Problems at NU mobilize residents

Domenic Rotolo is angry and fed up. On the night of Feb. 1, the Symphony Road resident witnessed the mob violence that took the life of a young man on the street where Rotolo has lived since 1998.

That event, he said, was the culmination of years of poor quality of life caused by the rowdiness and disrespect of Northeastern University students living in the area – a final and unacceptable blow that prompted him, along with many others, to become a community activist.

“We want our neighborhood back and we’re going to take it back,” he said.

Residents of St. Stephen and Gainsborough streets and Symphony Road, most of them organized as Symphony Road United Neighbors, are seeking not only to prevent the kind of riots that erupted during the Super Bowl celebrations, but to end what they say have been years of ongoing, serious problems with students.

They are calling for the Boston Police Department and city officials to change the way they govern the growing student population on their streets, but mostly they are calling for an overhaul of Northeastern’s housing and disciplinary policies, which they deem inadequate.

“The Northeastern administration is more concerned with keeping their enrollment up. Residents are secondary to them,” Rotolo said. “They wanted to get bigger and they have.”

He said the university has been promising for years to do something about undergraduate behavior but has taken no steps.

“[We] don’t trust them,” he said.

But this time, Northeastern is reaching out to residents in an apparently earnest attempt to make the sort of changes that will put the community at ease. With a variety of parties and interests involved, there is a long road ahead. But changes are already being made.

A city council hearing and three community meetings have already taken place to address the problem with Northeastern students. A permanent community responsibility task force consisting of interested neighbors, city officials and Northeastern representatives is in the making. If the momentum of the meetings continues, it could result in substantial changes in Northeastern’s procedures and more cooperation with the city and police department.

The first step in reviewing the Super Bowl incidents was a Feb. 26 city council hearing. During that hearing, residents vented their frustrations, presented suggestions and described the sort of incidents that have affected their neighborhood.

“Two cars were torched, there was a shooting and stabbing at 42 Symphony Road,” Symphony Road resident Joyce Foster said at that first hearing. “A murder was committed last year around the corner, and there has been constant vandalism of cars and other property.” Her written testimony was signed by more than 50 neighbors.

James Carr and Kim Drain, property owners and former residents of 2 Symphony Road, said they wanted to stress that the Super Bowl riots were not in any way an isolated incident.

Their testimony read, “We repeatedly had occasion to bring attention to the Northeastern University staff – even talking directly with the president of the university – about the lack of respect shown by students for the neighborhood, the casual attitude of the university … and the indulging and looking the other way from constant student hooliganism.”

Neighbors involved in community activism do not seem to doubt that the ongoing rowdiness in their streets has been caused by Northeastern students. The university is not denying it either.

In the memorandum from the third community meeting, Northeastern President Richard Freeland apologized for the action of students who participated in the Super Bowl riots and recognized that the incident was part of a pattern of general student behavior problems.

For the meeting, neighbors requested formal note taking, fearing that their petitions would be left up in the air. Rotolo said during the previous two gatherings, there was “a lot of talking but very little recording,” and added that Northeastern “had control of the agenda.”

Northeastern administrators were quick to emphasize their present commitment and to defend the university from some of the accusations.

“The problems we are having in the neighborhood are universal. We are not unique,” said Jeffrey Dogget, associate director of community relations for Northeastern.

Dogget said his office has always worked with neighbors. Nevertheless, he now is urging them to look forward, instead of back.

The issue is, “How do we proactively avoid the problems,” he said, adding that the university aspires to have a good agreement with its neighbors.

Emily Donahue, a Northeastern spokeswoman, said that the Super Bowl violence “prompted [the university] to take a closer look at building community.”

The school has created its own community building task force with administrators, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and student leaders.

“We’re reviewing everything,” Donahue said. “We’re really trying to study where this behavior is coming from.”

A group of concerned Northeastern students, who felt embarrassed and affected by the incidents, is also taking actions to undo the damage.

On March 27, the student government association invited all interested parties to attend a series of discussion sessions called Rebuilding the Community, where the group discussed questions such as “Do students feel disenfranchised from the university?” “Does the sentiment contribute to student behavior?” and “Can we rebuild our community?”

Michael Romano, president of the student government association, said the quick finger pointing that followed the Super Bowl riots disappointed him.

“No one is going to downplay what happened,” he said, “[but the] majority of the burden was on Northeastern.”

However, he did recognize there are disciplinary problems in the university, which he attributed in part to a lack of guidance.

“Students [here] are very independent. Sometimes they need a little attention.” He also said that many students “feel like a digit” as opposed to valued individuals.

Romano said student leaders asked to meet with the president and other school authorities to discuss “some of the more deeply embedded characteristics of our campus.”

Although he said the university has a strong student government and a lot of ideas to contribute, he is somewhat concerned about Northeastern’s response.

“I feel changes in academia are very slow,” Romano said. “To be able to maintain dialogue with people who were seen as adversaries is a good thing,” he said, referring to university authorities.

Romano said the student government is planning to give Freeland a written document with suggestions stemming from the meeting in about a week. The student government invited members of the community to a pancake breakfast on April 3 in an effort to begin its own dialogue with neighbors.

Neighbors are also wary of whether the changes will be made quickly and effectively. But one thing that assuages their fears is the commitment from Freeland.

The president met with the mayor on March 10 to discuss a plan of action to work on the following points: holding students accountable for their actions; improving safety and security in the community; increasing on-campus housing, to cover 75 to 80 percent of students rather than the current 50 percent; and working with the city and neighbors to better manage off-campus properties.

Today Northeastern cannot offer enough on-campus housing for its growing undergraduate body and has resorted to leasing properties in surrounding areas. Neighbors have said the off-campus properties lack surveillance and sufficient resident advisers.

Foster, the Symphony Road resident, said the large number of students living in the area leaves less room for families and has lowered the quality of life for the community.

“You can’t live in this neighborhood without being assaulted by kids drinking in the street … and loud music,” she said.

“I don’t think Northeastern has educated students as to what proper living is,” said Symphony Road United Neighbors President Joyce Starner.

Rotolo said a significant minority of students live in his neighborhood with a “screw you if you don’t like it” attitude. He called these students “wealthy trailer trash” and said Northeastern’s student body is by far the worst in the city.

Although there is not yet a set timeline for Northeastern’s plan of action, Dogget, Northeastern’s director of community relations, said many changes will start during the summer. Northeastern has increased police presence in the area and two new residence halls are scheduled open in the fall.

On a drizzly morning last week, Foster pointed to a garden just outside her apartment at 49 Symphony Road – a small public area that grows green and flowery in the summer – called the Symphony Road Community Garden. She recalled a series of arsons in the late 1960s that left 30 neighborhood buildings burned and a 5-year-old boy killed. The incidents brought together a large number of outraged residents who sought legal punishment for those involved in the fires and created the garden to stand as a symbol of the community’s activism and solidarity. Both sentiments are alive today.

“We’re proud of our neighborhood,” Foster said.