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.

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.

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.

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"

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Question #2 Passed, But Don't Light Up On-Campus

While ballot question #2 passed in Massachusetts, leading the way for possession of under one ounce of marijuana (also known as cannabis, weed, or hemp) to no longer be a crime and instead be a civil offense with a $100 fine, don't light up yet on campus. The Student Code of Conduct makes "possession or consumption of illegal drugs" a violation, and it also makes it against the rules to knowingly be "in the company of anyone who is using illegal drugs." While marijuana may be decriminalized here in Massachusetts, it's still illegal to possess and possession is still illegal by federal statues. The punishment for having under an ounce is simply being changed so that those with a small amount of marijuana are treated more like people who drive a few miles over the speed limit (which is illegal) and less like violent murders, rapists, and thieves.

Voting is November 4th & There is No Tax

There have been a couple rumors going around campus about voting in the General Election. These rumors have been spread by both the far-left and the far-right in an effort to disenfranchise college students and other citizens.

The first rumor is that because of the high number of people expected to vote, that they have extended voting across two days, November 4th and November 5th, and that November 5th is a better day to vote because there will be shorter lines. This is not true! Voting takes place on November 4th. If you show up on November 5th, you'll be a day too late and out of luck.

The second rumor is that voting isn't worth the $40 voting tax. This is also not true! The 24th Amendment specifically forbids poll taxes:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

On a related note, the last NUVotes event will be will be an election watch party held in afterHOURS at 7:00 PM on Tuesday.

Student Group Freedom at Risk in South Dakota

You may have heard how the College Democrats went through the Residence Halls recently encouraging students to go out and vote on November 4th, or to register and vote absentee. Well in South Dakota, student groups at institutions receiving public funds could be prohibited from such activities should ballot initiative measure 10 (the South Dakota Open and Clean Government Act) pass. The act, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, would "prohibit the use of public money or government resources for lobbying, campaigning, or other political purposes". The Chronicle reports that while "the measure does not explicitly mention higher education, opponents say it could be interpreted to cover student organizations." Speaking from a student perspective, the Executive Director of the South Dakota Student Federation, an organization of student governments, said that the initiative could "serve as a 'gag law' against student groups."

Here in Massachusetts, we are lucky that there are no such ballot initiatives coming up on November 4th. However, all students should be reminded that their votes are important, and that by voting students can have an impact on issues affecting students.

When the Cashier Asks for ID, Say No!

When you're doing shopping for your apartment or residence hall room, buying lunch, getting new clothes, or picking up some snacks at the supermarket, if the cashier asks you for ID to use your credit or debit card, politely tell them "No!" By showing your ID, you increase your risk of costly identity theft, which can take years and cost thousands of dollars to clean up. Sadly, the problem stems from corrupt employees who will copy down information off your ID or memorize it and write it down later for misuse.

Under policies from the major credit card companies (Visa and MasterCard, and any establishment that takes Visa and/or MasterCard plus American Express), identification cannot be required for a sale provided the cardholder has signed the back of their credit or debit card. If you haven't signed your card, be sure to do so because not signing it can also increase your risk of identity theft, makes your card void in some cases, and could even make you liable for fraud that is typically covered by your bank if you followed their directions and signed the card.

If you hear of merchants in the Northeastern University area that are requiring identification for credit/debit cards, or breaking the rules by having minimum purchases or surcharges to use a credit card (which is even worse because it is against the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts), let us know or report the fraud by calling 1-800-VISA-911 for Visa cards or by submitting an online report for MasterCard cards.