Boston City Council Unanimously Amends University Accountability Ordinance, Backs Recovery Campus

BOSTON — October 1, 2025 — Boston City Council unanimously passed amendments to the University Accountability Ordinance and a resolution backing a new regional recovery campus at its October 1 meeting. The ordinance amendments, sponsored by Councillor Sharon Durkan with co-sponsors Councillor Liz Breadon and Councillor Henry Santana, shift the university data reporting deadline from October 1 to November 1 and require an annual City Council hearing on the Student Housing Trends Report, targeting a city with more than 160,000 college students and more than 69,000 living off-campus. The council also unanimously approved two collective bargaining dockets covering Boston Public Health Commission nurses who had waited more than five years for raises, with a fiscal year 2026 appropriation of $347,178 and annual wage increases of 2 percent. Councillor Edward M. Flynn filed an emergency hearing order the same morning the federal government shut down, warning that veterans' pay and benefits — including programs at the New England Center for Veterans on Court Street — could be disrupted. Councillor Benjamin J. Weber publicly called out the City of Quincy for filing a new motion in Superior Court on September 22 that could send Long Island Bridge permitting back to the state DEP, further delaying a recovery campus estimated to cost $550 million to rebuild.