Few details offered on student discipline
College officials, who pledged to discipline students caught breaking the law during Red Sox celebrations, were vague yesterday about how severely they would punish students arrested after the World Series victory.
Some said they are already summoning arrested students to disciplinary hearings, while others said they're still waiting to get police reports to confirm the arrests. Officials would not say whether they would expel students and said they would consider cases individually. Each school has its own code of conduct, which applies on and off campus.
After the World Series triumph Wednesday, at least 22 students from 10 colleges and universities were arrested on charges that ranged from disorderly conduct to throwing an explosive at another person, according to college and police officials.
Last week, Mayor Thomas M. Menino had urged colleges and universities to expel students who were caught violating the law after the Red Sox clinched the American League pennant. During the celebration, a 21-year-old Emerson College student was killed after being hit in the eye with a pepper-powder pellet that police fired into a crowd of revelers.
Andrew Shepardson -- dean of student affairs at Bentley College in Waltham, which had one student among those arrested -- said students could be expelled if they damaged property, harmed another person, or jeopardized public safety.
"Certainly, behavior like what we've seen in Boston would be grounds for expulsion from our institution," Shepardson said.
A Northeastern University spokesman said that in a matter of days the school would start disciplinary proceedings against two students who were arrested. In February, Northeastern faced tragedy after the New England Patriots' Super Bowl win; the brother of a Northeastern student was killed and a third-year student was severely injured when a sport utility vehicle plowed into a crowd of revelers. Northeastern expelled at least seven students and disciplined others after that unrest.
Northeastern spokesman Fred McGrail said university officials promised the mayor they would move quickly to crack down on students who were rowdy during the World Series.
"It is going to happen," McGrail said. "We are taking it seriously."
The Suffolk district attorney made it clear yesterday that he would give universities a hand in identifying who did what. Daniel F. Conley, who said he hasn't taken such a move before, will report the names of convicted students to universities as part of a campaign to get colleges to keep their promise to discipline, and even expel, lawbreaking students.
"You can't spill out of your dormitories into Kenmore Square and act completely irresponsibly and in some cases violently and not be held accountable," Conley said.
Boston University, the largest university and the one with the most students arrested, six, planned to send letters calling students to closed disciplinary hearings, a spokesman said.
Elizabeth Westling -- mother of Matthew Westling, 21, one of the Boston University students arrested -- said she contacted the school and was told that officials would review each case.
Elizabeth Westling said her son did nothing wrong. Matthew Westling's father is a former president of Boston University.
For college officials, the arrests are a frustrating outcome after efforts to prevent crime or tragedy.
After the Red Sox won, Annamaria Wenner, associate dean of students at Wentworth Institute of Technology, planted herself on Huntington Avenue to ask students to "please be safe." She was encouraged when most seemed calm.
But the next day, the three Wentworth students arrested came to her before she knew about the arrests, some in tears, all regretful. Some of the students could face expulsion, she said.
Marcella Bombardieri of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
