Northeastern is working closely with community members as it shapes its plans for future development.

University officials have been meeting with a new Community Task Force, a group formed by the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to "find ways for the neighborhood and the institution to flourish together," according to Thomas Miller, the BRA's director of economic development, who spoke before the group in February.

The task force, which includes local elected officials and residents of the Fenway, Mission Hill, and Roxbury neighborhoods, is working with Northeastern as it creates its next ten-year master plan.

One topic of recent meetings has been the university's current plan to build two new residence halls on campus—one on the North Parking Lot, between Hemenway and St. Stephen Streets, another on the Camden Street Parking Lot—with the aim, at the city's urging, of moving students out of leased housing in the neighborhoods that abut Northeastern.

City officials had pushed for the dorms in the wake of instances of student misbehavior, most notably the rioting after the 2004 Super Bowl, in which a twenty-one-year-old died after being hit by an SUV.

Though the university initally hoped to submit plans for the dorms last month, opposition from some task force members concerned about adding density to already-crowded areas led to a decision to delay plans until January 2006.

President Freeland told the task force in February that it's important for Northeastern to offer more on-campus housing for students as it continues on its path of improvement.

The university currently houses about 50 percent of its 14,600 undergraduates on campus, thanks in part to the construction of nine new residence halls in recent years. The two proposed dorms would house more than 1,500 students.

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