Last week, the Boston Police Department (BPD) issued a press release stating they cracked down on individuals disrupting the calm of the Mission Hill community. Tensions between surrounding communities and the university are nothing new, and school administrators have been working to address the issue. Northeastern still has a long way to go in implementing policies that will create a better relationship with our neighbors, but perhaps as responsible adults, students can try to do their part as well.
The Student Government Association (SGA) endorsed the “I AM Northeastern Pledge” last week. The P.L.E.D.G.E was originally initiated last year in order to make students living in communities like Mission Hill more respectful of the areas they live in, but university leaders were underwhelmed by the student body’s response.
Administrators also initiated a new rule last year, stating that freshman and sophomores must live on campus. They are also making an effort to build more dorms so that more students can live in residence halls.
None of these efforts have fixed the problem, but the university is making an effort to try, or at least they are making it appear that way. But what have we as students done lately?
The news release from BPD, which can be found on BPDNews.com, said Boston police officers arrested 13 people for drinking in public and one for disorderly person. They also summonsed 15 individuals for “keeper of disorderly house,” two for public drinking and one minor for possession of alcohol.
The statement doesn’t say whether any of those affected were Northeastern students, but it doesn’t matter. We all know someone on the Hill who throws parties that are inevitably broken up by the cops, someone with a fake ID and the upperclassman who buys booze for their underage buddies.
Students can complain, but if you’re stupid enough to be walking down the street with an open container of alcohol when you aren’t even of age, you deserve to get in trouble with the cops. We’re college students, we’re going to do stupid college things, but this just crosses the line.
Do students need to have loud, crowded parties every single weekend? Having a few friends over can still be just as fun and it’s a lot less disruptive. Not to mention your valuables are a lot less likely to get stolen by party goers you don’t know who are a friend of a friend of a friend.
Another thing you can do as a student – don’t walk home in a loud and obnoxious way when you’re coming home from parties. This includes (but is not limited to) smashing empty beer bottles on the sidewalk, screaming to your friend who is five feet away or crying about your ex-boyfriend hooking up with some other girl. Getting drunk at a party is one thing, waking up the lady with a five-month-old baby because of it is another.
Just following these simple, seemingly obvious guidelines could have prevented more than 30 people from getting in trouble with BPD two weeks ago.
With all that being said, residents of Mission Hill need to realize where they live is a college neighborhood. It doesn’t matter whether it’s right or wrong, because that’s the way it is. It’s not going to change, no matter how much you complain or who you complain to. If you really can’t stand it, move to another neighborhood when your lease is up.
The bottom line is that everyone needs to do more. Northeastern needs to get more on-campus housing, students need to be less obnoxious and residents need to understand this is not a problem that will go away as long as there are fake IDs and cheap beer.
