'Nutter Bill' met with opposition

In an effort to curb the reckless behaviors commonly attributed to college students, the Philadelphia City Council has approved a bill that could put a damper on the activities of students living in West Philadelphia neighborhoods.

Proposed by Councilman Michael Nutter, this "educational housing district" bill represents an attempt to limit late-night parties, public drunkenness and illegal parties by giving universities more responsibility over their students' behavior.

In order to do so, the legislation will make universities liable for the fines and other penalties that students incur if they violate any noise, property, litter or zone codes.

The bill will apply to full-time students under the age of twenty-three, and will require them to provide universities and colleges with their local addresses.

While the bill started off as a citywide legislation, the negative response that it has received has limited its scope. At this point, only St. Joseph's and Philadelphia University -- two universities in Nutter's district -- will be affected by it.

According to Majority Leader Jannie Blackwell -- the only Council member who voted against the legislation -- this bill is not the right solution to the problems that it is attempting to solve.

"The reason why I voted against it was because the legislation calls for universities being responsible for their students between the ages of 18 and 23," Blackwell said. "I think it's negative, and I fundamentally disagree with it."

And while Penn will not be affected by the legislation, University President Judith Rodin agreed with Blackwell, saying that making universities responsible for their students' behavior is not an adequate solution.

"We think the concern of vicarious liability is seriously flawed," Rodin said. "We want to make our students responsible and we have a variety of mechanisms for doing that that don't include a legislation."

Rodin added that Penn encourages students living off-campus to be respectful of surrounding community members, not to mention legal codes.

"We work with students about their citizenship and interactions with the community, and feel as though this is the best way to address town and gown relationships," Rodin said.

Blackwell, who represents the district including Penn, Drexel University and the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, said that the money used to enforce the bill could be employed in more constructive ways.

"I would rather take the money that universities would have... to deal with [their students' violations] and put it into community projects," Blackwell said. "I believe in positive and pro-active actions."

Blackwell said that this funding could be used in developing housing programs, special services programs and cleaning programs -- as opposed to helping universities adopt mechanisms to reduce their students' disruptive behaviors off-campus.

"Let's take the resources and use them in a positive way," Blackwell said.

Although the bill has been passed by the Council -- at least for implementation in Nutter's district -- it still must be signed by Mayor John Street in order to be passed.

According to Street spokeswoman Christine Ottow, however, the mayor has some reservations about the bill as well.

"We do have some concerns about it, especially right now as our administration has launched a major effort to encourage college students to stay here after they graduate and live in our area," Ottow said. "The bill seems to send a message to college students that isn't very positive."

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