Rarely do I ever agree with education administrators, but I have to applaud President Richard Freeland for his stance regarding the Springfest concert.

First, I’ve never heard of Ludacris, primarily because I’m not well versed in hip-hop or rap. However, I don’t think that’s the issue. Nor do I feel slamming my generation’s choice of musicians adds any weight to your paper’s debate on the subject.

But I do think Freeland is right. Northeastern suffered a black eye on Super Bowl Sunday because some of its students chose to ignore the pleas of both campus officials and the city of Boston, electing instead to cause trouble on the streets surrounding the college.

I concede it was a small minority of students, but nobody should take comfort in that. Whether it was one student or the entire student body, it doesn’t change the fact that a 21-year-old man was killed as the result of a chain of events that started with the behavior of some NU students.

There needs to be some accountability here. Where has it ever been written that the proper way to celebrate a team’s victory in a big game is to mill around, block traffic, tip over cars and set fires? This all happened after the Patriots won the Super Bowl. Perhaps not all of this can be traced to NU students, but come on. As a student body, you must share some culpability here — as must the university and the city.

I think it is monumentally callous of you to whine about this as if someone stole your Halloween candy. Can’t you have some respect for the enormity of what happened the night of the Super Bowl? Shouldn’t this be a time for some sober reflection on how easily things can get out of hand if people among you cannot police themselves?

There will be other concerts. Ludacris will not starve. You will all graduate someday, and, hopefully, lead healthy and productive lives whether this concert goes off or not.

The point is, James Grabowski won’t have that opportunity.

I suggest that you grow up and deal with the consequences of this tragedy as the mature adults you claim to be.

— Stephen E. Krause is a graduate of the class of 1976 with a degree in liberal arts and journalism.