Students say they stick close to campus

Boston University has touted itself as an urban university where students not only have the option of exploring the city, but are encouraged to do so. However, many students find themselves spending the majority of their time around Commonwealth Avenue.

Psychology professor Catherine Caldwell-Harris said students might stay on campus due to a phenomenon known as ‘cocooning,’ in which people tend to stay within a fixed comfort zone instead of venturing out.

‘What can happen in many college settings is that peer group becomes the intense center of social life,’ Caldwell-Harris said. ‘So students don’t want to leave the intensity of where they’re exploring and making those very important and crucial relationships.’

Caldwell-Harris said amenities including the Fitness and Recreation Center and the Student Village also keep students closer to campus than in other generations.

‘[BU] used to be more like it was a college stuck in the middle of the city, where people lived off campus, and you went off to bars, or you explored other parts of the city,’ Caldwell-Harris said.

BU Central, which organizes free music and comedy shows for students, averages crowds of 85 to 385 students per show, according to General Manager Brandon Epstein. However, it is not BU Central’s goal to deliberately keep students on campus, Epstein, a School of Management senior, said.

‘What we’re doing is providing an option,’ Epstein, a former Daily Free Press columnist, said. ‘Just like students can go to the movies, or students can go to dinner downtown or they can go to a bar wherever they want.’

Other factors, such as transportation, may make it difficult for students to get off of the campus during the weekend.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Night Owl bus service, which used to run routes until the early morning hours, was suspended in 2005 because too few people used the service, MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said in an email. That left the bus and subway, which both end service between midnight and 12:50 a.m.

Boston-area college students said that the transportation ends too early on the weekends.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Andrew Pertusi said because of the T’s early shutdown, he has to consider the weather and cab fare costs before making plans to go off campus. Many times this causes him to stay on campus, he said.

‘The most recent parties I’ve been to have been at Allston and Brighton,’ Pertusi said.

Northeastern University sophomore Alexandra Hunter said she stays on campus because there are limited opportunities in Boston for underage students.

‘I think if there were more opportunities to meet people off campus and there were more places to go, we’d go,’ Hunter said. ‘Just because we know people that are on campus and there are things to do, we’d rather do that.’

Boston College sophomore Tucker Elcock said the majority of BC students stay on campus for the weekend, and even students who can legally drink only go out on Thursdays.

‘People tend to stay on campus because that’s were all the parties tend to happen,’ Elcock said. ‘Thursday night is more like it’s getting towards the end of the week and it’s a way to unwind.’

BU students who are 21-plus can also stay close to campus because of its proximity to bars and clubs, College of Communication junior Dan Ventresca said.

‘We have so many bars close by,’ Ventresca said. ‘I think a lot of people think that it’s unnecessary to go all the way to Faneuil Hall to go to a bar.’

Despite the proximity of nightlife to BU’s campus, Ventresca said he tries to get off campus at least once a week, even it is simply to go to lunch or run an errand.

‘I feel like everybody tries to get off campus at least once in a while,’ Ventresca said. ‘What’s the point of coming to school in a city like Boston if you’re going to stay as close to campus as possible?’