Police justified in arrests on Hill

In the Sept. 17 issue of The News (“Police Priorities skewed?”), Justin Rebello questions the priorities of the police, who broke up several parties on Mission Hill early this month. Rebello’s commentary is quick to paint the Boston Police and Northeastern University as the “bad guys;” even suggesting that the police are no longer working to “maintain a society of security and well-being.” However, we believe that the police are doing just that by breaking up illegal and obnoxious parties, and we find Rebello’s description of the police and the university simplistic and unfair.

The police’s actions were certainly not “Gestapo-like.” They did not go around Mission Hill that evening knocking on doors looking for underage drinkers. Generally, the police come to break up parties when they are summoned by annoyed neighbors, as they were to Mission Hill earlier this month. Once they’re there, they are permitted to arrest anyone that who appears to be doing something wrong. If there are any underage drinkers at a party, someone “just holding” a case of beer is probably doing something wrong — either they are underage or they are supplying alcohol to minors.

Additionally, the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution’s sanctions against the “Mission Hill Six” are hardly inexplicable. Simply put, these students made Northeastern University look bad. Their activities give people the impression that NU is full of beer-sodden party kids; that’s why OSCCR gets involved in these kinds of incidents.

As for the contention that the police have more important things to do than break up parties, most area residents will never see anyone “mugged, mauled, [or] murdered.” What they will see is drunken students causing fights, harassing people on the street and destroying property. If the police want to maintain citizens’ “security and well-being,” then they need to deal with nuisances like these.

Further, we don’t understand why Rebello thinks that the “glory days” on Mission Hill would be marked by students getting drunk and stumbling back to NU. We doubt that if you ask a Mission Hill resident trying to pick their way through the piles of beer cans left on the sidewalk after a weekend that they will have anything to say about “glory days.” And his assertion that Mission Hill residents should expect this kind of behavior is ridiculous. It’s not unreasonable to expect Northeastern and its students to be good neighbors, and the neighborhood has every right to complain if they aren’t.

The bottom line is that the police and the university would not be devoting so much time to students’ drinking if it wasn’t causing other problems. The loud, raucous parties for which NU students are unfortunately famous for degrading the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding the school. “Quiet enjoyment” is built into everyone’s lease, the right to have 50 of your closest pals over to your studio apartment and blast your music until four in the morning is not. Just having a few beers with your friends is not going to get you arrested. But when you decide that you have the right to raise hell wherever you want, whenever you want, and forget everyone else, you should expect some consequences.

-Jacqueline Placette is a junior biomedical physics major and Kitty Zaccari is a junior English major.

Lane director emphasizes services

Thanks to The Northeastern News for its recent informative article outlining the services at Lane Health Center (“The Lowdown on Lane,” Sept. 10). As Clinical Director, I would like to emphasize that the physicians, nurses practitioners and nurses of Lane possess a level of expertise and caring that goes well beyond tending to “on-campus aches and pains” and “basic first aid.”

All of our physicians are board-certified in their area of specialty — family practice or internal medicine. Many of us are clinical teaching fellows at the Harvard Medical School or other institutions, including here at Northeastern. Our nurse practitioners have held prominent local and national positions and have been the recipients of numerous prestigious awards. The clinical staff of Lane Health Center stands ready and uniquely able to assist students with a wide array of health care issues.

I also encourage students not to view us as a “last minute source.” Although we are certainly available to assist students in the setting of acute illness, we also spend a great deal of time evaluating and discussing with students ways to live healthier lives.

I invite students to review the profiles of our health care providers on our Web site. I also invite students to choose a primary care provider and to get to know that individual in times of both illness and health. Lane Health Center is committed to its mission of providing high quality acute and preventative care to the student community here at Northeastern.

-Art Nahill, MD is the Clinical Director of the Lane Health Center

NU housing fares well overall

I was near Columbia University in New York City today, so I decided to pick up and read their student newspaper “The Columbia Spectator” (columbiaspectator.com). I was surprised to see what some Columbia students have to put up with these days:

“Elizabeth Dwoskin, Columbia College (CC) ’05, is currently staying in one of the L-rooms. Boxes of her clothing that would not fit into the room now line the suite’s narrow hallway. ‘When I shift in my bed at night, paint falls off the ceiling,’ she said. ‘I wake up with headaches.'”

Now I know NU isn’t perfect, but NU isn’t bad either. In fact, NU is doing very well these days and it’s getting better all the time. Just look how fast and how far we have come in only a few years. Since 1996, NU has added 12 new buildings to its impressive campus, and has been very successful in recruiting top professors from around the world. To highlight NU’s progress more often, NU students should try scanning other college newspapers, so they can read what other students are dealing with on different college campuses around the country. You will then see that no school is perfect.

Even though Columbia is ranked 11 in U.S. News and World Report, as you can see it is far from being perfect. If you don’t believe me just ask Elizabeth Dwoskin.

In addition, I have to commend The News for its editorial “Make this year at NU count” (Sept. 10). I love how the editorial didn’t shy away of placing responsibly on students to make the most of their own college experience, even going as far as offering suggestions on how they might go about it. And finally, telling students to stop being so apathetic about their championship athletic teams and to start directing their energies in helping Northeastern to be better. The News should print more editorials like that! This is a good lesson for all of us to adhere to. Instead of just complaining about things we don’t like, let’s all start being proactive and constructively work together towards making Northeastern a better place.

The News should continue to write articles about opportunities for students to get engaged. Challenging students to get engaged should be paramount at NU. After all, it only makes NU better by creating a more active, diverse and stimulating student body. More often than not, engaged students become happy and successful students making Northeastern a better place to live and learn.

-Michael B. Turgeon is a ’96 graduate of Northeastern with a BA in marketing.