centuries.”

The college experience is virtually bound to unleash potential conflicts. Young men and women, often away from home and parental supervision for the first time, in an atmosphere of academic stress and social exploration, and amidst hordes of like-minded peers, can let out-of-class exuberance get carried away.

Campus neighbors, drawn by the many advantages to being near a university campus, sometimes fail to expect or quickly grow weary of partying that splits the bounds of campus.

When throngs of students live off-campus in houses and apartments apart from any university oversight, the problems can intensify.

So it is no surprise tension ripples each autumn through the leafy streets of Trinity Park and other neighborhoods surrounding Duke University. It was welcome news last week that last year’s scene was, if not tranquil, a bit less fevered.

Duke’s Office of Student Conduct dealt with 139 off-campus incidents last year, down 18 percent from the year before.

There’s anecdotal evidence the trend continues.

“I think concerted efforts by the Duke police, Alcohol Law Enforcement and the Durham police are having an impact,” Christine Pesetski, assistant dean for off-campus and mediation services, told The Herald-Sun’s Neil Offen. “I think they are making a difference in the choices that students make off-campus.”

Pesetski noted that it is too early to declare victory, and some residents in neighborhoods near campus are concerned too much disruptive activity is taking place.

But it is good to see some positive change in an atmosphere that, if rancorous, ill serves both students and their neighbors. Some boisterous behavior will be with us. It’s inevitable living amid youngsters with the desire — and the stamina — to party on well into the wee hours of the morning.

If those students are respectful to those around them, and their adult neighbors are reasonably understanding, an acceptable level of peace should prevail.