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At 7:30 PM EDT today, I will end my tenure as RSA Executive Vice President. Elections for my replacement take place next Wednesday at the RSA General Council meeting.

RA Guest Passes

Thanks to the great work of our Student Government Association, it has been announced that starting Fall 2010 all RAs will get guest passes with their meal plans that are provided to them. The full announcement can be found here, and comes after years of work by both SGA, RSA, and RAs.

This Blog

The last couple weeks has been intensive with a lot in the Resident Student Association. Unfortunately, that took a toll on operations like blog updates. As the transition of RSA's Advocacy role takes place, though, we will be working to update the blog more frequently with project information.

Projects

Blogging has been slow the last week due to a lot of busy work at the Resident Student Association. We've been hard at work on many projects, and some of the projects that are going to be big focuses this year are:

- Electronic guest sign in
- New roommate matching for first-year students and upperclassmen
- Increasing the guest limit
- Adding new dining hall options
- Working to get move to/from information on the myNEU Portal
- Adding printing to residence hall spaces using the printq uota

There are also many smaller projects, and new ones that will pop up. Keep checking this blog and our Twitter accounts to learn more.

Husky Card Vendor List

A student posted a comment on a post yesterday about where to find a list of vendors that take Dining Dollars. You can find a list of vendors that take Dining / Husky Dollars through the Registrar's website.

Dining Hall Menus

Many students have been wondering how they can tell what's going to be available each day at our dining halls. Often times, the offerings can make the difference in choosing whether to go to International Village versus Stetson East versus Stetson West, and thanks to the Dining Services website you can learn what's going to be served each day in the dining halls. The website can be found here and you'll want to go to "Places to Eat" and then "What's On The Menu" in the top navigation. Menu's are subject to last minute changes, due to stocking of food, recalls, and food deliveries.

Piketoberfest Today!

If you've wondered why there haven't been blog posts for a couple days, it's been due to people supporting a high amount of RSA recruitment efforts and programs. Thursday we had several hall council information sessions and an activities fair table. Friday we had two programs, and today is Piketoberfest. Join RSA on the Centennial Commons at 3 PM for free food and a free concert by State Radio & Longwave. Prior to the concert, RSA is helping prepare and setup pretty much all day. Follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/rsalive for updates.

Free Google Apps Training

Via Twitter, the Resident Student Association has learned of a Free Google Applications training workshop for students. The training will take place Wednesday, September 23rd during Activities Period (11:45 AM) in 145 Snell Library.

Google Applications is the new platform for student e-mail, calendar, and document sharing. Through Google Applications, students can organize meetings for classes, share documents, create new documents, chat with other students, and have a powerful e-mail platform available.

You can register for the training on the Information Services Training website.

Problems? We Can Help

Have a problem on-campus? If so, e-mail NortheasternRSA@neu.edu and you'll get an answer by the end of the next business day, but often much faster. With 80 percent of e-mails responded to within 8 hours, the Resident Rapid Response Team is here for any student living on-campus at Northeastern who has any question, problem, or concern. The Resident Rapid Response Team has produced quick results, solutions, and answered questions for hundreds of students already, and looks forward to serving many more.

Recycling Bins

If you live in an upperclass apartment-style residence hall and don't yet have a recycling bin, check with your RAs. If they aren't able to help, e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and we'll try to help out.

Last Day of Move-In

Today's the last day of move-in, and if everything runs as well as it did the last few days, this will be one of the most successful move-in weeks ever, especially given that this is the largest move-in ever with the addition of International Village.

There are plenty of Welcome Week events coming up, including Duck Tours tomorrow at 5:00 PM, so check out www.northeastern.edu/welcomeweek for more information or stop by the Welcome Week booth on the Krentzman Quad in front of Ell Hall to learn more.

Move-In Going Well

Reports from all of the residence halls we have talked to so far (Stetson Hall West, West Village A, West Village B, West Village C, West Village G, West Village H, Speare Hall) indicate that move-in is going well. Elevators are working and there are no serious backlogs. Traffic around campus is orderly, and the weather couldn't be better. There are no major issues with ResNet/HuskyCable, and the dining halls are in good shape. If you notice anything amiss, let us know! E-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu.

Useful Phone Numbers

Here's a quick list of many useful Northeastern phone numbers. Many offices are open today, tomorrow, and even Labor Day.

Housing & Residential Life: 617.373.2814
Registrar's Office: 617.373.2300
Husky Card Office: 617.373.2270
ResMail: 617.373.5108
Information Services Service Desk: 617.373.4357

Our phone number is 617.373.8682, and if you don't think any of the above offices can help with your issue or want to find out just who to call, we encourage you to call us.

ResNet On-Site

Thanks to Twitter, we have learned that ResNet teams will be dispatched on-site to residence halls around campus to provide assistance to students who need to connect their computers to the network and activate them. The teams are expected to hit the residence halls around Noon, and will also be able to help with HuskyCable issues.

Biggest Day of Move-In

Today is the biggest day of move-in at Northeastern University. The weather is great, the moving bins were being unloaded as early as 7 AM, and the dining halls were open at 6 AM for breakfast. The Resident Student Association is here for you during move in. Feel free to e-mail us at RSA (at) Northeastern.edu with any issues or for faster response send tweets on Twitter to @RSALive.

Cable TV Channels Fixed

HuskyCable channels in the area of Channel 16 to 22 recently were very fuzzy, miscolored, or distorted for students campus wide. Today, we're happy to report that thanks to the work of people in various groups of Information Services (ResNet, Customer Service, and Network Services) the channels should now be coming in clear. After determining the issue was campus wide and investigating, Information Services found that it was found that the problem stemmed back to an issue with Comcast, who provides a feed to Northeastern that gives us most of our standard definition cable television channels. Comcast fixed the problem quickly, and students can now enjoy clear channels like CNBC, the New England Sports Network, and ABC Family.

Profiler Plan Bonuses, Part II

Some good news tonight. It turns out you have until September 17, 2009 to sign up for a Profiler Meal Plan and recieve the 10 percent bonus of meals. Despite the extra time, there's little reason to wait. International Village Dining hall is currently open and has been impressing students, parents, faculty, staff, and even alumni with its unique offerings. Now is a better time than ever to sign up for a meal plan because thanks to the Banner system, meal plans take effect quicker and are easy to enroll in as you can sign up on the Self-Service tab of the myNEU Portal.

Correction on Jamba Juice Hours

This week we posted that the normal hours of operation for Jamba Juice and Peet's Coffee & Tea at International Village will have both locations open until 11 PM most nights. This was incorrect, and we apologize for the mistake. The correct hours of Peet's Coffee & Tea will indeed keep it open until 11:00 PM Monday to Thursday and 8:00 PM Friday to Sunday, however Jamba Juice will only be open until 8:00 PM Monday to Thursday and 6:00 PM Friday to Sunday.

Should the student body find these hours to be inadequate, it is possible that they will be changed in the future, so let us know what you think.

International Village Station Poll

Dining Services wants to know what station at International Village students like the most. They have put four options up on a poll on their website. The options, and the results of the poll as of 3:02 PM Eastern Daylight Time are:

Sushi Station (42.3%)
Tandoor Station (23.1%)
Wood Stone Oven Station (19.2%)
Charbroil Station (15.4%)

E-Mail Outage - Why It Happened

On September 1st, 2009, Google Applications and Google Mail users saw an e-mail outage that lasted for several minutes to several hours for some accounts. The outage affected Northeastern University's new Husky Mail, which is powered by Google Applications. Google has posted an explanation of what caused the outage, and what they plan to do to prevent similar outages in the future. You can read about it here.

In one sentence, and without too much technical jargon what happened was some of Google's computers became overloaded and stopped accepting requests from users trying to open their e-mail on the web which resulted in the downtime.

Microsoft Office Ultimate Discount for Northeastern Students

Northeastern University students are eligible to buy Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for just $59.95, thanks to a special offer from the Microsoft Academic Promotions Online Store. Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate typically retails for $679.95, so this over 90 percent off. The package includes the typical necessities for college students with Microsoft Office Excel, Microsoft Office Word, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint, but also includes Microsoft Office OneNote, Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft Office Publisher, Microsoft Office InfoPath, and Microsoft Office Groove.

While Office 2007 Ultimate is only supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and the upcoming Windows 7, Mac users can currently get of Office: Mac 2008 on sale at Amazon.com or the Apple Store. While the price is higher than the Windows version and does not feature as many applications, it includes installation rights for three Macs.

Of course, a topic that frequently comes up from residents is why Northeastern doesn't license copies of commonly used software like Microsoft Office for students living in the residence halls to use. This takes place at other institutions of higher education, and is something that the Resident Student Association can pursue if there is enough student interest. If you think this would be beneficial (or not beneficial) let us know.

Profiler Plan Bonuses

Two students who purchased Profiler meal plans noticed that the 10% bonus of meals did not show up on myNEU. They contacted the Resident Student Association, and we got answers.

Dining Services says the bonus meals should be added in the middle of September.

If you haven't signed up for a meal plan yet, you can still get the bonus meals by signing up before the end of this week. It's now easier than ever to sign up for a traditional or profiler plan thanks to the implementation of the Banner system for meal plan sign ups. Just click the link on the right side of the myNEU Portal's self-service tab.

