When most young adults go off to college, they expect to learn new things, and meet new people, but ten SUNY Albany students were forced to learn about devastation, homelessness, and arson. In the spring semester of 2000, two houses on Hudson Avenue were burned down to the ground maliciously. Albany Police say that the two crimes were not related, but people all over the student ghetto are frightened by the similarities of the two fires.
             The first fire took place in early October, after a botched mugging. A student, who wishes to remain anonymous, was walking home to his house on Hudson Avenue when two young adults confronted him. They told the student to give over all of his money. It is unclear if the assailants showed a BB gun or not, but when the student became aware that they didn't have a gun, the student defended himself. He pounded both of the attackers until they were unable to retaliate.
             The student fled the scene and decided to stop off at his friend's house and tell everyone about what just happened. Allegedly, the would-be muggers watched the student enter the house. About an hour later, the front of the house was completely ablaze. The beaten attackers came back, but this time they threw Molitov cocktails (bottles filled with flammable liquid and a crude fuse) on William Novak's porch. Senior William Novak lost all of his possessions in the blaze. Will said, "I ran out of the house knowing that I was wearing everything that I owned." The whole house went into flames and six SUNY students found themselves homeless and frightened.
             Police were unable to locate the criminals from the descriptions received. The Red Cross gave aid to the wondering students, and the University offered them free housing for one month. Local clothing stores like Structure donated thousands of dollars in apparel. One student was so depressed that he withdrew from the University. The community wa...