By Jeff Swoboda
In an attempt to make amends with an increasingly frustrated community, Northeastern sponsored the second annual Fenway Community Fall Festival on Sunday in the North Lot, bringing students and community members together to celebrate the fall season.
The idea for the festival came from a Community Building Task Force meeting designed to find ways the university could give back and interact with the community in a positive way. Noise level has been a major issue in the East Fens since NU’s resident population explosion in the early 1960s. Since then, weekend revelry and post-sporting event riots have riled the Fenway community.
Resident Director Laura Anderson said the festival was “a very good way to have the neighborhood and the citizens interact on a one-on-one fun basis, enjoy themselves and have fun; big kids and little kids all at once … to have a time to interact in something that’s a positive atmosphere.”
Two hours into the festival, though, there weren’t many kids at all. The parking lot resounded with the music of local rock band The Left Handed Keys, but to a mostly empty lot. There was a moon bounce, a slide, temporary tattoos, hot cider and cotton candy, but the staff it took to man all those activities outnumbered the amount of people visiting. There were 27 community members by 2 p.m., but the lot was mostly populated by students who had heard the loud music and came to check out the band.
Middler mechanical engineering major Conor Boyland doubted the success of the festival.
“It’s not looking too effective,” Boyland said. “It’s looking pretty dead, actually.”
Boyland lives at 148 Hemenway St., one of the buildings bordering the parking lot, and took issue with the noise level.
“The band started warming up at 11 [a.m.] when I was still sleeping,” Boyland said.
He and his friends enjoyed themselves, but would not have gone to the festival if it hadn’t been directly outside Boyland’s window, he said.
Boyland suggested next year’s festival include more games, activities and food vendors.
“A barbeque stand or a grill would definitely make this better,” Boyland said.
The festival is just part of Northeastern’s attempt to polish its neighborly image. Another opportunity for the school is Northeastern’s Service Day, scheduled for Oct. 1.
Sandra Kambysellis, assistant director and program coordinator for the Center for Community Service, looks forward to a successful Service Day.
“Service Day looks to be an even bigger turnout of students than last year,” Kambysellis said.
Kambysellis’ goals are more student recognition for the many hours of volunteer work as well as more feedback from the community showing new and different ideas for Northeastern to improve its image.
“So much good work happens at the hands of Northeastern students that doesn’t get recognized,” Kambysellis said.
Kambysellis hopes for a tight-knit interaction between students and community members.
“I would love for us to be at the point where Northeastern is viewed as an equal partner where students can volunteer in the community but also learn from the community at the same time,” she said.
The Fall Volunteer Fair was held Sept. 21, while the Mission Hill Road Race on Sept. 17, held this year for the first time in 11 years, was yet another effort to bring together students and Fenway residents in a positive atmosphere.
One hundred runners took part in the race, and 25 were Northeastern students, said Tabitha Bennett, a middler political science major and the student liaison for the race and Mission Hill.
Wentworth University emerged with the Pudding Pot, a prize named for Mission Hill’s Puddingstone Park and given to the college with the most participants. Wentworth had more than 30 volunteers in attendance, Bennett said.
Historically Mission Hill residents have taken issue with local college students moving into the surrounding off-campus neighborhoods. Northeastern’s presence on Mission Hill has driven up housing rates, as students are willing to pay higher prices to be closer to classes. The Race was one event representing an increased effort by Mission Hill to engage their resident students.
“Just for affordable housing reasons [the community] would like to see more students get back on campus, and that’s why they become involved with the Task Force Committee, to see them reach the 75 percent [students on campus] goal,” Bennett said. “On the other side, they want the students living in their community to be more involved, and to realize they’re living in a community and have more respect for it and the people who live there.”
Bennett believes the Road Race did effectively bring together the community.
“It has worked,” she said. “We did get people up to Mission Hill to work and be involved with the race. We got community members talking with the students and students working the water tables and running in the race … I think we got a lot of positive feedback and we’re just taking it one step at a time. It’s going to work if both parties put down their differences and realize that they have to reconcile these differences.”
Northeastern’s ultimate goal for community relationships “is simply looking for a better relationship with our neighbors,” said Jeff Doggett, director of government affairs.
Doggett attended meetings like the Community Building Task Force and a pancake breakfast sponsored by the on-campus community service organization LEGO to get a feel for what needed to be done to improve Northeastern’s relationship with the community.
“After the [Red Sox pennant] riot happened, there were a bunch of meetings dialoguing on the relations between the institution, the students and the community,” Doggett said. “There was no real opportunity to interact in a positive way during the fall so the festival came out of those meetings.”
Doggett has personal hopes for Northeastern’s relationships with the community.
“I think it’s important for students to understand that the surrounding neighborhoods exist and thrive, and those neighborhoods are places where those students can live and be safe; but also looking for neighbors who can be students and can live in the same neighborhood,” he said.