Dr. Drew Coming to Northeastern

The Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern (OPEN), Enrollment Management & Student Affairs (EMSA), University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS), and the Resident Student Association (RSA) have worked hard over the past several months to bring Dr. Drew Pinksy, host of radio talk show Loveline, host of VH1's Celebrity Rehab, and author of The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism is Seducing America to campus for "Sex, Drugs, & Dr. Drew."

Dr. Drew will be here on September 12th, 2009 at 7:30 PM and tickets went on sale at the Blackman ticket office in Ell Hall yesterday. There are fewer than 1000 tickets available, and they're available based on the schedule below. Tickets are just $5.

8/31-9/3 & 9/8-9/11: Box Office (Ell Hall), M/T/Th/F 12-6pm daily
9/4-9/6: Welcome Week Info Booth (Krentzman Quad), 10-5pm daily
9/7 only: Welcome Week Info Booth (CSC Indoor Quad), 12-2pm

Dr. Drew will be taking questions from students, and will also be doing a signing after the event. The Facebook event can be found here.

Another Bin Update

During the move to/from period, there was a major shortage of bins around campus. We have found out that the reason for this shortage was partially due to students who in the past had used the moving bins to move off-campus and then never returned the bins. There currently is no mechanism to actually bill people or charge them for not returning the bins, which results in a lack of money being available to replace bins that are not returned.

Last month I visited the Renaissance Park Garage with the President of the Student Government Association where we found tons of bins that were being unused. Knowing that these bins would be helpful, we asked if they could be transported to the residence halls for student use. We were told that those bins, unfortunately, needed to be cleaned and made available for the general move-in period coming up.

Going forward, the Resident Student Association is going to work with Campus Life to see what can be done to ensure that bin shortages aren't a huge problem in the future. This may include working to get approval from University Senior leadership to actually charge for unreturned bins, and then put the money collected into replacing the unreturned bins. Additionally, it may include allocating funding towards purchasing more bins, and looking at what options exist to acquire cheaper moving apparatuses.

Looking For Bloggers

Do you want to write about issues that affect Northeastern students? Do you want to help your fellow students stay informed about national issues affecting students, changes on campus, and help gather student feedback to improve life at Northeastern? If so, writing for this blog is a great opportunity. If interested, e-mail me at soleyn.m (at) husky.neu.edu and write a short blurb about why you would like to write for the blog. Please include your contact information as well, so I can get back to you.

Meal Plans Are Active

Traditional Meal Plans and Profiler Meal Plans are active! Contrary to earlier statements by the University that Profiler plans would not activate until Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009, the plans were activated as of 7:00 AM this morning. Students who purchased a plan can confirm if it is active by checking their Account Balance under the Self-Service tab of the myNEU Portal.

Parking Lot Closures for Move-In

Due to the upcoming move-in period, the University has closed the North Lot and Columbus Lot parking areas to students, faculty, and staff until September 6th at 7:00 PM.

The closures take full effect today, and vehicles left in the lots may be towed.

During the closures, parking is available at the Renaissance Park Garage, Camden Lot, and other areas like the West Village Garage.

Three New Eateries Open

This morning at 7:00 AM, the first of three new eateries on campus opened with the opening of the International Village Dining Hall. Peet's Coffee & Tea and Jamba Juice also open today. Running on a somewhat limited schedule until after Labor Day, the normal hours will keep Peet's Coffee & Tea and Jamba Juice open until 11 PM most days with the International Village Dining Hall mirroring last year's hours at Stetson Hall East.

Free Meals for INVR Residents

If you aren't a Resident Assistant and moved into International Village, you have free meals until meal plans for the fall kick in on August 31st, 2009. The plans are 15 meals per week staff plans, and thus do not have guest passes, and do not have dining dollars, but don't cost extra money from student tuition or housing payments. The reason for giving students these meal plans is to offset having to move in to the building (likely from a location with a kitchen) before meal plans kick in due to move to/from dates.

Update on Bins

This morning I learned from the President of the Student Government Association that stockpile of bins is being kept in the Renaissance Park Garage right on-campus at Northeastern University. I had to wonder, "with many students complaining about a shortage of bins, why are there more than 100 bins sitting here instead of being at the bin locations at Davenport B and West Campus, Building A?" You can see a photo of the bins here.

The bin complaints began last Friday when move to/from kicked off. Students on the weekend faced lines that were as long as twenty people at one point, with waiting times exceeding 90 minutes! When we found out about the problem, we contacted Housing Services to see what could be done. They were supposed to look into the situation and see what can be done.

The solution, however, seems clear: transport the bins in Renaissance Park Garage over to WCA or DCB. By doing this, the bins can be put to use to benefit the students who have paid thousands of dollars in tuition and housing fees to the University.

We have recommended this solution to Housing and are hoping to hear back from them today. Hopefully, we'll get a response that is positive and will help the student body out as they try to move in/out/to/from.

Dining Updates on Twitter

We have plenty of dining updates this morning -- including pictures of the International Village Dining Hall, the inside of the International Village Residence Hall, and the Green Terrace -- online on Twitter. Check it out here.

New Room / Apartment Issues

Every year during move in/out/to/from time the Resident Student Association is bombarded by students who report problems in their new living space. Whether it's air conditioning not cooling to 68-degrees Fahrenheit, something that wasn't cleaned, a light that won't turn on, or a screen with holes, problems tend to pop up. When something does happen, the easiest way to get it resolved is to enter a work request with Facilities online. You can also call them at 617.373.2754. If you find that your work request is not fufilled and you don't get an explanation from Facilities, let us know by e-mailing the Resident Rapid Response Team at NortheasternRSA (at) neu.edu.

Bins

Do you need a bin to move in, move out, or move to/from? If so, bins are available at Davenport B and West Campus, Building A - North during the following times:

Aug .15th: 9am-9pm (Returned by 8pm)
Aug. 16th: 3pm-9pm (Returned by 8pm)
Aug. 17th: 3pm-9pm (Returned by 8pm)
Aug. 18th: 12pm-9pm (Returned by 8pm)
Aug. 19th - 28th: 3pm-9pm (Returned by 8pm)

The Resident Student Association is aware of the bin shortage that presently exists and is trying to find out what can be done to improve the situation for students who need to make moves. To help the situation, residents should attempt to pack everything and then make bin trips as quickly as possible and return their bin immediately.

Residence Director Listing

If you need to contact your Residence Director and aren't sure who it is or how to contact them, Residential Life has a listing online. You can find it here.

You Probably Will Need to Re-Register for ResNet

Students living on-campus will probably need to re-register computers and other devices on ResNet on August 20th, 2009. The re-registration is necessary due to an update to ResNet taking place the night of August 19th, 2009. Re-registration can be done starting at 9:00 AM on August 20th by visiting http://registerresnet.neu.edu. Devices that lack a web browser may need to be re-registered manually. For information on this process, you can e-mail help@neu.edu or call 617.373.4357. You may be required to either provide the device's Media Access Control address or bring it into the ResNet Customer Service Center in Speare Commons.

Breaking: Free Food at International Village Tomorrow Morning

We have just learned moments ago via the Northeastern University Dining Services Twitter that students will have a chance tomorrow morning (8/13/2009) to check out the International Village dining hall with a free breakfast sampling from 8:00 AM to 9:00 AM.

Art In International Village

Today's issue of The Huntington News has a story on our latest Residence Hall, International Village, and the artwork that will be featured in the building. You can read the story here. Additionally, an editorial about Shepherd Fairey and allegations of dishonest work can be read here.

G-Apps Migration "Delayed"

When Information Services Vice President Bob Weir sent an e-mail out to the student body about Google Apps being available to undergraduates starting August 12th, many students looked forward to today as the day when they could ditch the insufficient storage, lack of functionality, and difficulty of use of the current myNEU e-mail system for a new system driven by Google Applications. Unfortunately, students will have to wait 5 days. Due to a mistake, the e-mail from Vice President Weir indicated the wrong date. Undergraduate Students will be able to switch to G-Apps on Monday, August 17th. On the positive side, Admitted Students and Graduate Students can switch today.

Improved Heating in Stetson Hall West

Many times, residents show concern that older buildings never see improvements. This isn't entirely true, and an example is Stetson Hall West. When Stetson Hall West opens up in the Fall for new first-year students, there will be a nice change from years past: new heating units. You can see a couple pictures of the new heating units in place below.




September in Boston is typically warm/mild, and can be quite hot at times, so bringing a fan is suggested due to the lack of central air conditioning in the building. However, when January comes, the new heaters will be a great addition for residents.

Free BBQ This Thursday: West Campus Surf 'n Turf

This Thursday at 7:00 PM the Resident Student Association through its Hall Councils is bringing you Surf 'n Turf, an evening of entertainment, free food, and fun right on the West Campus Quad. The event is free to all students and is paid for by your Resident Activities Fee.

