Rogan O’Handley, in his letter (“Nixed shuttle leaves students at curb,” Oct. 1) presented a case for a student shuttle service. He failed, however, to make a strong argument. I see a valid case against a two-way shuttle service, and the natural advocate in me wants to argue for the lesser-represented side.
O’Handley merely cuts down a straw man by invoking rape and robbery to make his case. Proposing that these abhorrent acts would have not occurred but for a shuttle service is to ignore the fact that an established and regularly scheduled shuttle could not possibly make individual house stops. The Northeastern University Division of Public Safety escort van does make these stops. For the shuttle, students would still have to congregate someplace, like brightly-lit and well-populated Brigham Circle to be picked up and brought back to campus, which still involves walking through Mission Hill alone. It’s a safe bet the risk of an assault is far greater from any point on Mission Hill to Brigham Circle, than from Brigham Circle to campus. The current escort van does in fact drop students off at their doors, even on Mission Hill. I’ve taken it.
A legitimate case for better transport to and from campus does arise for the students who move to Mission Hill because they can’t afford campus housing and may work late on or near campus. These students have done nothing wrong in lacking the financial means to afford one of the most expensive property agents in the area, the Northeastern Corporation (read: Board of Trustees), nor by assigned work requiring the use of university computers, nor by participation in a club that must work late into the night on campus.
What worries me about this shuttle, however, is that students living on or near campus would use it as an easy way to get to Mission Hill, get drunk and then have a lift back to West Village at 3 a.m. because they’re too plastered to walk home.
Additionally, this shuttle service would have served to further isolate students from the surrounding community and reinforce the idea of Mission Hill as “Very West Village.” Mission Hill is a real community in a real city, where real people live, some of whom have been alive longer than Joe Husky. Any student who considers himself cool enough or tough enough to go drink forties and smoke blunts on Mission Hill is tough enough to walk back to his single in West G. I’ve lived in two places on Mission Hill and for the sake of fairness, yes, I used to live in a single in West G. When I lived on Mission Hill for the first time, I thought it was my right to get wasted, even though I was underage, and hung out on my porch on weeknights. Sometimes my neighbors were a bit too prudish in their complaints, but much of the time, I was being obnoxious.
In an effort to protect the hard working, but financially limited students, while not enabling the alcohol-fueled debauchery in Mission Hill, some possible compromises come to mind. The current escort service could be expanded to drop off students who live farther than a mile from campus at a certain point, which would at least provide a good head start. Northeastern could also lobby the MBTA to expand the times of the 39 bus schedule to later into the morning, something the T may consider if Northeastern could promise decent ridership. Many students need reliable transportation away from campus late at night; returning to campus at that time is a mere want.
– Ian Bouchard is a senior criminal justice major.
