City Councilor Michael Ross will be meeting with members of the Student Government Association Thursday to discuss his revised draft of the University Accountability Ordinance.
Ross and fellow City Councilor Jerry McDermott proposed the ordinance and said the original draft will be revised after students showed their opposition to language that would have required the contact information of all college students in Boston living off campus to be given to the Boston Police and Inspectional Services Departments (ISD).
“I have found out in government that when enough people stand up and say something’s wrong, even if you don’t agree with them, they usually have a point,” Ross said. “Shame on me if I’m not capable of listening to that.”
Ross said he will be changing language in the ordinance that he felt was “most troubling for students,” which includes the portions that would have allowed Boston Police and ISD to have the contact information of students living off campus.
The ordinance was proposed in September and Ross said its purpose all along was to be a tool not aimed to hurt students, but to assist them.
Making sure students are entitled to the same protection from negligent landlords and keeping students’ apartments up to code were some of the ways Ross said the ordinance would help students.
“The goal here is not to alienate, but to try and clean up some of the problems in and around university communities,” he said.
During a hearing on Sept. 23 at City Hall, SGA executive board members joined other students from area universities such as Boston University and Suffolk University to voice their opinions against the original draft.
Durkin said at the hearing “the city does not have the right to my contact information.” Durkin said he is happy to hear Ross has reconsidered parts of the ordinance.
“I am pleased [Ross] is taking parts of the ‘official use’ parts of the ordinance out,” Durkin said. “It was a violation of students’ privacy.”
If neighbors have a problem with other neighbors who they know to be students, Ross said, the ordinance would still make it easier to find out where those students attend college and fix the problem faster. Ross said he believes the ordinance will still have the same effect as it was intended to have, even though parts of it will be revised.
Some students who live off campus said they are relieved to hear the ordinance will be revised.
“I wouldn’t have liked it because it was just an invasion of privacy,” said Steve Deri, a continuing education major. “There was no reason for it.”
However, other students who live off campus said they were not bothered by the original wording of the ordinance.
“I don’t see a problem,” said Maria Azar who lives near Beacon Hill. “I don’t think they would have misused the information. It would only do good.”
Durkin said he agreed in some respect and that some of the information gathered from the ordinance would serve a useful purpose.
“I believe the university should have the contact information of students living off campus,” Durkin said. “It could be used for good purposes sometimes.”
The ordinance has been introduced to the City Council and Ross said it will take an amendment to change some of the language. It has to be voted on by the end of the year, and even with the City Council only having five or six sessions left, Ross said he still believes the ordinance will pass.
– Correspondent Elizabeth deLemos contributed to this report.
