EDIT: Northeastern needs change

Northeastern University’s problems with violence and death have thrust the school into the spotlight as of late and highlighted a number of areas of concern.

Northeastern received a wakeup call on Feb. 1 when a Northeastern student was killed during Super Bowl-celebratory rioting on Symphony Road. The university responded almost immediately, putting up a website featuring photographs of students who participated in the riots and asking for their identification in order to administer proper punishment. Northeastern even went as far as to cancel a high-profile and much anticipated Ludacris concert scheduled for April 2 – demonstrating the severity of the issue.

Northeastern is now attempting to make vital changes in an area in which it has recently had problems and has often simmered throughout the school’s history – relations between the university and the neighboring residents. Northeastern has never had a big enough number of students living on-campus, pushing students into the surrounding neighborhoods. Students’ behavior in the neighborhoods has heightened tensions between residents and the university a number of times – most recently after the Super Bowl riots.

While residents complain that Northeastern has often said it will clean up its act and not changed anything, the school finally seems to be getting its act together, joining a task force that consists of Northeastern representatives, city officials and neighbors. The university must heed the committee’s suggestions and both sides must be made equal partners in making decisions. The university must listen to the task force’s recommendations and work with the neighborhood to create a better environment for both parties. While Northeastern has made a significant step forward joining the committee and acknowledging that problems do exist, it must continue making positive steps, keep its promises and listen to the task force.

Students are not the best neighbors or the most considerate tenants – both around Northeastern and Boston University. Students crowd neighborhoods near universities, driving rent prices up, and because many students are not year-round residents, keeping neighborhoods nice is not a high priority for them. Most Boston residents despise living next to college students, but there is only so much that colleges can do to solve the ongoing problems. BU worked to buy up the land surrounding the campus in an effort to house more students on campus and prevent such problems. Bay State Road and most areas of South Campus were bought up by the university and now provide a significant number of housing options for students.

But while BU is located near Allston-Brighton and Brookline, Northeastern is in the midst of a much larger number of communities, including the Fenway, Mission Hill and Roxbury. Residents in the surrounding areas have every right to be concerned about their neighborhoods and the problems created by the presence of college students. Northeastern must do a better job of housing students on campus to help solve the problem – only 50 percent are housed on campus at the school currently. But the neighborhoods must understand that they must give a little too. If Northeastern is really going to solve the problem, they will not likely build a densely packed Warren Towers-esque dormitory. It will likely try to give students more options by buying up residential properties piece by piece and creating a surrounding area of apartment-style on-campus housing, eating into the surrounding areas but containing students to specific places. It’s a price the residents may have to pay if they want Northeastern to solve the problem.

Northeastern has changed significantly in recent history, but with changes come tensions. Still, as the nature of the students changes with the university – Northeastern President Richard Freeland wants the school to crack the national top 100 soon – the atmosphere will also change. Just as BU’s transformation from commuter school to top-100 institution has brought in high caliber students, Northeastern’s student body will likely change over the coming years, and with that may come more responsible behavior in the neighborhoods.

Indeed, residents have every right to complain about Northeastern students’ behavior in the neighborhoods after such bedlam as happened after the Super Bowl. School officials should be commended for taking action and opening an ear to their concerns, but more action must be the next step for both sides to improve the situation for the long term.