It’s a day most students dread the day the envelope comes from the Boston Jury Duty Department telling students to wake themselves up early in the morning because they’re going to court.
Though many do not vote and numerous students name other states as their main residences, all Boston University students are eligible for jury duty service, an obligation that many times entails waiting long hours in a downtown courtroom.
But contrary to rumor, BU does not sell students’ information to the city of Boston and does not receive compensation for releasing students’ names to the department Massachusetts law dictates that student names must be submitted for potential jury duty service.
Mike Ryan, communications coordinator for the Boston Jury Duty Department, said BU does not give out student information to their bureau. Rather, Massachusetts law requires the department to keep a list of all residents in every town and city in Massachusetts.
Students are characterized as residents of the state strictly because they live in the state for at least six months of the year, he said.
‘A street list is compiled by all the cities and towns in Massachusetts,’ he said. ‘This list is used to compile a database for random juror selection and Boston has a habit of picking lots of college students due to the number of colleges here.’
The city operates under a ‘One Day, One Trial’ policy, he said, which says all residents must serve for one day of jury selection and possibly one full trial before the juror can escape the obligation for three years.
But Ryan said he believes the concept works well, particularly in a college town.
‘With this idea of ‘One Day, One Trial,’ most students that are summoned while attending school here will probably only have to serve once in their four year period of study,’ he said. ‘Therefore, one day out of four years doesn’t seem that terrible.’
In 351 communities throughout the state, Ryan said the names of residents as young as 17 are compiled and summons are sent out for jurors to serve during the following year.
While it seems like an increased number of BU students receive the blue and white envelopes telling them they need to trek downtown for a long day of jury selection, Ryan says the list of possible jurors is selected entirely at random.
‘Students aren’t the only jurors selected,’ Ryan said. ‘We’ve had professional athletes like Ty Law and Nomar Garciaparra serve the city of Boston because they live here for at least six months out of the year.’
Laura Malinick, a sophomore in the School of Education, said she wasn’t shocked to have received a summons from Massachusetts, despite being an out-of-state-resident, because of the number of BU students who receive them every day.
‘I wasn’t really surprised to be summoned because I had friends who had received letters before me in the semester,’ she said. ‘I was summoned second semester freshman year. It was for the summer so I had to postpone my appearance and it was rescheduled for April 2003.’
Julia Wilson, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences and Massachusetts resident, said she believes Boston is a difficult place to serve jury duty and would much rather serve in her hometown of Chelmsford, Mass.
‘Boston is such a horrible place to be summoned to jury duty because it’s so difficult for students to get downtown on a busy week day,’ she said. ‘Students here at BU are also paying for their classes and are suddenly asked to miss them for ‘just one day,’ which is unfair.’
Many BU students also complained that they have to miss out on an entire day of classes in order to fulfill their civic duties. But Ryan said there are a number of ways to accommodate students by allowing them to come downtown on their lightest academic days.
‘We try to recommend students attend on a day that isn’t so busy for them,’ he said. ‘If a student is selected to serve on a jury, we allow them to option to meet with the judge personally. It is then up to that specific judge to decide whether or not the student should be dismissed.’
Ryan said BU is not alone in receiving a large number of student summons, as Northeastern University and Boston College are also asked just as frequently to fulfill their civil obligation to the city of Boston.
Ryan said BU does make a point of printing a small paragraph in their Student Handbook alerting students to this fact, but said few students notice it.
‘BU does try to make their students aware that they may, in fact, have to serve on a jury during one of their four year’s here,’ he said. ‘However, its just one tiny paragraph amongst a number of other important factors, and it usually gets passed over and students are not aware of it.’
Although BU tries to keep students abreast of the possibility they might have to serve on a jury during their four years at BU, CAS sophomore Catie Borbotsina said the book holds so much information that it’s hard to even pick it up and navigate through it.
‘I was not aware that BU mentions it in the Student Handbook,’ she said. ‘I do not think it is likely that the majority of students would really take the time to read through the handbook, although that is the students’ responsibility. If they want to be informed, they should read it.’
BU spokesman Colin Riley said it is unfortunate that so many students do get summoned, though they are not the only ones who do in the city.
‘Everyone needs to serve duty it’s their legal obligation,’ he said. ‘In fact, I just received my summons this week, so I’ve got to rearrange my schedule and fulfill my obligation even if it’s a pain.’
Though many students are unclear on jury duty laws, Ryan said the department does as much as possible to make the rules clear.
‘A lot of out of state students are probably scratching their heads when they receive their summons,’ he said. ‘It’s unfortunate that the laws aren’t as clear to the students ahead of time, but we try to accommodate those students with questions as best we can.’