14 August 2008

Northeastern Ranks #568

In a ranking of United States Colleges and Universities, Northeastern came in at #568 today. The ranking, done by Forbes, is an alternative to the U.S. News and World Report where Northeastern was ranked #96. Forbes claims that "for too many years, information about the quality of American higher education has been monopolized by one publication" and offers their ranking as an alternative.

Forbes' rankings feature a methodology featuring the perspective of being in a student's shoes. Part of the ranking is based on student evaluations of courses and instructors, part of the ranking is based on alumni being listed in the "Who's Who in America" and the rest of the ranking is based on student graduation rates, debt, and the number of students and faculty who have won national awards. For more about the rankings, you can go here.

12 August 2008

Freshmen: Get Involved

Today's incoming Freshmen are able to access a wealth of information about the campus they will arrive at in September due to the wide availability of the internet. Blogs written by students about campus issues, such as this one are a great way for students to find out about issues on-campus and learn. Thus, it did not surprise me one bit to meet an incoming freshmen last night at orientation who was a reader of the Housing Services Blog.

That said, I want to encourage all incoming freshmen readers to follow the advice given by Northeastern's Associate Dean and Director of Residential Life, Robert Jose in a Boston Herald Article by Rochelle Stewart: Make the most out of your four years of college and get involved. At Northeastern, you may very well have the chance to make the most out of five or six years of college, so do it. Join student groups, take on leadership, and be involved. The Resident Student Association and the Housing Services Committee is a great way to get involved and have an impact on campus, and we will welcome anyone who is interested.

Our GrandMarc Comments

If you read the housing blog during the last couple months, you'll know that the Resident Student Association was very active in the public comment process for the proposed GrandMarc at St. Boltoph Street. We culminated our work on a public comment with a letter of comment and accompanying legislation. You can read the entire document, known as Council Resolution S2-08-1, here in PDF form. Our work related to the GrandMarc isn't done. We're currently working to address the topic of Northeastern University possibly leasing a block of space in the building for students to live in leased housing. If you have comments on this topic, feel free to post them here on the blog.

11 August 2008

Sustainable Food Production at Universities Nationwide

Eaters must understand that how we eat determines how the world is used." – Wendell Berry

Change is happening all over our campus. Student activists are growing in population world-wide, nation-wide and throughout Northeastern's campus. The Cafeteria can be an integral part of an effort to make changes in health, agriculture, resource usage and the entire food system. When researching this topic I found many interesting articles and websites, sparking my interest in bringing this important movement to Northeastern. (I will include more information about the articles below.) Cornell University and their Department of Agriculture sponsor a Farm to School Extension program, connecting locally and sustain-ably grown food with schools from elementary to university. Occidental College recently connected the Tierra Miguel Foundation's organic farm to the Los Angeles Public schools in an effort for children to learn in a hands-on (and mouth-on!) way about agriculture and the environment. The University of Connecticut pledged last year to buy as much food locally "as possible" and has started producing honey on the property to fufill the 1,000 pounds of honey that students go through per year. The University of Vermont (UVM) currently partners with Black River Produce, supplying all of their fruit and vegetables, Champlain Orchards, supplying apples and cider, and the Vermont Fresh Network, connecting UVM to more farms in the area. Our landscaping on our city campus is beautiful. Imagine planting apple trees, squash or pumpkins in just garden plot on campus and eating that food in the Caf. Suddenly the beauty of our campus means something and is helping the environment. Chartwells, our catering and dining services provider, has just unveiled it's plan to "Go Green". How can we support them? Give them your feedback and show your appreciation of their efforts. Post your ideas here and the Housing Services Committee will bring them back to Chartwells in an effort to work together to make Northeastern greener!

The following articles were informative about this subject. I would suggest reading them for more information:

  • Fresh from the Farm and Into the Classroom provides an overview and a link to a more detailed report about this program from the department of Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College's partnership between organic farms and Los Angeles public elementary schools.
  • This article gives more information about Cornell University's successful Farm to School Program.
  • This is a handbook for schools for buying and serving locally grown food in school meals provided by the USDA.
  • Slow Food Nation: Come to the Table is a movement for a week of awareness of locally grown food. University Students are holding their own month of awareness and activism to get more locally grown food on the tables at their dining halls. Find out more about the Real Food Challenge at this website.
  • This is a link to the Uconn newspaper article about the introduction of beehives and production of honey to their campus in an effort to become more sustainable.
  • Check this site out for more information about Northeastern University Dining Halls. Discover their plan to "Go Green" by downloading the PowerPoint presentation on the home page.

The Housing Crunch On-Campus

It's a well-known fact that each year at Northeastern University more students apply for housing than there are beds. The same is the case elsewhere, and this year the crunch is even worse due to economic conditions. High fuel costs have led students who once planned to commute to school to want to live on-campus, and the fixed cost of residence hall living is becoming more appealing as utility prices rise. Additionally, dining halls have become a more reasonable option for students to eat at because of the rising costs of food.

This year's trend is notable and has been covered by a lot of media. The Boston Globe today featured an article by Peter Schworm about the cruch in Massachusetts. In Mississippi, LaRaye Brown of the Clarion-Ledger writes about the situation at the University of Southern Mississippi. Also, today the Florida Sun-Sentinel writes about the squeeze for space at Florida Atlantic University. Finally, Brittany Anas of the Boulder Daily Camera wrote Saturday about how the University of Colorado is booking hotel rooms to house students temporarily due to the crunch.