On Friday, a small group of Boston College students distributing sexual health-related materials on the corner of College Road were stopped by a BC police officer. The officer told them that they were on BC property because the University maintains the sidewalk, said Mari Knuth, LSOE '09.
"The sidewalks are public property and belong to the City of Newton," said Daniel McLaughlin, supervisor at the Newton public works department.
"The sidewalks on Hammond St. at College Road and College Road are public sidewalks, under the jurisdiction of the city of Newton," said Louis M. Taverna, city engineer for the Newton Department of public works, in an e-mail.
College Road and Hammond Street were both enumerated on a list of public and private streets of the City of Newton released by Natasha Bhan, permit engineer in the engineering division of the Newton department of public works.
Knuth said that students started distributing condoms and fliers with information on proper sexual health at 9 a.m. "We were distributing off and on for most of the day," Knuth said.
In the early afternoon, Knuth said that the students were approached by a resident assistant from the College Road dormitories. "Myself and a group of students were standing on the sidewalk on College Road, which is under the jurisdiction of Newton, and a resident assistant came up to me and asked if we had permission to be distributing this," Knuth said. "Then shortly after that RA walked away, an officer from BCPD came up to us and asked what we were doing and then proceeded to try to get us out of there, saying that the property was BC maintained [and] that we should have gotten a permit through ODSD."
The officer seemed to be under the impression that the students could have applied for a permit through the Office of the Dean for Student Development (ODSD) for permission to distribute the condoms and fliers, Knuth said. "He didn't understand that what we were doing was something the University did not want us to be doing."
After arguing with the officer for 30 to 40 minutes, Knuth said, the officer threatened to confiscate the students' box of materials if they did not leave. He took a condom and flier as evidence, which she said is still in the possession of ODSD.
The students were distributing the fliers and condoms to bring attention to National STD Awareness Month, Knuth said. "The flier did in fact say that the surest way to be safe is abstinence," she said. "But if you are not abstinent, these are the steps you need to take."
Knuth said that she and the other students involved, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke to Newton City police, the city engineer, and the city clerk on the day of the incident. They all supported the position Knuth had taken with the police officer, she said; that the sidewalks are the property of the City of Newton and were open to the students' use. "They said we should give a heads up to Newton police for the next time we're distributing," Knuth said.
"Since Friday, I've been trying to file a complaint with the Boston College Police Department," Knuth said. "They were unclear whether or not those citizens were actually allowed to be on that property, and I found out that my property was, in fact, sent to ODSD."
Knuth said that her petitions to the BCPD have as yet gone unanswered, and that she was told they were backlogged due to Marathon Monday.
University Spokesman Jack Dunn said, "I had no report from BC police so honestly I don't think it's true."
Senior Associate Dean for Student Development Paul Chebator and BCPD Chief Robert Morse could not be reached for comment.
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