Parcel 18 West Named?

Rumor has been flying around campus that Parcel 18 West might just be getting an actual name soon. The rumor is that the building will be called Renaissance Park Residence Hall. While we don't know if the rumors are true or credible, it sounds reasonable. We'll of course keep the student body up to date. In the meantime, post your thoughts on the comments area about the rumored name.

Money Matters

Jared Schlar, the founder of the website Youbux.com will be speaking about budgeting, credit scores, debt, and other topics as a part of the Money Matters seminar being put on by Student Financial Services and the Student Government Association. The seminar is free to students and is on November 20th at 6:00 PM.

Basketball Doubleheader

On Tuesday, November 25th Northeastern Men's and Women's basketball teams will be hosting a basketball doubleheader against BU in Matthew's Arena. The women's game begins at 5pm and the men's game begins at 8pm. In addition to two great Division I games, free food and prizes will be given away throughout the evening. Admission is FREE for all students. Go Huskies!

Gender Neutral Housing PASSES!

Gender Neutral housing will come to Northeastern's campus in the fall of 2009 due to the hard work of several student groups. Gender Neutral housing will be test driven in Building I with the hope that it will extend to other residence halls in the future. Students will be given the opportunity to express their interest in the program on the 2009-2010 housing application.

Naming Buildings

Parcel 18 West, West Campus E, Building K, 780 Columbus Avenue -- all buildings that have yet to be given a true name. There's an interesting blog out at Inside Higher Ed today, which discusses ten rules for naming buildings that are fairly standard at institutions of higher education. Here at Northeastern, the Resident Student Association has been told that "the University is weary of naming buildings after people who are alive or corporations" because it could harm the University if the person was found to be a racist, or committed a crime, or the company went under. It's a valid point -- after all, would you want to live in "The Enron Village" and go to class in "Kennith Lay Hall"?

For those who don't know, Kennith Lay was chairman of Enron back when it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Lay was indicted on counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, misleading statements, and conspiracy. Lay was found guilty on several counts, but died of a heart attack before they could sentence him to jail time. As he had not exhausted his appeals, the charges were vacated.

New Link on myNEU

The work of the Housing Services Committee has one again paid off. Now, via myNEU, students can easily go to TV Planner and see what's on HuskyCable. It's on the Community tab of myNEU:

General Council Today

Unfortunately, the Building K presentation won't be happening at General Council today. Feel free to come anyway, however, as the meetings are open to all residents.

Building I & J Might Be Linked to Wilkerson Corruption

The Boston Globe last week raised the concerns that Building I & J may have been involved in the latest alleged corruption and bribery scandal involving Diane Wilkerson. The Globe writes:

What about that big 22-story dormitory Northeastern University is building on the corner of Ruggles and Tremont streets? Why did Wilkerson support that project over many of her constituents' objections that it was far too big and that the school had not provided enough benefits to the community in return for the right to bring more than a thousand students into the neighborhood?

And why did the senator oppose other Northeastern plans to expand farther into her district a year later? Was she acting in the best interests of her constituents, or was she really working to help one of the many developers with whom she had close relationships?

While at this point it is not known for sure if Wilkerson's support for Building I & J against the will of her constituents is in the interest of a developer whom she had a relationship with, this sort of news -- the mere possibility of corruption -- is sure to reflect poorly upon Northeastern as an institution.