Tonight's MBTA Public Meeting

If you can't make the MBTA meeting today at the State House, you can get updates on Twitter. Follow me at www.Twitter.com/soleynm

Avoid the 6.25% Meals Tax

People all over the state of Massachusetts are unhappy with the recent 25 percent hike in meals tax and sales & use tax to 6.25 percent. However, Northeastern University students can avoid the meals tax when eating on-campus. Many on-campus eateries, such as Wendy's, Taco Bell, and the West End in the Curry Student Center, Churchill Hall Dining Hall, and Stetson East Irving M. Levine Marketplace, do not charge students the 6.25 percent state meals tax. This little-known fact can help any student who is looking to save some money on food, so help spread us the word to your fellow students by telling them about the savings or e-mailing / tweeting a link to this blog post.

Opera Place Re-Opened

Opera Place has finally re-opened to vehicle traffic. Closed since the 337 Huntington Incident last month, the road is a one-way route for traffic to move from St. Stephens Street to Huntington Avenue and carried all traffic that exited the Northeastern University North Parking Lot. To see a picture of the area taken this afternoon, check out Twitter.

MBTA Public Meeting Monday

On Monday, there is a public meeting being held regarding the proposal for fare hikes put forth by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. The meeting is at the State House (Gardner Auditorium, specifically) on Beacon Hill right in Boston, and students are encouraged to attend and let their voices be heard. The meeting starts at 4:00 PM.

Following this meeting, the Resident Student Association will be working on preparing an opinion on behalf of the resident students at Northeastern. To be involved in this process, you can attend next week's General Council meeting at 7:00 PM in 270 West Campus, Building F.

Outdoor Recycling Arrives

The first outdoor recycling containers have appeared on campus! They are currently all located in the West Campus near the entrances to Building B, Building D [Behrakis], and Building H. The Student Government Association has posted a picture of the new recycling containers outside of Behrakis on their Twitter.

Residents have long asked for recycling to be available outdoors. If you want to see more outdoor recycling on-campus, rest assured that this is on our list of projects to improve campus, and let us know where you would like to see the recycling containers.

Status of 337 Huntington Avenue for Fall 2009

This week the Resident Student Association heard mixed messages about what was going to happen to 337 Huntington Avenue (also known as “The Fairwoods”) this Fall. After hearing from students, we contacted Student Affairs to figure out what the correct story was and want to share it with the community so students who are directly affected, students-at-large, and others can know what is happening.

Around August 1st, letters were issued to students with their Fall 2009 housing assignment. Students who received a letter assigning them to 337 Huntington Avenue should ignore this letter. Housing and Residential Life is re-assigning all students who were assigned to 337 Huntington Avenue to alternative locations on-campus for both the Fall 2009 and Spring 2009 term. This is due to what Housing and Residential Life calls a "more likely than not" possibility that repair to 337 Huntington Avenue will not be completed for Fall 2009 opening.

Students who were moved "up" in housing style (for example, from a double to a single or from standard to enhanced) will be billed the rate that they had in 337 Huntington Avenue. However, Housing and Residential Life has stated that this is only valid provided students “do not seek re-assignment.” One problem with this policy is that in the re-assignment process, some roommate sets were split, and if a student has the opportunity to live in a situation that they would be more comfortable with, Northeastern University is effectively charging as much as $2,000 a semester for a student to do this. The Resident Student Association will be investigating why this policy was created and see what can be done to enable students to seek re-assignment to available spaces without being charged more than their 337 Huntington Avenue rate.

Students who are currently living in Davenport B (displaced due to the "337 Huntington Incident") will conduct move to/from/in/out similar to how any other resident student does so. Students should e-mail their current Residence Director and the Residence Director of the building they are assigned to move into if they will be on-campus in the Fall 2009 term. If moving off-campus, students need to just e-mail their current Residence Director. A list of Residence Directors and contact information can be found here.

Contrary to any previous statements by Northeastern employees or rumors that existed, students in Davenport B will not have to move into consolidation housing during intersession, nor will these students be charged extra to remain on-campus during intersession.

Housing and Residential Life has noted that housing assignments may change if circumstances change. They have stated that they will contact students who are affected to make them aware of these changes, if they happen.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let the Resident Student Association know by connecting with us on Twitter (@RSABlog and @NortheasternRSA), e-mailing the Resident Rapid Response Team at NortheasternRSA (at) neu.edu, or posting a comment on this blog.

Three "New" Beverages in International Village

On August 31st, when the International Village Dining Hall opens, students will have access to a few beverages that previously were not available in the dining halls. The first is the often-requested Dr. Pepper, which will be accompanied by its fellow Dr. Pepper Snapple Group beverage Canada Dry ginger ale.

Additionally, students will be able to enjoy Fruit Punch [red] POWERAID in the International Village Dining Hall, with Lemon-Lime POWERAID still available at Stetson Hall East and Stetson Hall West.

The new beverages are being offered, in part, thanks to the work of Resident Student Association members who voiced student opinions, suggestions, and concerns to Dining Services. If you ever have an idea for something new in the dining hall, let us know!

Northeastern Makes the Honor Roll

Northeastern University made the 2010 Green Rating Honor Roll in the Princeton Review's 2nd annual report of College and University Green Ratings. Ranking institutions on a scale from 60-99, Northeastern received a score of 99 along with 14 other institutions. You can read more in the official press release here.

While we may have a perfect score, in order to keep it Northeastern must continue offering students sustainable options like recycling bins around campus and food in the dining hall that is farmed sustainably. The Resident Student Association is committed to supporting such improvements when the residents want to see them. If you have ideas on making Northeastern more sustainable, let us know!

NUPay Working Again

Last night we blogged about NUPay being unavailable. We now can bring you the good news that the service is back up and running.

A Certified Green Restaurant Right On Campus

Students looking to eat in a "Green" facility will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of a Certified Green Restaurant right on campus with next month's opening of the International Village Dining Hall. The announcement that the dining hall was made a Certified Green Restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association was made by Dining Services on Twitter this morning and the Resident Student Association independently confirmed the information through the Green Restaurant Association's website (see below) just a few minutes ago.


Click for Full-Size View

NUPay Down

If you were hoping to add money to your HuskyCard, pay your tuition, or make a housing deposit tonight, you may not be able to. There is currently an outage of the NUPay (also known as CashNet) service that students can access via the myNEU Portal to make online credit / debit card payments.

The problem seems to have come up after the close of business, but Information Services Customer Service staff informed us that they have assigned a "High" priority to the issue and that the group in charge of the service will "be taking a look at this in the morning."

Affected students will see an error message stating "You have too many outstanding requests, wait for them to complete, then try again," or will see a message like this:


Click for Larger Image

Students who encounter an error accessing the service can send an e-mail to help@neu.edu to let Northeastern know they are having problems.

Help With Move-In

Move-in for the Fall of 2009 starts September 3rd, and the University is looking for students to volunteer to help out. To learn more, you can attend an information session on August 18th at 6:00 PM in 333 Curry Student Center or e-mail movein.volunteers@neu.edu.

New Dining Hall Opens August 31st

The International Village Dining Hall is set to open on Monday, August 31st, 2009. The newest dining facility to Northeastern will feature a state-of-the-art residential dining experience for Northeastern students, and will supplement the existing facilities at Stetson Hall East & Stetson Hall West helping to meet the volumes of students who will be using the dining facilities.

Columbus Lot Closure

Northeastern is going to be doing work on the Columbus Parking lot (the surface lot between the two garages) this upcoming weekend, and so the lot will be closed on Saturday, July 25th, and Sunday, July 26th. The work should include the fixing of potholes that currently exist in the lot.

Students, faculty, and staff with day parking permits can park in the North Lot during this time, and students, faculty, and staff with overnight parking permits can use the North Lot or Renaissance Park Garage.

If you fail to remove your car from the Columbus Parking lot in a timely fashion, you risk being towed.

Blog Now On Twitter

This blog is now fed over to Twitter. Whenever a new blog post is made, within 30 minutes a tweet will be issued from @RSABlog about the post with a link to it! If you don't yet have Twitter, you can sign up for free at www.Twitter.com.

Recycling

A question that I want to pose to you blog readers: Would you recycle more if recycling bins were more accessible on-campus. For example, if you were throwing a plastic bottle, glass bottle, or paper out and right next to the trash can was a recycling container, would you recycle or just trash it all? If your laundry room had a recycling bin, would you recycle empty laundry detergent bottles versus throwing them away? Or do you already recycle these?

Letting us know will provide some preliminary feedback on a couple ideas that RSA and HEAT discussed in a meeting last night about improving on-campus recycling options and availability.

Another 337 Huntington Update

Since our last update, there's been a few new developments with 337 Huntington Avenue.

• Huntington Avenue is now open to traffic both ways / both sides. Pedestrian access to Opera Place / St. Stephen's Street is also open. Vehicles, however, are still prohibited from accessing St. Stephen's Street. Cars that need to reach North Lot should take Gainsborough St. or Forsyth St. to Hemenway Street and use the back entrance by Stetson Hall East.
• Northeastern has been cited with a violation for operating an unsafe building at 337 Huntington Avenue. When the media inquired, Northeastern declined to comment adding more fuel to the fire regarding poor public relations practices and a lack of forthcoming-ness over the situation.
• All students in 337 Huntington Avenue were relocated to Davenport Commons B this week and will be remaining there the rest of Summer II. They were able to gather all their belongings and move with the support of a moving company.

