His plans to keep eateries open, for example, may lead to more problems with Cambridge residents, who already often complain about drunk and loud students traipsing through their neighborhoods.

Rachel E.E. Garwin ’07 heard DeBergalis speak in her freshman seminar, “Activism, Bargaining, and Conflict: Democratic Decision Making in the United States.”

“I’m sympathetic to the neighbors, more than he is,” she says. “I don’t think we really have a right to be bothering them. He seemed sort of looking for trouble.”

Still, DeBergalis sees a chance for Cantabrigians of all ages to get along.

“I really believe that when you treat students more as adults, you’ll start to see more adult-like behavior,” he says. Eventually, “I think you’ll see a general across the board willingness of people to be part of that spiral of interaction.”