n I can’t speak for anyone else, but I sure feel bad for the City of Boston. Who would have imagined that there might be costs to being a major American metropolitan area, such as funding a police force? If we are to listen to City Councilor-At-Large Stephen Murphy, the students and universities are to blame for all this trouble! If not for all those students, Boston would be a utopian society completely without need for law enforcement. And universities would pay their fair share instead of sitting on perfectly good land and using city services, free of charge.
Obviously, this gentleman is mistaken.
Firstly, policing is a city responsibility. It’s a fact of life. Police need to be on the streets, and sometimes you’re going to need to pay a lot of them when there’s a big job. That’s just the way it is. You cannot send a bill to universities because “their” students were out in force at a given time. Students are people, and will do that they want to do. It’s not the job of any school to lock their students away at night. If necessary, the city should fine actual offenders after they are arrested, tried and convicted. Don’t make up a number like 80 percent to describe how many college students were at the Red Sox riots. Where did that come from, anyway? Are we to believe that Mr. Murphy was in Kenmore Square counting heads?
Secondly, stop complaining about how schools don’t pay taxes. Universities are non-profit organizations, and are thus entitled to tax exemption. This is a well-established fact, and it’s not going to change. Instead, one might be thankful that there are schools like Boston University that actually care and pay millions every year to the city despite their legal obligation to pay absolutely nothing.
Finally, in response to the concern that colleges are bleeding the city dry by preventing land from generating tax revenue, I submit the following. According to a report prepared by the City of Boston in December 2002, titled “Tax Exempt Property in Boston,” 50 percent of the city is held by non-profit entities, just as Mr. Murphy says. What he does not say, however, is that 40 percent of the land is owned by either the local or federal government, both of which fall into the “non-profit” category. Higher education and medical entities? A mere 2 percent. Maybe the city should take some of its own advice.
Peter D. Jorgensen CAS ’06
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