The Resident Student Association is here for all the students who were displaced and, as always, all on-campus students. We are working to bring programming to the students in Davenport Commons B, and any students having problems can e-mail the Resident Rapid Response Team for help at NortheasternRSA@Northeastern.edu.

337 Huntington Avenue Incident Update

Northeastern University sent the following message out to students just a few minutes ago:

A message from NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY
Message sent - 7/14/2009

Following the collapse of the front building cornice at 337 Huntington Avenue, the University is providing the following updates to the Northeastern community:

- There were no injuries related to this incident.

- All residents of 337 Huntington Avenue have been relocated.

- The university is working closely with structural engineers and the City of Boston to determine the cause of the incident and to make sure the building is safe for occupancy.

- It appears that the circumstances surrounding the incident are isolated to this building.

- We routinely evaluate our facilities and perform necessary maintenance. We take great pride and care in our work to maintain a safe Northeastern campus.

- University Student Affairs is working closely with the students who have been relocated to assist them in this transition.

- As a precautionary measure, the University will remove the remaining cornice on the side of the building.

- Members of the community are advised to avoid the area surrounding 337 Huntington Avenue and seek alternative routes. Some street closures will continue as the incident is cleaned up and investigated.

We will continue to provide updates to the Northeastern community as needed.

337 Huntington Avenue

Many of you may already be aware, but this morning around 8:30 AM, the facade of 337 Huntington Avenue came crashing down to the sidewalk/street in what the Boston Police Department called a "construction accident." The building was undergoing roof work by Progressive Roofing, a firm based in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is not yet known if their actions led to the collapse of the facade which was about 200 feet in length and weighed several tons.

While Northeastern spokesperson Samantha Fodrowski said there did not appear to be injuries, media reports indicate that there was one police officer who suffered minor injuries. The officer was in the area working construction detail.

Huntington Avenue was closed down for a portion of the morning due to fears that the building might be structurally unsound. Inspectors have deemed that the building is not at risk of collapse, and the MBTA is now running. Students were evacuated from the building, and Northeastern is working with Boston's inspectional services division to determine if they can return to their residence hall or if they will need to be relocated to a different space by the University.

For more information as updates come in, you can check out the following web sites:

Boston Globe: www.boston.com

WHDH [NBC Boston]: www.whdh.com

The Boston Channel [ABC Boston]: www.thebostonchannel.com

WBZ-TV [CBS Boston: www.cbs4boston.com

The Boston Herald: www.bostonherald.com

Also, on Twitter, you can search for "#Northeastern" or "337 Huntington" to see users who have posted pictures and tweets about the situation.

MBTA Fare Hike Hearings

An MBTA spokesperson has informed us that later this week they should be announcing the details of public hearings on possible fare increases and possible service cuts. The fare increases could raise the cost of taking public transit in the Boston area by as much as 20%, which would have a financial impact on students relying on the T to get to class, co-op, and other activities. We'll update once we have details later in the week.

Move In / Out / To / From Problems

Did you, your friends, or fellow residents have problems this summer or last year with move in, move out, or move to/from?

If so, we want to know so we can work on fixing moving problems at Northeastern University. Please let us know by e-mailing RSA (at) Northeastern.edu or posting on the blog. Anonymous posts are not identifiable by IP Address, so you can rest assured your identity will be truly anonymous if you post on this blog.

Equipment Borrowing

One of the great things that our Hall Councils do in the residence halls is purchase equipment that residents can borrow (as well as fixed equipment like table tennis tables). This includes items such as billiards balls and sticks, movies on DVD / BD, and video games and systems.

At present, it is difficult for residents to tell what exactly their hall has, and it is even more difficult to see what other halls have. What this can result in is a single DVD movie being purchased 5 or 6 or even 10 times over, when only 2 or 3 residents will want to simultaneously have it. Likewise, when residence halls want to do video game tournaments and want to see what other halls have a Wii (for example), they don't have an easy way to tell who does.

Even worse, the process for borrowing & returning equipment is not consistent campus-wide. Some residence hall staffs have created their own procedures which have limited accessibility to equipment for students. Others have no documented procedure.

The potential solution that was looked at by the Advocacy Subcommittee is to have a database of what equipment is owned by each hall, and where it resides, which would be accessible to all residents. This would help cut down on wasteful purchasing and let students know what is available. Also, developing a unified policy campus-wide for equipment borrowing is the other idea we have looked at, as well as looking at ensuring that students are billed for items they fail to return.

We want to know what you think, so post on the blog about it!

Article About West Campus Architect

This weekend in the Boston Globe there was an article about William Rawn & his architecture firm which was responsible for the design of the award-winning West Campus residence halls at Northeastern. You can read the article here.

Annual Electrical Shutdown

Each year over the weekend of the Federal Holiday of Independence Day (4th of July), an electrical shutdown takes place across campus as they perform inspections. On Saturday, July 4th between 6 AM and 8 PM, several buildings will experience power loss. The below notice from the Facilities Division lists the buildings affected and provides guidance on how to prepare for the shutdowns as well as why the shutdowns must happen:

As part of the required annual inspections and preventative maintenance program of the Northeastern University electrical utility system, the buildings listed below require a prolonged electrical shutdown or interruption of power. This shutdown is necessary for proper isolation and inspection of the buildings’ step-down transformers, high-voltage switchgear and distribution switchboard equipment.

As has been the case in previous years, to minimize disruption to University operations, this maintenance shutdown will occur over a weekend.

The electrical outage will commence on Saturday, July 4 at 6:00 AM and it will conclude by 8:00 PM that same day and will affect the following buildings:

Architecture Studio (located at MBTA station)
Behrakis Health Sciences Center
Cargill Hall
Dana Research Center
Dockser Hall
Egan Engineering/Science Research Center
Holmes Hall
Kariotis Hall
Knowles Center
Lake Hall
Latino/a Student Cultural Center
Meserve Hall
Nightingale Hall
Ryder Hall
Shillman Hall
Snell Engineering Center
Stearns Center
West Campus Building A
West Campus Building B
West Campus Building C
West Campus Building E
West Campus Building F
West Campus Building G
West Campus Building H
West Campus Parking Garage
Willis Hall
Power Plant

Only the buildings/locations listed above in this communication are affected by this electrical shutdown. All other campus buildings/locations will not be affected.

It should be noted that as a building/location passes inspection and testing, power will be restored to that particular building. As such, some buildings may have their electrical power restored ahead of the established restoration deadline of 8:00 PM.

To reduce the risk of damage to computer and other sensitive electronic equipment, please turn off all such equipment prior to the shutdowns.

The Facilities Division undertakes these actions to insure that the Northeastern University community is provided with safe and reliable electrical energy. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and apologize for the inconvenience.

Committee Notes

A few quick notes & questions from committee last night:

• If you have had any issues with move in/out or move to/from, please e-mail them to RSA@Northeastern.edu or comment here. If you want to be anonymous, just post a comment on this blog as an anonymous user. The blog system does not provide us with your IP Address or any other identifying information, so rest assured that you'll be anonymous.
• Do you think International Village should have a display of flags from around the world? If so, how should it be arranged? Send your thoughts to RSA@Northeastern.edu or post them here.
• On an average cross-campus walk, count the number of outdoor recycling bins you see on the way. Odds are, you'll see zero or one if you go by Snell Library. Trash cans are plentiful, however. If you had just as easy an opportunity to recycle a bottle or can versus trashing it, would you?
• Your residence hall probably will lose power on July 4th, for some part of the day, due to electrical inspections and testing.
• Audits are being done to see if people actually moved in. We still don't understand why Residential Life & Housing Services use a better method for this process, but will be working to see if it can be improved.

International Village To Have Trays!

The Huntington News this morning has printed a story about yesterday's news that International Village will have trays available to students, along with modifications to make it so that students won't need a tray to return their dishes. You can read more here.

This news brings to a conclusion a months-long debate in which the Resident Student Association worked to defend the integrity of student opinion and defend the rights of students living in the residence halls. We are going to be continuing work on educating students about sustainable practices in the dining halls, while still ensuring that students' rights are being protected and preserved.

Laundry Bucks Are Active

The Resident Student Association received word from Campus Life and independently has confirmed that Summer II 2009 Laundry Bucks are now active. Residents should now have $22.50 available to use towards washing and/or drying clothes in the on-campus laundry rooms.

Where Are My Laundry Bucks?

If you were hoping to start using your Summer II Laundry Bucks today and have some nice, clean clothes... you're out of luck. Due to what has been deemed "a slight delay" by staff members in Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Laundry Bucks were not activated at the same time as meal plans. We have been told they should be coming forward within "the next few days."

Dining Tweets

For those of you who utilize Twitter, Dining Services now has a Twitter account. You can follow @NEU_Dining on Twitter, along with @NortheasternRSA.

Sunday Looking Good for BBQ

Sunday is looking like a great day for BBQ. While you can't smoke ribs in your residence hall or start a real grill up, you can take advantage of RSA's free trip to the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Bash. We cover the tickets (normally $10) and you just have to buy the food. It's a great deal, and I'm personally planning to go and enjoy some great ribs, cold beer, and perhaps some brisket or pulled pork sandwiches. If you want to join me, simply e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu to sign up.

