By Bill Shaner, News Staff
There’s a new acronym on campus: The Northeastern University P.L.E.D.G.E.
For the Fall Semester, first year students had to read the P.L.E.D.G.E handout, watch a video and sign off in order to access their myNEU accounts. Others had it handed to them in flier form while moving into their new digs on Mission Hill or the Fenway. The Office of Student Affairs created the P.L.E.D.G.E. in an effort to make Northeastern students better neighbors.
The acronym encompasses both a pronouncement of Northeastern’s respect for its surrounding communities and a message to off-campus students, urging them to be good neighbors.
As for the initials, the “P” stands for the partnerships with neighbors, the city of Boston and Boston Police that the university values; the “L” for the liability off-campus students have to the university’s code of conduct; the “E” for “Expedite,” warning students that punishment for off-campus violations will go through the judicial system quicker than on-campus violations. So, the pledge follows, it is important for students to make good decisions (the “D”) and commit to being a good neighbor (the “G”). The university expects (the second “E”) students to be responsible
tenants.
“What a lot of students don’t understand … is that if you want to go to law school, medical school, other professional schools, if you want to work for the state department, Pentagon or defense department, you cannot have this on your record,” Vice President of Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier said. “And if you do something when you’re young and dumb, it’s going to haunt you forever. So we really want the first year, second year students to understand that very clearly.”
Klotzbier said he will personally send an e-mail to the families of students arrested by police for actions on Mission Hill or the Fenway to let them know what happened and how the university is handling it.
As it currently stands, Northeastern, Massachusetts College of Arts, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences and Wentworth Institute of Technology share a police detail called a “ride around” to patrol Mission Hill from midnight to 4 a.m. on Thursday through Sunday nights. This includes an official from one of the surrounding schools in a cruiser, patrolling the area in an effort to curtail rowdy behavior, Vice President of City and Community Relations John Tobin said.
However, this year Northeastern will hire its own police detail to patrol Mission Hill for special events, like holidays, long weekends, and the nights of certain sporting events, to go along with the P.L.E.D.G.E., vice president of city and community relations John Tobin, a former city councilor, said.
Northeastern officials met with members of the Mission Hill community and city officials that represent Mission Hill residents three times over the summer, to discuss what Northeastern can do to help with the growing student population.
At the meetings, Northeastern was berated for the amount of students on Mission Hill and questioned for the stalled construction plans of Building K, a dormitory that Northeastern officials planned to build where Cullinane Hall currently stands, but suspended because of the recession.
“All of this extra detail and follow-up doesn’t solve the situation. The bottom line is that they need to create housing and create new policy to go along with that housing,” said Johanna Sena, the director of communications for City Council President Mike Ross, whose district includes Northeastern and Mission Hill, in an interview with The News. “They can build additional housing but if they don’t have policy binding students to live in that housing, it’s not going to do anything.”
However, Sena said she and her office appreciate the efforts Northeastern and other surrounding schools have made thus far.
Northeastern also hired garbage trucks for Sept. 1 and 2 and an additional police detail from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Wednesday through Sunday of the move-in weekend.
Tobin said he and his department are looking into extending the ride-around hours for the rest of the school year.
Tobin also said his department acquired Dan Daily, a retired Boston police officer from the Allston-Brighton area, who helped Boston College in its relationship with surrounding areas while it was expanding. He said he will also help Northeastern through the process.
“We’re not trying to recreate the wheel here,” Tobin said. “These kind of things have happened and are happening with most of the schools in the Boston area. We’re just doing our best to keep the peace.”
This article has been modified to reflect the following correction: Building K was never supposed to built on Columbus Avenue. Building plans put Building K where Cullinane Hall currently stands.
