Crime and Punishment


1193927059Now that the Red Sox celebrations are over, the city can get back to business as usual. Mayor Tom Menino can ride his bike around Hyde Park, once his hyperextended knee heals up. Ed Davis and Dan Conley will have their coffee dates as their underlings fight. And local colleges will hand down punishments to the students who injured cops and destroyed property during the playoffs.

The Herald ran a story today featuring the apology of 19-year-old Dylan Baker, a student at Wentworth Institute of Technology. A stoic Baker wearing a red sweater and blue jeans, looked the part of a studious college student. He says he’s sorry for his behavior, which led to charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

“I apologize to the people of Boston. . . I am ashamed that my name is represented with the hooligans that went down there and did all this crazy stuff. . . If I could go back, I would have gotten out of there quicker once I realized that things were starting to go bad. I am sorry. I didn’t want to be destructive in any way. I just wanted to celebrate.”

To Wentworth’s credit, the school is considering expelling Baker. Before the World Series, city officials asked colleges to levy stiff penalties against students who cause disturbances. But the city shouldn’t have to cajole schools to demand responsible behavior from their students.

Colleges can certainly find another student to take the place of the car-flipping morons. Students from high-ranking schools like Harvard and MIT participated in Monday morning’s riots. Time to bring in the kid who got wait-listed and say goodbye to the ones who can’t control themselves.

Schools should also want to keep community relations as amicable as possible. Northeastern already has a strained relationship with its neighbors, with residents protesting a proposed student high-rise because it would bring more potential hooligans to their neighborhood. If schools take a hard line against destructive behavior, they’ll win over more residents over as they plan to expand, which will help the bottom line.

It’s not that we don’t enjoy a massive public celebration. Let’s just save the car flipping for West Virginia, OK?