I learned a lot in class at Northeastern, but I think I learned even more on co-op. That balance of academic and real world education is central to the Northeastern experience, and it must also be a central consideration in any plans for Northeastern’s future.
My first co-op job in Northeastern’s public relations department taught me how the university works. And my second co-op job at the city desk of the Boston Globe taught me how the city works.
For most of its history, Northeastern was a commuter school, enrolling tens of thousands of students from Boston and the surrounding suburbs. It offered a decent education for a good price. But in recent years, Northeastern has changed its focus. It cut back its admissions and became increasingly selective. It razed the campus’ largest parking lot and built the West Village.
At first, not everyone realized Northeastern had changed. To many, we were still the commuter school. We were still the school that bordered Roxbury. We were still the school that wasn’t to be taken all that seriously.
The administration has tried to overcome those stereotypes, and has been quite successful in those attempts. Today, we’re the fourth most applied-to private university in the United States. We’re ranked as one of the top 100 colleges and universities in the country by U.S. News and World Report. We’re home to some of the brightest minds in the country, with faculty renowned in fields as varied as architecture, to bioinformatics, to criminology.
But as we move forward, we risk losing more and more of our roots. While progress is vital to our future success, we must not forget who we are. As a university, we should remember our history. We need to remember that our university started as night classes for local men, taught at the YMCA.
So much of what makes Northeastern great is what we already are. Our colleges serve their students well, and we should make changes only with input from everyone involved, especially the student body. Though students come and go, they are the lifeblood of Northeastern. Without them ‘- without us ‘- this school is nothing.
We need to remember that while a rich student from the suburbs will bring tuition dollars to campus, a student from the inner city can do just as much to change the community, nation or world. We cannot forget our roots as a school that educates all who come to learn.
I’m not saying we need to stop moving forward. Instead, we need to be conscious that as we move forward, we don’t let others fall behind. We need to ensure we aren’t out of reach of those who seek an education.
Geographically, Northeastern is in a different position than any other school in Boston. We border some of the more affluent parts (Fenway and the Back Bay), but we also share a border with Roxbury, which has for years lagged behind other city neighborhoods. So since we are less and less a commuter school, perhaps we can instead focus our attention even closer, right across the tracks to the Orange Line.
We have the Stony Brook Initiative, which aims to improve relations with the community. That program has existed since President Joseph Aoun took the helm, but I feel it still lacks a concrete focus. Our special approach to education makes us the ideal organization to serve Roxbury. Students should be encouraged to look in our own backyard for co-op jobs, especially in much needed fields like criminal justice, criminology, health care and education.
We’re not the school we were in 1898, or even 1998. But we have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to serve our community. And no one in Boston is better suited to achieve this than Northeastern.

‘- Matt Collette can be reached at
[email protected].