Exaggeration is a common feature of any heated debate. Case in point: Monday’s Evanston City Council meeting, where about a dozen local residents showed up to blast Northwestern for students’ rowdy off-campus behavior.

The residents had so much to say that City Council extended the time allowed for public comment so all the residents would have their chance to take on big, bad NU.

And did they ever take their shots.

“Northwestern has, in fact, become the neighbor from hell,” resident Jane Evans told the council, as she asked the aldermen to take action on the matter.

I’m not much of a religious man, but I was never under the impression that hell had a library or a student center. Or lecture series open to the public. Or a mediocre football team.

I don’t mean to belittle Evans’ concerns about student conduct. Earlier this month two NU offensive linemen and two other men were arrested after a resident reported that drunken students attempted to break into her home.

All those involved should be prosecuted and face hearings for university punishment as well. There’s no excuse for that sort of behavior, and sadly, this is not the first time an incident like this has taken place.

But no issue can be reduced to its most extreme example if anyone hopes to find a reasonable solution.

So what’s the real problem? Neighbors say it’s the university’s drinking policy, which makes it more difficult for people to party on campus. The neighbors believe NU is washing its hands of its responsibility to watch over drunk students.

What, then, should administrators do? Make more fraternity houses wet, some say. But a lot of those decisions are controlled by the fraternities at the national level. The university can’t force these organizations to let their NU chapters serve alcohol.

Start a bar at Norris University Center, others request. That could be good for students over 21. But what about those under 21? Should NU break state law and open itself up to all sorts of liability so fewer students wander the neighborhoods drunk?

Then there’s the issue of extended University Police jurisdiction for its patrols in the neighborhoods, which residents say should translate to fewer loud parties. I’m all for the extended patrolling, but there have to be better ways for the university to spend its resources than on making sure Dr. Dre isn’t keeping people awake at night.

Any reasonable analysis of the situation has to distinguish between the two types of “problems” students cause in the community. One type consists of violence, destruction of property and other acts that no human being should have to deal with. The other type consists of underage drinking, loud parties and other normal collegiate antics that no university, however vigilant, should be forced to control outside its physical boundaries.

There certainly are times when NU lets Evanston down. The school must do more to make its highly skilled faculty and students available to the community to help solve its budget and traffic problems. Financial contributions would help as well. But can we really expect NU students to act substantially better than students at other schools, particularly when it comes to issues of noise and alcohol?

It’s time for Evanston residents to realize there are certain things that go along with living next to a university. They can call us spoiled, obnoxious and rude — and we probably deserve it.

But like it or not, we’re here to stay.