Stetson East Dining Changes

Many students have been curious about what exactly happened in Stetson Hall East when the dining hall was closed, because it pretty much looks the same as before. Today, we found out from the people in charge of Dining Services what work was done. The list of work includes:

• Atrium flooring replacement;
• Serving line equipment improvements;
• Wall replacement;
• Building-wide bathroom renovations to reduce flooding;
• Tree cleaning (yes, the trees are real, but because it doesn't rain the leaves accumulate dust!)
• Replacement and/or cleaning of seating that was damaged;
• Detailed equipment cleaning; and
• Repainting of all walls

There were also a few other minor improvements that were made.

Shooting Near Campus

We have reports coming in via social networking / micro-blogging service Twitter that a shooting has taken place near Matthews Arena. Reports indicate that there is one victim who was transported via ambulance and one individual taken into custody by the Boston Police.

Details are not yet known, nor has any confirmation come from Northeastern about the incident. This, along with last week's two stabbings near campus, has raised the question of why students aren't getting NU Alert texts about these situations. One tweeter wrote, "I don't understand why we haven't recieved a single emergency alert from Northeastern..."

Given the question of NU Alerts, we will be looking to the University adminsitration for guidance on when they issue alerts or not, and how students can be kept more aware of what is going on around campus.

Another Stabbing in the Northeastern University Area

Fox News and The Boston Globe reported this morning about a stabbing late last night on Gainsborough Street near Northeastern University. The stabbing marks the second time in less than a week that a non-student was stabbed within just a few blocks of campus.

Boston Police spokesman Joe Zanoli confirmed that the victim was a 26-year-old male who was stabbed sometime after 11 PM on Tuesday night in the upper right part of his chest. The victim, according to Doctors at Brigham & Women's Hospital, is expected to survive the attack.

The suspect, who is wanted by police for this attack, is a clean shaven black male, age 30-35, with close-cropped black hair. The suspect was last seen wearing a white and black zip-up hooded sweatshirt with dice logos on it. The suspect is obviously to be considered armed and dangerous.

If you have any information or sight the possible suspect, please call Boston Police (617.343.4200) or Northeastern University Police (617.373.2121).

Drinking-Related Deaths on the Rise

Researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published a report this week that found out that the number of drinking-related deaths among students age 18-24 rose from 1998 to 2005 by 26.7%. Researchers also found slight increases in students driving while intoxicated and binge drinking.

Of course, such trends only go to make college students appear to be irresponsible and encourage those who want to raise the drinking age or keep it at 21 instead of going to age 18 like many other countries have.

The Resident Student Association is always looking out for ways to help discourage irresponsible drinking on-campus, and we have typically participated in Alcohol [Awareness] Week each year.

Reclaiming Fridays...

An article from Friday over at Inside Higher Ed, a website that reports on news in the world of Higher Education, discusses the concept of "Thirsty Thursdays" and how some institutions are attempting to curb the trend by scheduling more Friday morning classes or encourging departments to have more classes on Friday. The report is based off a study at Maryland's Loyola College that found that students who don't have Friday classes drank four times as much on average as students with a Friday class before 10 AM.

At Northeastern, during the Summer I and Summer I term, there are no Friday classes and in the Fall and Spring many students have Friday free of class. Do you think University's should try to "reclaim Fridays?" Post your comments and let us know.

Dining Switches Back

When the dining hall opens up at 7:00 AM, for the first time in more than a month and a half, it won't be Stetson Hall West. Stetson Hall East returns to service as the primary dining hall on-campus starting June 15th. The return of Stetson East will be dissapointing for stir-fry fans and pizza fans, but will be a welcome change for those who enjoyed Stetson West's better configuration for breakfast, ability to feature more diverse options, and Terra Ve vegatarian/vegan section.

Bias Incident Response Protocol

Northeastern made official today a new Bias Incident Response Protocol. The protocol documents how the University will respond to incidents of bias or hate on campus. The announcement comes following yesterday's tragic and high-profile act of hate at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

The full protocol can be seen on the website of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.

The Resident Student Association, and other student groups, reviewed a draft of the protocol and provided input back in March 2009. We agreed to support the University administration in publicizing the protocol as well as the procedure for reporting incidents of racism, bias, bigotry, or hate on-campus and the new reporting form.

Updates Resume Today

NACURH 2009, lots of meetings, and the Chairman of the Housing Services Committee getting the flu (luckilly not H1N1 "Swine" Flu) resulted in the last couple weeks being dry on the blog. Look for more consistent updates to kick off starting this week.

Tweeting NACURH

Writing full blog entries can be hard during the fast pace of the NACURH [National Association of College and University Residence Halls] conference. Thus, I'll be updating about the conference via @soleynm on Twitter.

Other Northeastern students who may be tweeting from NACURH include @savannahmrose, @naegelis, @mozessw, @malloryleigh19, @brittinyrae and @pao612. Look out for the hash tag #NACURH.

For those unfamillar with Twitter, it's a micro-blogging system. Tweets can be posted from computer, mobile application, and from any cell phone via text message. Twitter allows for real-time updates of your status, news, and anything you can say in 140 characters. Anyone can sign up for free at www.Twitter.com

How Can We Reach You?

On Wednesday, with President Naegeli, I attended a meeting about how we market events and other items to the student body. We're going to be working through the summer on this, and it includes the Residence Hall flyer posting policy and process. If you have any ideas about how we can best reach out to you and about flyering in the Residence Halls, let us know.

Legislation Passes

The Resident Student Association passed legislation last night regarding the topic of trayless dining and reassessing student opinion to ensure that the right decision is made. You can read the legislation here [SC: S1-09-1]. Our plan will be to create a new survey and collect actual data, working collaboratively with other student groups. If you have any ideas, let us know.

Next Weekend: NACURH 2009

It's hard to believe that NACURH 2009 is less than a week away, but it is. Next Friday, a group of 13 will leave Boston and head out West to The University of Arizona in Tucson. We'll be representing Northeastern among other RSA/RHAs across the country, and hopefully we'll bring back some National awards to add to our institutions pride.

While there may be a couple blog posts made from out West, look to Twitter for updates as myself and several other delegates will be tweeting from our mobile phones.

The Week in Review

This week was an interesting one in terms of my role on the RSA e-board. I didn't update the blog because so much was going on!

We opened up the week with our e-board meeting where we ran down all of the ongoing projects. There's a lot of good things coming for residents, both in advocacy and outreach and programming. The RSA website had some updates made Monday, with many more to come to bring it up to date. All the missing documents for Housing Services Committee from last year will be posted, and then we'll have information about how to get even older documents. It will basically be a request system where you e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and we send you the requested documents.

On Tuesday, I took a trip with VP Rose up to Freedom, New Hampshire where we looked at Camp Cody, a possible new site for the Association's fall retreat which will offer us a significant savings in cost over our traditional retreat to the Ashland Campus. The site was very nice, with a great lake nearby. While the drive was almost 2.5 hours each way, it was worth it because we also got to enjoy some tax-free shopping! Tuesday was also the first Housing Services Committee meeting. It's not too late to join / attend. We meet next week at 6:00 pm in 336 Curry Student Center.

Wednesday was a much calmer day. Not too much to comment on, other than a meeting with the Senior RA Representative to discuss RA Training.

Thursday was a long day. On Thursday we found that our new office furniture would be coming in. We only got two hours notice, so VP Rose, VP Gagnon and I had to do a fast pack and clear job and then set everything up again once the new furniture came. The RSA Office, at 128 Stetson Hall West, has had the same layout for years. Four desks to be used by an organization with over 80 members and more than a dozen officers, Assistant Vice Presidents, and others who frequent the office as a working space. We upgraded to a total of six desks, which now gives each Vice President their own desk. We also switched to desks that provide better cable and power access for technology and gave the Vice President for Finance a bigger desk. We moved our water cooler and installed new seating to provide a more professional look. Once we clean up, I'll post some pictures.

Of course, what began Thursday was interesting. Food Advisory Committee met Thursday. From RSA, myself, AVP for Housing Services Mallory Brown, VP for Programming Brittiny-Rae Gagnon, and Cassandra Chan attended. We discussed the food preference survey results. The full results should be released by SGA soon. There was a bit of debate over the issues with the survey's question about trayless dining and the bias of the question, however. We're still working to make sure students have a choice.

Thursday wrapped up with Hall Council training. Anyone who is on a hall council and has feedback, please send it to RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and it'll help us revise for the fall.

Finally, Friday was a much calmer day for RSA, with not much activity for me.

Phishing Attempts

Once again there have been e-mails sent out trying to convince students to send e-mail with their myNEU passwords. The messages are not from Northeastern, so don't send any information out. If you have sent information to the people who sent this e-mail, change your password as soon as possible and e-mail help@neu.edu if you are unable to access your account.

So You Don't Waste the Summer on the Couch...

Due to budgetary constraints RSA TV will not be continuing after May 31, 2009.

However, Channel 117 will still be there! We're not sure how it'll be there, but it may have original content.

Check for updates on rsa.neu.edu and enjoy the last month of movies (there are some good ones).

View the schedule here.

Summer I Laundry Bucks

Hi Everyone!

I hope you all had some to time to relax in the warm weather this week. This is just a reminder the your summer I laundry bucks are now available. You should have been allocated $22.50 for this half of the summer.

Blog Revamped

New session, new blog layout. We've made it a little different. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments about the new look.

