State Politics Matter Regardless of Home State

When it comes to local and state politics, Harvard students are woefully out of touch. With a constant stream of national and international political figures parading through campus, Harvard students fail to realize how Mass. state and local politics impact daily student life.

On campus, students forget that there’s a vibrant political environment a short T ride away from University Hall. But when break rolls around, how do students get home? Most take the T to Logan and fly home. Even this simple, everyday act involves two major state-level organizations: the Mass. Bay Transport Authority (MBTA) and MassPort. Therefore, who runs these departments and how their programs are executed makes a huge difference in students’ lives.

For example, MassPort is currently deciding whether to approve another runway for Logan, which would allow more traffic to go through it, thereby giving Harvard students all more convenient flights, but would also increase noise and pollution in the neighborhoods of Boston. The Mass. governor appoints the board members of MassPort; for our concerns and interests as students in Mass. to be taken into account in decisions like the runway expansion, students need to participate in state politics.

Or look at the influence of the MBTA in students’ lives. The creation of the Silver Line has cut the time it takes to make the ritual commute to Logan from Cambridge almost in half. When students go to a House formal at a club downtown, the subway and T buses stop running by 2 am. Proposals to extend T hours are an issue that students should voice their opinions on. Likewise MBTA General Manager Dan Grabauskas has proposed a 25 percent increase in the cost of a fare on the T. Although this issue is not solely relevant to Harvard students, since most students depend on the T for transportation to and from Boston, it is a cause that is worth investing in.

Even students who do not venture off Harvard campus feel the impact of state government policies. The Cambridge Common has been the site of molestations, causing an outburst of student activism for more blue-light phones, which were installed. Now, Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s budget for 2007 lowers funding for urban parks like Cambridge Common, to levels that are 33 percent below 2001 levels. Harvard’s proposed expansion to Allston? Mass. governmental bodies will leave a significant imprint on how the project as a whole is completed, from zoning laws to labor regulations. A large portion of the future of Harvard is in the hands of politicians, and if students want to have a say in that future, they should speak up.

After Harvard, many students decide that they need to leave this state. Some leave for better weather, some leave out of the desire to return home, but many are forced to leave because they can’t get a job, or can get a job but can’t afford to live here. Like the rest of the Bay State population, Harvard graduates are victims of the high cost of living in Mass. Employers know that there is a lot of talent in the Boston area, but they also know that they can pay lower salaries if they operate in a state with a lower cost of living. Such “in-country outsourcing” can force students to leave a place that many have become attached to. With property taxes as the state’s main source of income, this cycle is doomed to repeat itself. If the state government establishes a more progressive tax plan and uses those funds to promote affordable housing, however, employers will return with open arms.

So what can you do as a Harvard student? Register to vote in Massachusetts. Get involved. There’s a motion to get gay marriage on the ballot as a referendum question in 2008, and as members of the top young minds in America, we should make our voice heard. Go to campus events on state politics, like those that the Harvard College Democrats are sponsoring in honor of Mass. Politics Week.

Ultimately, why should you care about Mass. politics? Because you live here.

Robert D. Winikates is a government concentrator in Cabot House. This past week was Massachusetts Politics Week organized by the Harvard Democrats.