Boston University students challenged Brookline leaders last night to help them open dialogue with permanent residents who have complained that students have disturbed the quiet neighborhood on weekend nights.

Brookline residents have complained to the Board of Selectmen of loud noises and vandalism to the community, blaming students for disrupting the town for the past three to four years, said selectman Gil Hoy. During that period, Hoy said he has received almost 100 emails, phone calls and letters from upset residents.

“I personally encouraged the police to take a stance,” Hoy said at the meeting last night in the town’s Old Lincoln School. “It was an intolerable situation.”

BU students said they have not been a disruption to the town and that the Brookline Police Department has unfairly targeted them for seemingly harmless practices such as sitting on the front stoops of their apartments at night.

Bring BU Back founder Katie Geiss said permanent residents made no attempt to meet students during the student move-in period in September when they could have brought noise issues to the students’ attentions. The College of Arts and Sciences senior said she is aiming to find a way to resolve tension between students and permanent residents as quickly as possible.

Geiss claimed she and her friends did not spot any questionable practices that permanent residents have complained about while she and her friends walked around Brookline streets Saturday night.

“Everyone is feeling the heat on the back of their necks,” Geiss said. “We were astonished at how empty the streets [of Brookline] were. There were only taxi cabs and police officers.”

Selectman Jesse Mermell said the quiet neighborhood was a direct result of policing. Mermell, who shared her own experiences as a college student living in the community, said students need to be respectful of their neighbors.

College of Communication junior and Brookline resident Lyndsey Albertson said students have adopted a negative opinion of Brookline police.

“A community can be built where [the police] aren’t sitting there waiting for trouble,” Albertson said. “Police shouldn’t force students into house arrest. They don’t have a curfew. They should have the same rights.”

Albertson said she recently spoke with a Brookline resident who blamed the students for “exerting their independence” and ultimately disrupting the neighborhood.

“We aren’t arguing for the right to party,” Albertson said. “It’s just for co-existing and peace.”

Student Union City Affairs Director Jesse Kramer, a CAS senior, said students should have the right to be outside as long as they are not causing any disturbances, and agreed an increased dialogue between students and permanent residents is necessary to reach peace between the two groups.

The Union will hold a town hall meeting with Brookline residents Thursday night at the George Sherman Union to further discuss the issue.

“We want to propose a plan to bring the two communities back together into one community,” Kramer said.