Boston politics tend to ignore student demographic, students say

As Boston mayoral candidates gear up for today’s primary election, Boston University students said they are concerned that political figures often discount them as a voting demographic.

Although college students comprise of about one-third of Boston’s population during the school year, some said the general lack of student involvement in local politics allows for candidates to ignore their concerns.

The primary candidates include incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino, City Councilors-At-Large Michael Flaherty and Sam Yoon and South End businessman Kevin McCrea. The primary will determine which two candidates make it to the final election.

BU College Democrats Campaign Relations Director Elizabeth Jones said there is an anti-student sentiment in Boston politics.

‘[Boston City Council President] Mike Ross has called students ‘the scourge of Boston,” Jones, a junior in College of Arts and Sciences, said.

Ross (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill), who proposed the ‘No More Than Four’ off-campus housing ordinance that passed in 2008, has received a lot of negative response from college students.

Incumbent Menino supports the ‘No More Than Four’ legislation, while the challenging candidates’ stances vary. Flaherty, who voted for the legislation, said he still supports it, but would encourage on-campus housing if elected. Yoon, who also voted for it in the past, said he would meet with students to discuss concerns if elected. McCrea said he is opposed to it.

Leland Cheung, a candidate in the Nov. 3 election for Cambridge City Council, was a guest at the last College Democrats meeting. He encouraged students to get out and make their voices heard in this election.

‘The reason [politicians] can afford to be anti-student is because they don’t really think you matter,’ he said.

Cheung said students should take advantage of their large numbers relative to the rest of registered Boston voters to wield their influence.

‘If all the students voted together, they would vastly outweigh the number of residents that are voting,’ he said. ‘If you can show [politicians] that you have an organized voter base, they’re going to pander to you.’

College Democrats treasurer Matt Wall, a CAS senior, said he thinks students discount the importance the local politics because they are not native to the city.’

‘People think that they’re not Boston residents, but they’re living in Boston for the majority of the year,’ he said. ‘Everything that happens in Boston affects them.’

Mass. voter registration laws were actually designed so students can register, regardless of their permanent residence, according to Massachusetts Election Division. The law requires six months of residence out of the year, so any student who is at school for nine months out of the year makes the cut.

Students who are already registered to vote in their home state are also eligible to vote in Mass. because the state permits registered voters to vote in more than one state.

CAS sophomore Anna Krivolapova said she doesn’t pay much attention to local politics, primarily because she doesn’t think they have much of an impact on BU policy.

‘When Obama was running, I followed that,’ she said. ‘But not local elections. BU’s a private school, so I’m not sure how much impact local elections have.’

Hunter Glanz, a first-year BU graduate student, said he thinks it’s important for students to pay attention to local politics.

‘If you’re going to be in a place for four years, that’s enough time to see changes in the environment around you,’ he said.’

Students who are interested in registering to vote can contact Student Union representative James Boggie and other Union members for information and registration forms.