Blog Downtime & Revamp

The blog has been dead the last couple weeks or so, but when Summer I semester starts up next week expect it to be more active and have plenty of updates! There also might be a better layout.

Duck My Life

RSA has been so busy, I have had little time to update the blog and the same goes for the committee members who make posts here. I did want to note that Duck My Life is today, so look out for rubber duckies on-campus and if you find one you can win a prize by going to the RSA office between 9 AM and 5 PM.

Also, today is Patriot's Day and that means it's Marathon Monday! Enjoy the day off.

Schedule Updated

The RSA Television Schedule has been updated. You can see it here.

Earth Hour Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Earth Hour! Earth Hour is an initiative to reduce energy waste by having non-essential lighting turned off for one hour. Supported by Northeastern University and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Earth Hour is Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. During this hour, all resident students are asked to turn off non-essential lighting in their residence hall rooms/suites. Off-campus students are also asked to reduce lighting in their apartments / place of living.

During Earth Hour, around Boston, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, Prudential Center and John Hancock Building will have lighting turned off. There are also 400 cities around the world participating in Earth Hour.

Morning

It is almost time to leave for Boston. While we did not win School of the Year, did not win Mini No-Frills 2010, and NRHH did not win Chapter of the Year, people had a good time. Individually, Assistant Coordinator Butler won Student of the Year, and Distinguished Service Award went to President Cecil. Unfortunately, AVP Brown did not get First-Year Experience, and Coordinator Rose did not win National Communication Coordinator of the Year.

When we get back to campus our goal shifts from representing NU to the region to representing the region to NU. We saw and heard of Many amenities and services other institutions offer their residents that we do not have at Northeastern. Housing Services Committee will look at many of these ideas. On the programming side, we learned about what programs other institutions did which will help provide ideas to the Programming Committee. Speaking of Programming, many of us are going to The Elephant Walk this afternoon as part of the resturaunt week program RSA is running. Tonight is also Bill Nye "The Science Guy." Student tickets are just $3.00.

Almost End

The banquet starts in 12 minutes. We'll have the obligatory photos of everyone dressed up in black and red. I may not blog from the banquet, but look for news of winners later.

Banquet Next

Excepting our NCC, we are all at the Holiday Inn. At 6:45pm we're meeting for the banquet. NU RSA is going with institutional colors, so I'll get to break out my power red tie again...

Still Waiting...

We're all still holding out waiting for the NCC Boardroom to finish hearing Boston College, then do pro/con, debate, and vote on the bids for Mini No-Frills 2010. We had a nice chat about the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. Some people are quasi-napping on tables.

Most of the blogging I've done has been via my iPhone, which sadly doesn't get a great battery life. However, in this room there is a computer which lets me type a lot faster.

In NCC Boardroom for us right now is Assistant Vice President Zach Mozes. He is in for National Communication Coordinator Savannah Rose because she was a part of the bid team for Mini No-Frills 2010.

Bill Nye "The Science Guy" On-Campus Tomorrow!

Ticket prices for Northeastern Students for Bill Nye the Science Guy at 7:00 PM tomorrow in Blackman have dropped to just $3. Tickets are being sold at the Studio Theater Box office (between Ell Hall and the Curry Student Center indoor quad [1st Floor]) from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Additionally, at-the-door tickets will be sold at the Blackman box office, but it is highly recommended that you purchase tickets during the day to avoid long lineups. This event is sponsored by the Resident Student Association, Husky Energy Action Team, and Kappa Sigma Fraternity, and is paid for by the Student Activities Fee and Resident Activities Fee.

Mini No-Frills 2010 Bids

We just finished presenting our Mini No-Frills 2010 bid about ten minutes ago to the NCC Boardroom. We're now in the "holding room" waiting for the other institutions to present their bids. We'll be heading back to the hotel after to get dressed up for the awards banquet. This is when we'll find out whether or not we on various awards or bids.

For Mini No-Frills 2010, it is the State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz) and Boston College (BC) bidding against us.

This conference was my first on a regional bid team, and I had the joy of being on two of them. While it was tough to work on two bids simultaneously and present back-to-back, I felt well prepared and felt that the leadership of our delegation (Coordinator Rose and Assistant Coordinator Butler) were prepared well as was everyone else.

The only downside to our bid times was we missed the spirit showdown, which will make it pretty hard for us to win a Spirit award. Also, the spirit showdown is fun. I think that compared to the last regional conference I attended (Mini No-Frills 2008 at SUNY Geneseo) there was a lot more opportunity to cheer. Nevertheless, the conference so far has been a fun experience. I just wish they had some coffee or energy drink around here, as staying up until 3:00 AM and waking back up at 7:00 AM, after having been up late and waking up early Wednesday and Thursday has led to me being a bit sleep deprived.

SOY Down, Minis 2010 Next

We just wrapped up our presentation for School of the Year. The overall presentation and Q&A went fairly well, but we don't know how well NYU did. The NCCs debate and then vote, and we find out at the banquet.

!!! As of 2:53 I have to stop blogging to go to present with the rest of the Minis 2010 bid team!!

Program Presentations

AVP Brown and I just finished up our program presentation of "Jelly beans about you." It seemed very well received, which made me as a first-time "active" program presenter happy and AVP Brown seemed happy too.

Advisor Cave made it to Fairfield around 10:10 AM. We also found out that our School of the Year bid was delayed until 12:30 PM with the Minis 2010 bid delayed until 3:00 PM. Hopefully, we'll have an update on the NRHH Chapter of the Year bid from someone -- it was planned for earlier this morning and might actually be going on right now.

AVP Brown and I are now in a computer lab classroom [hence why I am blogging now] that is home to a program about the relationship between RHAs and SGAs called "Coexisting with your Student Government Association? Is that Possible?" It is being presented by someone from Syracuse University and is of interest to both her and I as we both serve in leadership roles in RSA and Senators in Student Government at Northeastern.

Breakfast, Finding Boardroom, and Keynote

Breakfast this morning was in one of Fairfield University's dining halls. It was nice to see another school's facilities. They seem to use Sodexho for food service (whereas NU uses Chartwells, a part of Compass Group USA.) However, options were more limited than what you would see at Stetson Hall East on a Saturday morning.

Mallory Brown and I had the challenge of finding the School of Nursing building to bring important documents to Coordinator Rose at NCC boardroom.. It wasn't too hard thanks to the conference staff and volunteers. On the way over we saw some interesting battery and electronics recycling containers that could be useful at Northeastern. We also saw wild turkies. Luckilly, for them, turkey isn't on tonight's banquet menu.

We then headed to the keynote. It started with announcements for program changes and then Professor Lane took to stage.

Day 2

With part of the delegation already gone, the rest of us are meeting now to prepare to head over on the 8:20 shuttle so we can eat breakfast before the keynote speaker, Dr. Phil Lane, who is an Economics Professor at Fairfield and a Northeastern alum. Today is the big day. NRHH presents their Chapter of the Year bid today, and the bid teams for School of the Year and Mini No-Frills 2010 present today. Additionally, there are 4 program sessions and the NRHH and NCC board rooms will be finishing up business. Coordinator Rose and Kate Zasada represent us there, respectively. President Cecil will be in an RHA (Residence Hall Association, what many other schools call their residential programming/advocacy body) Presidents boardroom. This boardroom decides the winner of the First-Year experience award.

This morning we have to pass the spirit stick on, so I expect plenty of cheering. Also, later we will be joined by Advisor Cave.

Pre-bedtime Update

It's 2:33am and some of us are headed to bed, while other remain up. I'm going to bed now and waking up to leave the hotel for Fairfield at 7:40am. We did a lot of SOY practice and mapped out our day. AVP Brown and I present our program tomorrow in the first session. We are officially scheduled for 10:30am to present before the NCC boardroom, but due to a postponement of business we may be later. I'll try to post tomorrow when I can, but it is hard to do via iPhone with all the programs, bids, and cheering.

Spirit Stick and Practicing School of the Year Bid

"We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit how 'bout you?"

The delegation, before heading back to the hotel enjoyed some improv comedy, cheering, and our first round of "ride the pony." Then, we got the Spirit Stick for the first time this conference. For those unaware, the Spirit Stick is a decorated pole that is passed off to different schools throughout the weekend every half hour or so. It is our hope to win "most spirited school" so we can take the spirit stick back to Boston with us.

Right now (12:21pm) we are practicing and revising our presentation for the School of the Year bid. Coordinator Rose and NRHH Treasurer Zasada are still in the NCC and NRHH boardrooms respectively.

Entertainment...

The delegation got to enjoy seeing Fairfeld's Vice President for Student Affairs, a NU RSA alumni from the 1990s, talk to NEACURH about leadership and his experience. He talked about his time in RSA at Northeastern and how it shaped him and helps him become a Student Affairs professional. We then enjoyed a dance crew and hypnotist. We're now partaking in Rockbad, Guitar Hero and karoke while the NCC and NRHH boardrooms run and we have representatives going to RHA Presidents and NRHH socials. We'll be leaving for our hotel around 11:30 to practice our School of the Year presentation for tomorrow.

