Cross-town rivalries were put aside for an afternoon as students gathered at City Hall to voice their concerns with a proposed ordinance that would track all Boston college students living off campus.
Student Government Associat-ion (SGA) members, as well as Northeastern students, joined their peers from other institutions such as Boston University and Suffolk University Thursday afternoon in hopes of fighting the ordinance before it takes effect.
The four-hour hearing gave residents, university officials and city officials the opportunity to present their opinions first, leaving the students to speak last.
“The city does not have the right to my contact information. I do not deserve such treatment and we students are not what’s wrong with this city. We have students who are registering to vote in the city of Boston, and your actions will not fade quickly from our memories,” SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs Bill Durkin said to City Councilors Michael Ross and Jerry McDermott, the authors of the ordinance. “We will come out in droves [on election day].”
Although students said they feel the city does not need to know their contact information, area residents disagreed.
“Northeastern has fallen behind the proactive strides of other universities,” said Rose Arruda, a Roxbury resident. “On weekends you can see students pouring out of Northeastern [residence halls] and into our neighborhoods.”
Officials from the Boston Redevelopment Authority estimated between 35,000 and 40,000 students are living off campus in the Boston area. Vice President for Public Affairs Bob Gittens, who attended the hearing, said Northeastern has students living off campus in the surrounding communities and the vast majority of them are law-abiding students.
Durkin said he agreed that students are law-abiding citizens and have been receiving unfair attention by Ross who, Durkin said, exaggerated facts to improve his relationship with his constituency.
“I felt that some of his statements at the hearing were exaggerated. He’s appealing to his constituents, the ones that vote, and we students don’t vote,” Durkin said. “I think if we started getting on the voter rolls [Ross] will start listening to us.”
Phone calls to Ross were not immediately returned last night.
A “zero-tolerance” weekend on Sept. 17 and 18 ended with Boston Police responding to what was reported by several news outlets, city officials and university officials to be 18 noise complaints — the majority involving Northeastern students. However, the actual number was somewhat lower.
The total complaints responded to on Mission Hill for the same weekend came to approximately 14, and the number of those involving Northeastern students approximately nine, according to university officials and Ross’ description of his weekend experience.
Ross said when he was out on Mission Hill Friday night (Sept. 17) with Boston Police and university officials, he responded to six or seven emergency calls for noise complaints, the majority of those involving Northeastern students. University officials said they responded to seven parties the following night, three of which involved Northeastern students.
“I don’t think [the reputation Northeastern is getting] is fair at all,” Durkin said. “We’re not the only university in Boston that has students that drink underage, although they like to make it seem that way.”
Over the past weekend, university officials said they responded to six noise complaints and two of those calls involved Northeastern students.
“What students really need to understand is that we are still going to drive home the message and we take these issues very seriously,” said Associate Director for Community Affairs Jeff Doggett, who participated in the ride-along. “It’s important people realize [officials riding along with Boston Police] is not something new.”
For now, SGA members are scheduling a discussion for students to talk about their concerns with the ordinance with university officials and Ross on Tuesday, Oct. 5 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the west addition of the student center.
