Mattison and Marin have backed up their concerns by comparing the Allston benefits package to plans offered by other Ivy League universities.

Yale, they noted in their Crimson op-ed last fall, has spearheaded a homeowner program that has given $25 million over the last two decades to incentivize employees to become homebuyers in New Haven. They also pointed to The University of Pennsylvania, which has offered a yearly commitment of $700,000 to a single Philadelphia public school.

Harvard has also made a commitment to give $3 million to support Allston housing over ten years, yet Mattison called that figure “miserly in comparison” to Yale’s housing initiative. Furthermore, according to Mattison, Harvard has invested “less than a tenth of what Penn does” in Allston public schools.

Neither the Yale homeowner program nor the Penn education partnership was prompted by construction projects, like Harvard’s, raising questions as to how effective such comparisons can be when the contributions of a school to its community are presented in such different contexts and situations.

University spokesperson Kevin Galvin declined to comment for this article.

Raising the Bar?

Though Harvard’s package has drawn comparisons to those of peers across the Ivy League, the proliferation of community development projects throughout the Boston area provides a better point of comparison, experts say.

Gerald Autler, a senior project manager at the Boston Redevelopment Authority, underscored that each school has a different approach to fostering a productive relationship with the surrounding community.

For example, MIT has offered a plan called the “Kendall Square Initiative,” which will build over a million square feet of housing, retail, lab, and commercial space in Kendall Square over the next seven to ten years, according to Sarah Gallop, the co-director of government and community relations at MIT. The initiative will also provide $14 million to a fund controlled by the Cambridge City Council to allocate funds for various community benefits.

Autler noted that, for instance, the densely populated urban neighborhoods around Northeastern will receive much wanted educational outreach and substantial investment in local businesses. On the other hand, the wealthier neighborhood of Beacon Hill, which houses Suffolk University, has asked for Suffolk to withdraw from the surrounding residential areas, as the community does not have a need for university programming and outreach.

Critics have compared the Harvard package to other university benefits proposals in order to highlight the limitations of the Allston plan. Autler and Gallop, however, advised against being swayed by those comparisons.

“Benefits packages don’t end up being a formulaic exercise but are specific to every institution and every neighborhood,” Autler said. "Every university interacts with a different community with its own needs and concerns."

Despite concerns raised by Allstonians and task force members, BRA representatives commended Harvard for creating what Autler calls a “very robust” benefits package.