For more than a decade, Northeastern students have been living on Mission Hill, taking advantage of reasonable rents and large accommodations, while other residents of the area have been complaining about them. The clash between the young, noisy students and older, quieter adults have always loomed over the land, as much a part of the Boston college experience as house parties and beer.
But this year, it seems, the permanent residents have had enough. The consequences for students have not been pretty.
Some residents of Mission Hill have put more pressure on community leaders to do something about the surge of students living in the area. They, in turn, have pressured police to “set the tone” for this year by making more arrests.
There’s no denying that there is a very visible contingent of loud, obnoxious students living on Mission Hill. It’s perfectly understandable that residents are fuming about loud music blaring from the house next door at four in the morning. It’s also understandable they’re upset about any damage to their property and trash all over the place.
These students impart the reputation they’ve earned for Northeastern on all of us. Yes, we’re in college, and yes, we like to party. But there is a definite line of what is and is not acceptable, and there are some students in Mission Hill who have crossed it.
But the surge in student arrests by the Boston Police Department (BPD) is in many cases excessive. Facing more pressure than ever from civic groups and local officials to make arrests, the BPD seemingly has been put in a tight spot. As of this year, Jeff Doggett, director of government relations and community affairs, has served as a Northeastern liaison and has accompanied police on their patrols of Mission Hill on weekends. His presence on the patrols has only added to that pressure.
The effort to curb the noise level on Mission Hill cannot be allowed to turn into a witch-hunt. But it’s coming dangerously close.
In the pursuit of ferreting out the students who abuse the freedom that comes with an off-campus apartment, the police have gone too far. Rather than suffering the wrath of the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR), as loud students living on campus would, students residing in Mission Hill have been arrested. This measure could stay on their permanent record for the rest of their lives. For one night of loud music, these students may face consequences that have ramifications that could last for years.
On Sept. 15, 10 students were arrested in a single night, five of whom were over the age of 21. Arresting all these students was unnecessary. OSCCR exists purely to deal with misconduct by students, and Doggett and the BPD could have easily reported these students to it, saving them all a mark on their records.
We’re not excusing the many instances of students who have done nothing but cause trouble for the older residents of Mission Hill. It’s a shame they feel the entitlement to act in such a manner, and it is them we can look to and blame for the tense relations that have forced this current situation into existence. But the call to simply arrest more students on Mission Hill is not the solution. It’s merely a Band-Aid looking to ease the symptom, but does nothing to fix the cause.
