Students protest address registry
City councilors' plan would aid police
College students flocked to a City Council hearing yesterday to voice their opposition to a plan that would turn over their addresses to Boston police, as part of an effort to track party ''hot zones" across the city.
Students from schools including Suffolk University, Northeastern University, Boston University, and Emerson College packed City Council chambers yesterday, denouncing the ordinance. It is being pushed by Councilors Michael P. Ross and Jerry P. McDermott, who represent neighborhoods heavily populated by college students.
The policy targets off-campus students, who number in the tens of thousands in the city.
One student said the councilors, in their effort to avoid incidents such as the deadly Super Bowl riots early this year, are treading on students' rights and penalizing many for the actions of a few. ''I believe the ordinance is a violation of students' privacy," said Bill Durkin, a third-year student at Northeastern and a vice president for the university's Student Government Association. ''This is the wrong way to approach the situation."
Durkin said that the riots, which erupted near Northeastern after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, do not reflect the character of the majority of students and that the councilors' implication otherwise should be punished at election time. He said Northeastern's student government is embarking on a voter registration drive on campus through next year, when Ross will run for reelection.
''Your antics will not fade quickly from our minds," he said, referring to Ross and waving voter registration forms. ''We will not be silent; we will come out in droves."
Mission Hill resident Maryann O'Keefe criticized students' behavior on weekends. O'Keefe cited vandalism, vulgarity, and students urinating in public. She said the ordinance would allow public safety officials assert more control in the neighborhood.
Boston police officials representing neighborhoods heavily populated with college students said the ordinance would be helpful in tracking trouble spots.
''It absolutely would be a good tool," Captain Bob Flaherty said.