Fairfield - Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies on the campus of Fairfield University has started. Regional Director Peck kicked things off after a nice session of cheering. She thanked several guests, discussed NEACURH's mission and discussed making the conference enjoyable as well as the no-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol and then handed things over to Conference staff. At 7:41 NCCs and NRHH reps were called for boardroom.

In Bridgeport, CT

The delegation has arrived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We are currently at the Holiday Inn. We'll soon be headed to Fairfield Umiversitu for opening and then the NCC and NRHH boardrooms will be taking place. We'll be wearing great pop rockin' shirts.

To Fairfield We Go...

This weekend a group of 11 RSA members are going to the NEACURH Mini No-Frills conference at Fairfield University in Commecticut. The delegation just left Boston and is currently en route on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I'll try to post some blog updates throughout the weekend from my iPhone.

Live! Blog: Advisor Appreciation

Myself, President Cecil, VP Rose, AVP Brown and others from RSA and are currently at the Advisor Appreciation Reception with members of the administration and other student leaders. The reception is a great way to recognize the hard work and dedication of student group advisors here at Northeastern University. We want to especially thank our own advisors, Stephanie Cave and Darren Conine for their support of RSA and the residential community.

Human Rights Week: March 23rd to March 26th

An extension of GIVE 5, Human Rights Week was the brainchild of Invisible Children, a group that is growing in leaps and bounds on NU’s campus this year. Truly a collaborative event, representatives from many different student groups have been meeting for weeks on Thursdays to discuss how they would bring awareness to the issues affecting people around the globe. The end product is going to be a fabulous week full of educational, awareness and activism programming.

The following organizations are involved:
Invisible Children, RSA + NRHH, NUSTAND, HEAT, PSA, EWB, Globemed, Social Change through Peace Games, Intervarsity, MSinformed, Students for Choice, International Affairs Society, Project NUR and Human Trafficking Students

I hope you can encourage your fellow residents to attend the events and learn more about problems that affect our fellow global citizens. Advertisements will be going up in the residence halls this weekend and there will be some available to distribute in the RSA/NRHH office then.
The schedule is as follows:
Monday 3.23: Global Health Day-- Delectable Diseases
10 Behrakis, 6:30 pm

Tuesday 3.24: EDUCATION as a human right: "Panel of Perspective"
101 Churchill, 6:30 pm

Wednesday 3.25: SAFETY as a human right: PEACE of PIZZA
Come hear Professor Denise Horn speak on her expertise regarding safety of the body as a human right
West Addition 6pm

Thursday 3.26 SUSTENANCE as a human right
Trivia night!!! -- afterhours 8pm

THURSDAY 2-5 pm INDOOR QUAD==HUMAN RIGHTS FAIR + INITIATIVES

Please email nuhumanrights@googlegroups.com with any questions.

We hope to see you at the events!
Thanks!

Meg McCormick
Member, Housing Services Committee, RSA General Council and Husky Energy Action Team
President, National Residence Hall Honorary
megmccormick18@gmail.com

"Ubuntu speaks of the very essence of being human. It is to say, "My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours." We belong in a bund;e of life. We say "A person is a person through other persons." It is not,"I think therefore I am." It says rather: "I am human because I belong. I participate, I share." A person with ubuntu is open and vailable to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if the were less than who they are."
--Desmond Tutu -- "No Future Without Forgiveness"

Parcel 18 Vendors

After a long wait, we are finally able to report that the vendors that Northeastern is trying to contract with for the Parcel 18 retail space are Jamba Juice and Peet's Coffee & Tea. These two vendors are not 100% confirmed, but this news follows a long process where RSA and SGA surveyed students, found that there was a lack of venting in the facility, and then had to settle for vendors that could operate without a vent.

Do It in the Dark!

Each year, the Husky Energy Action Team works incredibly hard starting in September to plan “Do It In the Dark” (No, it is not a Sex Week event!), an environmentally sustainable initiative combining programming with activism and education. It is co-sponsored by the Resident Student Association and really important for the University the environment and your tutition bill! The focus of the program is energy conservation, hence the encouragement to shut off lights/ water/ dishwasher, etc whenever possible. This is a competition between residence halls to lower the overall amount of energy expended so make signs and encourage your fellow residents!

You can see the list of events at http://www.heat.neu.edu/events. Some of the highlights include Bill Nye The Science Guy [3/22/2009, 7 PM], a showing of Everything's Cool [3/19/2009, 7 PM, 105 Shillman], and the Student Body President Debate [Monday, 7pm, 10 Behrakis] in which our own Vice President of Housing Services, Matthew Soleyn, will be speaking. If you are interested in helping out, send an e-mail to heat@neu.edu. They are looking for Residence Hall stormers to advertise in the residence halls. The competition for Do It In the Dark kicks off this Friday and the winning hall gets free massages for a day during finals week as well as being entered into a raffle for prizes!

Tips:
• Make signs or post-it notes for next to the light switches to remind guests and roommates to turn off the lights.
• Unplug appliances like coffee makers or cell-phone chargers when you are not using them- this helps save little amounts of energy.
• Turn the water off while washing your hair or brushing your teeth, then back on to rinse.
• Wash clothes in cold water.
• Air dry clothes instead of using a dry cycle (saves laundry bucks too!)

Thanks!
Meg McCormick
Member, Housing Services Committee, RSA General Council and Husky Energy Action Team
President, National Residence Hall Honorary
megmccormick18@gmail.com

E-Mail Bounces

On Monday there was a big problem with e-mail to @neu.edu addresses being rejected because the mail servers treated the messages as spam. Vice President Weir of Information Services explained the situation on myNEU:

Northeastern receives over 1 million emails per day to faculty, staff, and students and over 90% of those are SPAM and are rejected accordingly. This afternoon at approximately 2pm, one of the two systems that filter out incoming SPAM malfunctioned. That system was taken offline at approximately 2:30 pm and is being repaired.
During that 30 minute period, the system in question rejected about 6000 incoming emails as SPAM. Unfortunately, a number of valid emails were rejected as well. In those cases, the sender will be notified that the address on the original Northeastern email was invalid and, in most cases, senders will simply resend the message which should be delivered normally.

If you were expecting an email from someone outside Northeastern which has not arrived, you may wish to contact the sender to ask that the message be resent. If you have additional problems or issues, please contact the IS help line (617-373-HELP(4357) or help@neu.edu) for assistance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this problem may have caused.

Bob Weir
Vice President, Information Services

Bids Up

Many members of the Resident Student Association have put hard work, late nights, and lots of dedication into writing a series of various Association-wide and individual bids for Regional Awards that will be announced at the upcoming North East Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls [NEACURH] conference at Fairfield University. Savannah Rose, the National Communication Coordinator for the Resident Student Association has posted Northeastern's bids online. You can download them and read about them here.

UPDATE: If you are looking for other institution's bids, they will be posted on the NEACURH website on Wednesday, March 11, 2009.

City Hearing Today

Today at 1:00 PM the City of Boston is holding a hearing regarding an ordinance/amendment proposed by City Council President Michael P. Ross that would result in Universities having to report the addresses of all off-campus students to the City of Boston to help enforce the "no more than four undergraduate students" law that prohibits five or more undergraduate students from sharing the same apartment. Given that it is apartment hunting season and many current residents may be looking to head off-campus this summer or in the fall, we wanted to pass along the information on today's hearing:

Docket #0283 - An Ordinance Increasing University Accountability
Time: 1:00 PM
Date: Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
Location: City Hall - Christopher Iannella Chambers (5th Floor)
Address: 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201-1020

You can read more information on this topic at The Boston Globe, at the blog of Student Body President Rob Ranley, and from Councilor Ross himself.

Schedule Updated

The new RSA Television schedule is online.

Survey Up!

Please take our survey about issues affecting on-campus students. We hope to use the results to better advocate for the students living in the residence halls.

Spring Break

Sex Week has come and gone, and now it is Spring Break. The blog was a bit inactive the past week and a half, but we'll be posting a lot more updates this week and the rest of March.

Clean The Lint Filter

The Housing Services Committee would like to remind residents to clean the lint filter after drying clothes in the laundry rooms. Also, remember to double-check before you dry your clothes if the lint filter is clean, just in case a bad resident failed to clean the filter out.

Alcohol Limits & Medical Amnesty

The Resident Student Association is planning to raise the issue of alcohol limits in the residence halls for students who are of legal drinking age. At present, students are limited to:

• 144 ounces of beer
• 64 ounces of wine
• 16 ounces of hard liquor

The Code of Conduct and Guide to Residence Hall Living do not prohibit or limit other types of alcohol, and do prohibit kegs, beer balls, alcohol by the case, and central sources of alcohol such as trash-can punches.

On a personal level, my initial thoughts are to push for the allowance of 24 beers (so 288 ounces), 5 liters of wine (a box), and 1.75 liters of hard liquor (a handle). However, I know that other students would like to see more, some feel the policy is fine, and others want to see no limit. Thus, I ask that everyone please provide their feedback and thoughts. Post a comment or e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu.

On a related note, we are also looking at the current medical amnesty policy and how it could be clarified and made more concise to be in line with other institutions like the University of Pennsylvania.

