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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Finals & Bad Weather, Part II

To followup on yesterday's blog post, if you need to stay in the residence halls an extra day due to the bad weather, you can contact your Resident Director (RD) to make arrangements. Additionally, Stetson Hall East dining hall will be open until 7:00 PM tonight as will the Curry Student Center Food Court per the NU Alert that went out this morning.

Finals & Bad Weather

What happens if Final Exams get cancelled tomorrow due to bad weather? With a major snowstorm coming into town and the worst weather expected from 1 PM onward, there is a chance that afternoon exams might be cancelled. The NUAlert system will help notify students, faculty, and staff of a closing as will the Northeastern website and local media. Should exams be cancelled, they would be held on Monday.

But what happens to students who have to leave their residence hall because it's closing? Or students who had planned to leave town and can't because the inclement weather causes massive cancellations and delays at the airports, delays and cancellations with Amtrak, and delays and cancelations at the bus terminal? That's up in the air, but RSA is working to find answers.

A To Do List for The Winter Break

The Housing Services Committee wants to give you a quick "To Do" list before you head off for vacation, the Holidays, or just a break:

• Secure Valuables: Thieves love the Holiday season because people are away and it ends up being easier for them to commit theft. Take valuables with you, lock them up, or otherwise secure them.
• Close & Lock Windows: Not only does securing your windows help deter theft, but it also ensures that if we have a cold snap you won't end up with a frozen pipe bursting and soaking your room.
• Turn Down The Thermostat: Set your thermostat as low as it can go. No one will be around, so no one will be there to feel cold. You'll also save Northeastern money, which means there won't be as big a need to raise housing or tuition next year.
• Throw out the Trash: Throw your trash out before you go to help avoid pests and foul odors.
• Clean out the Fridge: Get rid of anything that will expire over break. Also, if you clear out your entire fridge you may be able to unplug it saving more energy.
• Turn Off / Unplug Electronics: Since you won't be around to use it, there's no need to leave it on or running. You'll save energy, save money, and help your fellow students avoid higher costs.

Solicitors Not Wanted!

This is just a friendly reminder that solicitation is strictly prohibited in all residence halls. If at any point you notice someone in your hall that does not belong there please feel free to call the NUPD at 617.373.2121. Please do you part in promoting safety in the residence halls.

Heightened Security Urged for Massachusetts Colleges

A report presented to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education yesterday calls for colleges in the state to heighten the security. The report points to many colleges that, unlike Northeastern, lack security cameras or a gun-carrying police force, and 1/3rd of colleges that lack agreements with local law enforcement on emergency response. A big focus of the report is a lack of training for recognizing students who may be "at risk," and looking at student writings for possible signs of violence. You can read more in this Boston Globe article.

At Northeastern, we are lucky to have one of three campus police agencies in the state that carries an accreditation from the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission. To get the accreditation, NUPD had to meet over 340 criteria, have written policy directives and manuals, and have an on-site evaluation take place.

However, Northeastern's training of staff to recognize at-risk students is something that we're less certain about. The Housing Services committee will be looking into what goes on in this area in the near future. If you ever have any ideas, questions, or concerns realted to resident safety or NUPD, feel free to post comments or e-mail us.

NY State Considers Smoking Ban in Residence Halls

The State of New York may bann smoking in all college and university residence halls and dormitories, according to a news story. The ban would come through an amendment to New York's Clean Indoor Air Act. The amendment has passed the state legislature and awaits the signature of Governor Dave Patterson. (Note: the link says he is Lt. Governor, but the page is out of date... Patterson took over as Governor earlier this year following the resignation of Elliot Spitzer who resigned in shame following a prostitution scandal.) While all State University of New York campuses banned smoking in their residence halls nearly a year ago after their Board of Trustees approved a policy, the amendment to the Clean Indoor Air Act, which has passed the state legislature, will affect all institutions, public and private.

The article cites two students who support the change:

Adrianne Harding, 21, a senior at Pace University's Pleasantville campus, said yesterday that she supports the ban.

"I would agree with it. I'm asthmatic, so when other people smoke, it affects me," said Harding, who is studying for a degree in nursing. "Even if they are across the hall, the smoke seeps through the door and comes into my room. I don't understand how people can smoke cigarettes in the dorms but can't light candles. They should definitely ban it. I don't think it's fair."

Jose Caceres, 23, who graduated this summer with a bachelor's degree in computer science and plans to pursue a master's in business, agreed.

"I think it's a good idea. Secondhand smoking is one of the largest killers," he said. "I used to have a roommate who smoked a lot, and it's absolutely a problem. It's very unhealthy, and I prefer if no one smoked around me."

The bill would put the legal burden on the institutions, with institutions having a residence hall in violation being fined up to $2,000. Most likely, if the bill passes, institutions that currently allow smoking in residence halls will ban it and students who violate the rules will have fines passed onto them.

