By Steve Babcock

Full of politics and politicians present and future, the Boston Intercollegiate Government (BIG), an organization composed of student government leaders from all over Boston, held a discussion-based conference at Northeastern Saturday, marking the conglomerate’s largest gathering of area student leaders since its inception in April. In addition to a speakers’ list including some of the city’s major political figures, 50 student leaders from 11 Boston-area colleges engaged in discussion regarding many of the key issues that face the city’s 150,000 college students. One of the session’s workshops concerned peer to peer digital file-sharing, an issue that has concerned college students since the growth of the Northeastern-bred online community Napster in the late 1990s. The issue has caught attention again this year as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which represents the nation’s top five record labels, has gained access to new software allowing them to track and, in the end, bring legal action against participants in file sharing. The issue hit especially close to home for both Northeastern and BIG in July when the RIAA subpoenaed a Northeastern student for the music found on his computer. Reporters were not allowed into the workshop at the request of the lawyers of an anonymous Boston-area student that was in the process of being sued by the RIAA, but Northeastern Student Government Association President Michael Romano, a member of BIG, later said BIG members have taken the position of weary compliance with the RIAA’s recent actions. “We want to encourage students to find alternatives [to peer to peer file-sharing],” Romano said. “But at the same time, BIG disagrees with the tactics used by the RIAA against students.” Romano cited a story that surfaced last week about a 12-year-old being subpoenaed by the recording industry to indicate the injustice he said was happening. “Her parents had no idea,” he said. Aside from file-sharing, leaders from all 10 schools represented at the conference also discussed the urban issues faced by students living in Boston in a roundtable discussion with City Councilors Michael Ross, who represents the Northeastern and BU-housing Fenway district, and Maura Hennigan, who was voted in as a councilor at-large. The student leaders expressed concern about both the hours of operation of the MBTA and affordable housing for students to the councilors, who are both currently campaigning for re-election. In response to a question about T hours, Ross fell back on prior victories he said he obtained in the City Council with students to gain the current Night Owl bus service, which allows buses to run until 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. He also told the group that there was more work to be done on the issue. “There is no reason [the T] shouldn’t be going until 3 a.m.,” he said, reassuring the leaders that they would continue to work for change. Another issue that was brought up by many members of the roundtable, including Romano, was that of diminishing availability of affordable housing for students in the Boston area. “We know that students are relatively unaware of their housing rights,” Romano said. “On Mission Hill, there are students that are absolutely getting taken advantage of.” While he lacked an exact way that BIG could respond to the issue, Ross said that the City Council had been active on the issue prior to the conference. “We’ve always encouraged colleges to build more dormitories,” he said. “Landlords make $18,000 a month off just a three-apartment complex. This is outrageous.” Along with the issues, the conference also housed discussion over the growing problem of the apathy of college students when politics is concerned. To open the day, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino encouraged the group to get involved, making an open invitation to any BIG member to intern in his office. He also told the student leaders that local government issues are worthy of fighting for, as they are constantly being overlooked on the national stage. “I might turn out to be an isolationist, but I believe we have to take care of the local issues,” Menino said. “You look through the papers, and it’s not the issues that affect people’s lives on a daily basis that are being talked about.” In perhaps a sign of how badly college students are needed in politics, the other two speakers — Vanessa Kerry, daughter of Massachusetts Senator and presidential candidate John Kerry, and Boston Congressman Michael E. Capuano — engaged in a verbal disagreement over the level of involvement college students have in local campaigns as opposed to presidential campaigns. “We all know that students who get involved in presidential campaigns have to file papers and Xerox stuff,” Congressman Capuano said. In response, perhaps showing her age (mid-20s), Kerry called out from her side-podium chair, “You’re not helping our cause!” The “cause” that Kerry referred to, though, was certainly present throughout the conference. Kerry brought two of her father’s campaign workers along with her to encourage students to help the campaign. They also positioned ‘Kerry for President’ buttons and stickers at the table where each delegate registered for admittance to the conference. Menino even participated, tossing in a casual plug for Kerry during his remarks. Although BIG is chartered as a non-partisan organization, the group’s chair David Bresler said the advertisements were a result of Kerry’s presence, and not BIG. “We sent invitations to both Republicans and Democrats,” he said. “Kerry is definitely a major speaker, although it wasn’t exactly what we had planned. There are issues, no matter what party, that are important to students.” The group also staged a workshop on registering mass amounts of college students to vote, the purpose for which the group was originally assembled. The Kerry team was not involved in the workshop.