Dining Hall Overcrowding

This semester dining hall overcrowding has become a serious issue. While Parcel 18 will have a new dining hall which will alleviate this issue come Fall 2009, it is still a big program this semester. We have suggested to Dining Services that Stetson Hall West open earlier on Sundays and possibly on Saturdays in order to help reduce the overcrowding in Stetson East, and are hoping to hear back from them next week about this. We also suggested having Outtakes available on the weekends, so people can get food without going to the dining halls. If you have ideas, let us know. E-Mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu

Countering Vandalism

Have ideas on countering vandalism in the residence halls? If so, send them to RSA (at) Northeastern.edu. We're currently looking to help cut down on repair costs for vandalism campus-wide.

Ruckus No More

The music download service Ruckus is no more. The company abruptly ended its music service last week, and a company representative has confirmed that Ruckus is shutting down business.

Ruckus was a system which allowed students to download or listen to music if they were a college student. Initially free, Ruckus then turned into a service where institutions had to sign up or be cut off. Many institutions signed up, Northeastern University did not, taking the advice of the Resident Student Association through our Summer I 2008 legislation opposing Ruckus. We're thankful that Northeastern didn't sign up for Ruckus, otherwise the investment of time and money would have been a waste.

Laundry Rapid Response Team

The Housing Services Committee runs the Laundry Rapid Response Team, an effort designed to provide students with fast e-mail responses to their laundry problem reports and concerns when they e-mail laundry@neu.edu.

The laundry@neu.edu e-mail was first created in the 2007-2008 session, and promoted as a resource to students. Initially handled by a two-person team, in the Fall of 2008 the concept was expanded into the was expanded and has been expanded yet again. The team is now staffed by:

• Matthew Soleyn, Vice President for Housing Services
• Mallory Brown, Assistant Vice President for Housing Services
• Sarah Huyck, Housing Services Committee Laundry Manager
• Catherine Armato, Vice President Emeritus

The Laundry Rapid Response Team aims to respond to constituent e-mail about routine laundry issues like broken machines or card readers as fast as possible. We promise replies by the close of the next business day, but 95% of e-mail is responded to within 12 hours and a super-majority within 4 hours.

Warm Weather, But Still Business as Usual

Despite the warm weather today and expectations of 50+ degree weather tomorrow, the Housing Services Committee and its members have been quite active working for the residents. Some of us started the day off at 7:00 AM with a trip to Parcel 18 to look at the dining facilities that are under construction. We saw that the pizza oven was put in, and that the new dining hall is going to be huge and have a lot of options available that just weren't possible due to the limited size of Stetson Hall East and Stetson Hall West. We also had a nice discussion with Dining Services about improving our existing dining hall and Outtakes.

This morning and afternoon we were working on OSCCR matters in conjunction with several dedicated members of the Student Government Association who stayed up late into the morning working on finalizing a proposal regarding disciplinary sanctioning reform. A big shoutout goes to them for their hard work!

At noon today, we held the second meeting of the Party Registration Subcommittee. The subcommittee talked about the possibility of looking at social events in the Curry Student Center as well as the residence halls, and reviewed research.

This evening the Resident Student Association General Council meets. It is my hope that the General Council will pass two pieces of legislation tonight. The first regarding disciplinary sanctioning, and the second regarding housing prices for next year. With these tough economic times, we are looking out for the students and want to send a strong message. The meeting is at 7:30 PM in 305 Shillman Hall.

Legislation Passes, Part II

The legislation passed by the Resident Student Association on Wednesday regarding the Student Disciplinary Bill of Rights was passed by the Student Senate today. We don't have the exact vote count for you, but as someone present for the recorded vote, I can report that not a single Senator voted against the legislation. There was not, however a X-0-0 count like RSA had on Wednesday as some Senators abstained from the vote.

Updated: myNEU & Northeastern Websites Down

UPDATE: As of 3:00 PM, it appears that all is fine. The outage was due to a power issue in the University data center according to Robert Weir, Northeastern's Vice President for Information Services who posted a statement on the myNEU Portal once it was back up.

It appears that something has gone wrong in the Information Services data center at Northeastern, which has led to a big outage this morning. At present, I.S. is working to restore several websites including the myNEU Portal. They were unable to provide us with a timeframe.

RSA Television Information

The February schedule and other information about RSA Television has gone up on the RSA website. In addition, we are soon going to be doing a lot of pen and popcorn giveaways around campus, so look out for that to take place in the next couple of weeks.

Legislation Passes

Last night the General Council heard legislation regarding a Student Disciplinary Bill of Rights. The legislation passed with a 74-0-0 vote! It is being sent onto the formal Code of Conduct Review Committee this afternoon.

Juicy Campus Closing

The popular college gossip and rumor site Juicy Campus will be closing today. The announcement came from Matt Ivester, the site's Founder and Chief Executive Officer. In a letter about the shutdown Ivester cited plummeting ad revenue and a lack of venture capital as reasons for the site's shutdown.

Juicy Campus, because of its anonymous nature and refusal to divulge IP addresses that can sometimes identify a computer without a subpoena created controversy on many campuses, including here at Northeastern. Some institutions banned the website from their networks, and at other institutions Student Governments expressed outrage towards the site, which often would feature lies, insults, and demeaning content towards individuals or groups of individuals.

Salting of Campus

We've heard the student concerns about a lack of timely salting on campus after snow/ice events. We'll be working in the near future to address these concerns to Facilities. If you know of any specific problem areas, let us know.

Beanpot

The Housing Services Committee would like to wish both the men's and women's hockey teams luck in their Beanpot games. Northeastern's men take on Boston College in the men's Beanpot at 8:00 PM tomorrow at the T.D. Banknorth Garden and on Tuesday the NU women taken on Boston College right here at Matthews Arena.

News on RSA TV

We have two new ideas for RSATV this spring.

First, we would like to hold a contest for student bands on campus. We would like bands to submit songs to us. The Housing Services Committee will pick one song each month to be the featured song that will play during the Movie Listing Slideshow. This will give us some great music to make the channel more exciting while giving exposure to more student bands on campus.

Second, we are interested in featuring more student content on RSA TV. One idea is to feature student films and documentaries on the channel. I am working on getting in touch with someone who runs the Northeastern Film Festival so the winners will be featured on the channel.

Please, comment and let me know what you think of these new ideas. In addition if you are a band that would like to feature music or a student with a film, please contact me at ouellette.c@neu.edu.

OSCCR Survey

Please help out the Student OSCCR Assessment Committee by taking a short survey about the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. The survey can be found here.

RSA Television Planned Outage

On Thursday, January 29th, 2009, RSA Television will be unavailable from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The outage is to allow us to upgrade the hardware and software behind the channel so we can provide a better experience to students.

Virus Alert!

If you run Windows Vista or Windows XP, you could be at risk for a rapidly spreading virus known commonly as Conflicker or Downadup. The virus uses a vulnerability that existed in Windows XP and Vista, as well as other versions of Windows to infect machines via the network. That vulnerability has since been patched, so you can partially protect yourself by running Windows Update. However, one risk you still could have is infection via removable media such as a USB drive. To curb this issue, you can take the extreme step of turning off auto-run, or ensure that you have your anti-virus software up-to-date. If you don't have anti-virus software or don't want to renew a subscription, go on myNEU where you can download Symantec for free if you are a full-time student. You can read more about the virus here. If your computer is already infected, it is possible to remove the virus and the people at ResNet in Speare Commons can assist you with that process.

Laundry Bucks & Leased Housing

A few students living in Leased Properties have asked about how their Laundry Bucks work. For students in Leased Properties, because Northeastern does not control your laundry facilities, the semester allocation is simply added to your Husky Dollars on your HuskyCard.

If you live in a Northeastern-owned residence hall, Laundry Bucks are a separate allocation but they rollover from semester-to-semester until the end of the fiscal year (after Summer I 2009).

Too Cold?

Are you too cold in your residence hall? Is your room always 68 degrees when you set it to 72? If this is the case, you might have a HVAC problem. The Facilities Division can help with this. Simply enter a work request at http://workreq.neu.edu or call Facilities Customer Service at (617) 373-2754.

Housing Survey

The Resident Student Association is soon going to be surveying to find out what residents want from us and Northeastern. If you have ideas for the survey or questions you want us to ask, let us know!

Housing Application Deadline Extended

Stephanie Cave, Associate Director of Housing Services, confirmed to the Resident Student Association General Council this evening that the deadline for Housing Applications has been extended by one day. If you didn't yet apply, you have until 4:30 PM to do so.

Housing Applications Due TOMORROW

Housing Applications for 2009-2010 are due TOMORROW! Remember to fill out your application on myNEU and if you are a first or second-year student, submit your deposits through NUPay.

Help Inform Students About Upcoming NU Athletics Events

Our friends over in the Student Government Association have come up with a great idea to help inform the student body about upcoming NU Athletics events. Known as the Spirit Crew, it will be a group of students that will go around campus promoting the Huskies the night before big athletic events. Students who are interested in helping out can learn more by attending one of this week's meetings on the topic:

• Tuesday, 1/13/2009 @ 6:00 PM in 433 Curry Student Center
• Thursday, 1/15/2009 @ 7:00 PM in 433 Curry Student Center

We in the Housing Services Committee always encourage students to attend NU Athletics games. This week there is men's and women's ice hockey at home as well as women's basketball. For the full schedule of athletics events, check out GoNU.com.