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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Welcome to 2009!

With 2009 here, the Housing Services Committee will be working even harder than we did in 2008 for the residents. Look for new initiatives, faster responses to the residents, and more blog posts. If you have ideas, 2009 is the time for then. Simply e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern (dot) edu.

"I Am Here"

Every single semester we hear stories of students who find their classes dropped because they forgot to do "I Am Here." Sometimes we even hear of students who get withdrawn from the University or find their Housing about to be revoked because of a failure to do "I Am Here." Therefore, we thought it would be a good idea to put a reminder on the blog that "I Am Here" starts on Friday, December 26, 2008 at 8:00 AM and must be completed by Monday, January 5, 2009 at 4:00 PM. "I Am Here" takes place on the myNEU Portal.

Gender Neutral Housing PASSES!

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

Update from the Husky Hunt

It's past 4:30 in the morning here on a Saturday. The sun will rise in less than two hours. At this point, many people have been up for nearly 24 hours already, and teams have been out for over eight hours. For some, the lack-of-sleep is compounded by late nights over the past week preparing for the Husky Hunt. I thought being up until 1:45 AM working on constituent concerns was late -- but the Husky Hunt Subcommittee was up until past 3:00 AM on numerous nights, working hard. Even better, all of us working on the event either have classes or cooperative education as we are all full-time undergraduates at Northeastern. Nevertheless, the Husky Hunt has remained a fun event for both staff and participants. The event has become an institution here at Northeastern, and it is an institution that students truly look forward to and want to be a part of.

On a Housing Services note, it's amazing how many RSA constituents have passed through the Stetson West lobby and raised concerns about topics. Some items brought up include Outtakes creating a foul scent in Stetson West, laundry machines stealing money, and inadequate lighting in some of the residence halls. The Housing Services Committee will work to improve the halls and hopefully rectify these issues.

Finally, I want to just commend the Husky Hunt Subcommittee and everyone here else helping out tonight.

Freshmen: Get Involved

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

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

When Call I Call / Stop By Housing?

The Housing Services team located in Speare Commons is a group of administrators and customer service personnel residents frequently need to get in contact with. In fact, when dealing with issues such as getting a new assignment, canceling housing, or applying for housing, they're definitely the people to go to.

"When can I call Housing or stop by and see them in Speare Commons" and "How can I go to Housing when I'm on coop" are questions residents often have, especially during summer when the hours are different. So here on the Housing Blog we have the hours that the Housing Services department is open:

• Monday/Wednesday/Friday: 8:30 A.M. to 4:30 P.M.
• Tuesday/Thursday: 8:30 A.M. to 7:00 P.M.

If you don't know the phone number, it's (617) 373-2814 -- and if you're abroad, work odd hours, or just hate the phone you can always e-mail them at housing@neu.edu.