Like many other seniors, at the beginning of this academic year, I did not receive a lottery number. I figured it was time for me to find an apartment and be a grown-up anyway. So, I moved to the ever-popular and semi-affordable Mission Hill area. Unfortunately, this did not make me a grown up in the eyes of Northeastern.
There are four people living in my house including myself and on September 26 we decided to throw a small party for one of my roommate’s birthdays. Well, this small party quickly got out of hand (as many Mission Hill parties do) and soon enough the Boston Police were knocking on our door. They cleared the place out and we figured that was the end of it. A week later we get a summons from the city saying we are being criminally charged for the odd violation of “keeper of a disorderly house.” Of course we were surprised and not happy about this, but we figured this is part of the discrimination that most students deal with simply for being students. Students are unfairly targeted and punished for ridiculous charges.
This community does not like students living here. They don’t like hearing the parties or even seeing the hordes that walk around. But in my view the student migration to Mission Hill has raised property values, encouraged a new shopping center to be built and generally kept this neighborhood on the rise. If the students moved out of this community, I’d love to see what would happen to it.
Apparently Northeastern is now becoming more concerned with their students’ living habits. They now face the challenge of keeping tabs on students on and off-campus. According to last week’s paper, the Office of Government Relations and Community Affairs has started walking around heavily student popular neighborhoods and watching the disruptive behavior. The director of the office, Jeff Doggett says, “What goes on in someone’s apartment is their own business, but the students forget that at 1 a.m., their neighbors are trying to sleep.” No, we don’t forget, but we are adults who pay just as much (or more) rent than our neighbors and once in a while, we’re all going to be woken up by some drunk students, a tow truck or a fire alarm.
Soon after being notified about our city court date, we got a letter from Northeastern’s Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. At first sight of the envelope I thought, maybe they are on our side on this one, or maybe since the school is now so concerned about its students off-campus living conditions they are going to do something about the inadequate heat and infestation in my building.
But no, instead of backing us up in our claims of discrimination the school felt the need to punish us for our “crime.” I guess they think that the city’s prosecution isn’t enough. The school ordered us to do 15 hours of community service within the next 30 days. Not too bad of a punishment, but the last thing that this situation has made me want to do is give back to this community. A community that obviously would rather I didn’t live here and ruin the neighborhood.
When my housemates and I throw a party, I am not doing it as a representative of Northeastern University. Two of my housemates don’t even go to Northeastern and in no way was this party, or my house, affiliated with the school. I am graduating in December and all I want from this school is to be treated like an adult. But now that I’ve had my hand slapped, I guess there won’t be anymore birthday parties. At least not until after graduation.
-Marisa Franchini is a senior journalism major.