The biggest reason for the amendment other than secondhand smoke is fire safety:

Additionally, the bill aims at reducing the number of dorm fires, Paulin said.

In the past 10 years, two college residential hall fires in the state have resulted in fatalities, which Paulin said was "two too many."

While in Massachusetts there is no law about smoking in residence halls, nor is one working through the legislature, Northeastern prohibits smoking in all residence halls. However, 15 years ago this wasn't the case. At one point, there was only one residence hall that was smoke free. The Resident Student Association in the 1990s worked to expand the number of smoke free residence halls on campus, passing legislation which was signed into action. Additionally, Northeastern President John A. Curry approved a policy prohibiting smoking in academic and administrative space on campus. Eventually, in the early 2000s, smoking was prohibited in all residence halls. While on occasion there are students who ask for the policy to be changed, the majority of students support the prohibitions on smoking in the residence halls because of the issues realted to secondhand smoke and the increased fire risk. Also, rooms or buildings with smokers cost more money to maintain as the walls must be painted more often and furniture replaced more frequently due to the negative impact of smoke. Given these reasons, RSA still supports current policies. Of course, in the event that student views changed and a majority of students wanted smoking to be allowed in the residence halls, we in the Resident Student Association would advocate for a policy change.

Fire Safety Inspections

Northeastern Fire Safety is conducting room inspections to make sure that fire exits are not blocked and that smoke detectors are in working order. In order to do this, they are entering rooms to make checks. If you have not already had your room or suite inspected, expect it to happen sometime this week.

Signage should have been put in each building to notify students of these inspections. If your building never had signage posted, or an e-mail notification was not issued, let us know by e-mailing us or calling 617-373-8682 (leave a voicemail if we don't answer.)

If your smoke detector doesn't work, you don't need to wait for the inspection to have it fixed. You can submit a work request to facilities via the internet or by calling 617-373-2754.

On a related note, never tamper with a smoke detector in a residence hall. Doing so is a serious violation of the Student Code of Conduct and can result in expulsion from Northeastern. If you need to smoke, do it outside and if you burn something while cooking and the smoke detector goes off your fellow residents might be annoyed at you, but at least you won't get in trouble, provided you don't make it a regular occurrence.

Feds Make Mistake at University

An interesting story related to University housing was in the news this week. The federal government has owned up to a mistake made on a college campus in California. As the Mercury News reports, at the University of California - San Diego, federal agents raided student housing looking for illegal immigrants. However, the agents failed to notify the University before the raid. It seems that the policy that is in place at with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE) is for agents to notify college police when entering a University campus or student housing.

At Northeastern University, the same policy would apply if USICE showed up on-campus looking for illegal immigrants. Most law enforcement agencies, such as the Boston police work in conjunction with Northeastern University police when there are issues on campus or in residence halls. In fact, Northeastern University police are notified when other law enforcement agencies or emergency services enter the residence halls. A lot of work goes into safety in the residence halls, and while much of it is made up of small, unnoticed efforts and is done behind the scenes, the work of Northeastern University Public Safety and the Residential Safety Office was good enough to get Northeastern ranked the second safest college campus by Reader's Digest. Don't believe me? The proof is here.

Bedroom Door Locks

Every few months Northeastern University Public Safety sends students reminders about being safe. They usually include something about securing your belongings and locking your doors and windows. Unfortunately, locking the door isn't always an option for some students. Several buildings at Northeastern lack locks individual bedroom doors. These include:

• 106-122 St. Stephen's Street,
  
• 319 Huntington Avenue,
  
• 337 Huntington Avenue,
  
• 407 Huntington Avenue,
  
• Loftman Hall,
  
• 153 Hemenway Street, and
  
• Kennedy Hall
  

Some rooms in theese buildings have fire escape access and can't have bedroom door locks installed because of fire code reasons. A locked door would prevent someone from reaching the fire escape in the event of a fire blocking the primary exit route.

However, the rooms without fire escapes still lack bedroom door locks. After receiving complaints from several students about the lack of bedroom door locks and suggestions that locks should be added, the Housing Services Committee of the Resident Student Association sprung to action contacting the administration to see why the rooms that could have locks did not and to advocate for the installation of locks.

The biggest reason why locks should be installed, from the feedback that RSA has received, is for security reasons. Students who are not able to lock their bedroom doors are concerned about theft. While the main apartment door can be locked, an individual student cannot control who is in their apartment, especially when they are not home, and the addition of locks on bedroom doors would provide additional security and peace of mind.

The Housing Services committee is continuing to work on this project. Our hope is that locks can be installed where possible by the Fall move-in so that if any of you are living in the aforementioned buildings next year, you'll have the benefit of a lock on your bedroom door.

If you ever have any ideas for improving the residence halls, feel free to e-mail us.