BC Weighs in Regarding Dorms

BCHeights.com
Mayor has second thoughts on dorms
Published in the Monday, February 25, 2008
Edition of By Heights Editorial Board
The Issue: BC asked to rethink its plan to build on Brighton

What we think: As is, plan puts student formation first

Students want to live on campus; administrators want students to live on campus; Allston-Brighton neighbors also want students to live on campus - as long as that campus does not extend into their living space. At least, this is the complaint being weighed by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the group that must review and approve all building projects in the city. On Wednesday, the BRA suggested that Boston College reconsider its plan to build residence halls on Brighton Campus.

The mayor and the BRA suggest that BC move the proposed residence halls onto the existing Main Campus so student living areas will be more centralized and farther from disgruntled neighbors. Such a drastic revision in the Master Plan would compromise the carefully balanced design that both the University administration and Sasaki Associates have tirelessly worked to cultivate for many months. The priority placed on student formation and maintenance of a suburban campus would be jeopardized if BC were to construct high-rise buildings as the neighbors suggest.

We urge our Allston-Brighton neighbors to reevaluate their position regarding residence halls on Brighton Campus. Although there would be over 500 undergraduate students moving into the neighborhood, it would be far more centralized and contained than the current situation in which approximately 50 percent of the junior class floods the area, living next door to families in virtually unregulated apartments and homes. With more residence halls come more students, but with them also come resident directors, resident assistants, and peer ministers, all acting under the Office of Residential Life. In the end, these institutional controls will serve to limit the headaches for neighbors by placing students in living environments where they are held accountable for their daytime and nighttime activities.

We also encourage the BRA and Menino to reconsider their suggestion to redraw BC's plans. BC is one of the finest institutions of higher learning in this country, and its effort to increase housing for students sets an example for other Boston universities. By forcing the BC administration to horse-trade on this issue, the city is damaging an expansion plan that will only bring more prestige to the school and the surrounding area. While it is encouraging to see that the BRA is listening to the suggestions of individual residents, it is unfortunate that BC's housing solution is being mistaken for a problem.

Redrawing plans at this stage of development would hinder the forward progress of this campus expansion and potentially present many unwanted problems during the actual construction process. We want what is best for our school, and we believe that the Master Plan has adequately taken the suggestions and complaints of all parties into consideration. City officials must also realize that the vision of administrators is all-inclusive, and the University should not be forced to sacrifice the quality of this plan.