By Jen Nelson
Northeastern administrators held a meeting in the Faculty Club in Kerr Hall last Thursday to address the concerns of Fenway residents following the riots after the Super Bowl Feb. 1.
Officials from the university have attempted to connect with residents since the riots following the Super Bowl to solve the ongoing problem of student behavior on and off campus.
“We focused [the meeting] on ongoing issues in the community,” said Bob Gittens, vice president of public affairs. “We talked about ways to work together with the community to make sure student behavior is appropriate.”
Northeastern’s effort to form stronger ties with community members has increased over the past two weeks.
“I think Northeastern has been proactively reaching out,” said Boston City Councilor Michael Ross, who attended the meeting along with approximately a dozen Fenway community members. “My belief is that they are looking to bring about significant change within their university, which is helpful to know. I’m optimistic.”
Ross represents District 8 in Boston, that includes the Back Bay and Fenway area.
Residents living in Ross’s district around Northeastern said they have appreciated the efforts made by the administration.
“It’s a good start,” said Joyce Foster, a Symphony Road resident. “I hope the university, community and the police, who were all key players here, will come to a real understanding on what problems are here and what the solutions will be.”
After the events that followed the New England Patriots’ victory over the Carolina Panthers, residents were not alone in their disapproval of students’ behavior.
“A number of students at Northeastern have been acting irresponsible in the community; drinking, causing problems, things like that, and the neighbors are done with it,” said Jeff Doggett, associate director of community affairs. “This is their neighborhood, and they don’t want to see this stuff going on in their community.”
Students in the community were also concerned with the events of Feb. 1.
“People living there were definitely endangered — students should realize they live in a city and be careful around others,” said Stacey Joyce, a middler physical therapy major who lives on St. Stephen Street.
Although the riots have focused attention on the university and have forced Northeastern to take action quickly, a meeting discussing student behavior has been in the works for a while.
“These meetings were going to happen regardless [of the riots],” Doggett said. “The Super Bowl situation, in some respects, is a culmination of student party problems.”
Some students, however, said residents should adjust to their surroundings when living near an urban university campus.
“The people that live there know they live in a large college community. They choose to live there, they know what they’re getting themselves into,” said Brian Kaiser, a sophomore pharmacy major.
The next step to this process is trying to find a solution to the problem of inappropriate student behavior.
“Right now we’re at the beginning of a process that, while the Northeastern administration appears to be very willing to get into, the larger question still remains if it’s a curable problem,” Ross said. “While other campuses have actual campuses, Northeastern is very restrictive because of the fact that it is more of an urban campus. It’s that urban campus that we’re running into problems with.”
Foster, who has lived on Symphony Road for the past seven years, said she has noticed an increase in the amount of students living in the area.
“The problem [of student behavior] has escalated, almost over recent months,” Foster said. “There has been an escalation of criminal behavior, [including] arson and assaults. [The riot] is the most recent and most awful example of behavior that has been a problem for months.”
A city council meeting will be held on Feb. 26 at Boston Latin High School to more formally address concerns that have risen since the riots.
“This was the first meeting in an ongoing dialogue,” Gittens said.
