The End

The Husky Hunt has ended. While the points won't be counted up for a while, it seems that almost everyone's a winner in terms of having a good time throughout the event whether competing or staffing. This will be one of the experiences that I'll remember the most from my time here at Northeastern, and I'm sure many others will as well.

Looking for Meeting Notes?

All Housing Services Committee released meeting notes are available at the RSA website. Additionally, agendas and other documents like legislation can be found on the site.

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.

Next General Council

Next week Wednesday (11/12/2008) at the RSA General Council meeting in 335 Shillman Hall at 7:30 PM, Senior Vice President Mark Putnam will be coming to General Council to speak about Northeastern University's future residence hall known now as "Building K." There will be a presentation and time for questions. RSA meetings are open to all resident students.

The Husky Hunt

Quod incepimus conficiemus -- What we have begun, we shall finish.

November 7, 2008 will go down in the history of the Resident Student Association as the third year of the Husky Hunt -- the year that will truly make the Husky Hunt not just another program, but an institution at Northeastern University. The Hunt kicks off at 8:00 PM, but work has been taking place for weeks within the Husky Hunt Subcommittee. With it being crunch time, RSA members were up as late as 2:45 AM last night working to be ready for tonight's 24-hours of fun. It's sure to be interesting.

CUP STEALERS BEWARE!

Have you ever gone to get a drink in the dining hall but couldn’t because there were no cups? Many students have been blaming the cup shortage on the dish washing staff, but this is simply not the case. Over the past year the number of cups, plates, bowls, and silverware that have been stolen from the dining hall has increased dramatically. Dinning services estimates that $110,000 worth of china was stolen last year alone. It is because of these student thieves that our tuition is increased every year. So next time you are thirsty but can’t find a cup thank your fellow students. If you ever see anyone taking something from the cafeteria they shouldn’t be please make them aware that they are causing a direct increase in our tuition.

Missing Symantec Antivirus for Mac on myNEU?

Some students have noticed that there is no Mac version of Symantec Antivirus to download on myNEU. A recent e-mail from the Information Services Help Desk stated:

It was removed from Software Downloads due to the fact that the program had been unstable for many mac users. Since macs didn't have much in the way of security problems the software was deemed to cause more problems than it solved and so it was removed from myNEU.

Temperature Maximums

Earlier in the week we blogged about residence hall heating. We forgot to mention that the maximum setpoint in electronically controlled residence halls is 72-degrees Fahrenheit. If your thermostat won't go up to 72-degrees, then you can submit a work order to Facilities online or by calling (617) 373-2754.

While you do have the ability to set a temperature of 72-degrees, remember that using a lower temperature saves energy. It's especially a good idea to lower the thermostat if you're going to be away for the weekend, or leaving for winter break, or even if you're just going to be at co-op for most of the day. When we help save energy, not only are we helping the environment, but we are also saving our institution money which helps to curb housing cost increases.

What Happened to the Free Coffee for Voting?

On Tuesday, November 4th many students were expecting to get a free tall coffee at Starbucks for casting their vote in the General Election. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case at the Northeastern University Starbucks in the Curry Student Center, and students brought their complaints forward to the Resident Student Association. We contacted the people in charge of Dining Services to find out why this was the case. Here's what we were told:

The Starbucks at the Curry Student Center is not a "participating" Starbucks. Meaning [that] we have the discretion to run a program or bypass it if we feel [that] it will interfere with a smooth operation and create a consumer disservice with long lines and [an] inability to live up to the service expectations of our customer. In a college environment, where timing is critical for students to make their class schedule, it is just not wise to knowingly create a bottle neck that won't make everyone happy.

So Dining Services did not have our Starbucks participate because they wanted to ensure that lines would be limited and students could make it to class on-time, providing better service. If you disagree let us know and we'll let them know.

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.

IT Upload Speed Project

The IT Subcommittee is working on getting the upload speeds on campus increased, mainly in residence halls. We want to get a general sense of the speeds people are getting in their residence halls now so we're asking for people to take just one moment and run a simple test online by doing the following:

1. Go to www.speakeasy.net/speedtest
2. Under "Choose Server", click "New York City"
3. Wait for the test to run (about a minute)
4. Email the upload speed displayed at the end, along with the time you took the test, and what residence hall you were in to nuspeedtest@gmail.com

Foam Hand Soap

Most, if not all, residence halls show now have new foam hand soap dispensers installed in them. However, some students have brought up the concern that in halls with large common bathrooms, the number of soap dispensers has been reduced. If this is the case in your residence hall, send us a note at RSA@neu.edu.

NRHH "Season of Giving" Food Drive 2008

The Housing Services Committee has been so kind to help out NRHH in their efforts to raise more than 600 lbs (last year's total) of canned food during this holiday season. Boxes will be placed in every Residence Hall and many departments/ offices on campus starting this weekend. Student groups are also encouraged to bring boxes and collect food at their meetings. The person who donates the most canned food wins a round-trip ticket on JetBlue Airlines! Anyone who donates food is also entered in a raffle to win a round trip ticket to anywhere JetBlue jets! The Residence Hall or office that donates the most food wins a pizza or ice cream social of their choice. To be eligible for the airline tickets, every can you donate must be labeled with your name (first and last) and your residence hall/office name. For any questions email berds.c@neu.edu or nrhh@neu.edu. Give and Win to help your residence hall community!

Many thanks to Kathryn Hansis who designed the attractive ad!

Compost Catastrophe to be Corrected

If you have noticed that the yellow compost bins have been missing from the dining hall, first of all, thank you. Don’t worry your ecological self about the situation! As soon as this was brought to the attention of the Housing Services Committee, steps were taken to notify the dining hall managers. They are working on getting more yellow bins so that they are always available. To those dear readers who need a quick reminder, napkins, cups and all food products can be recycled. To clarify, the sign does say to not compost napkins or cups but these are compostable. Dining Services just wants to ensure that the bin looks less like a trash. The only materials in the dining hall that cannot be composted are the plastic from the chip bags, saltine wrappers, plastic covers from the to-go cups and the actual silverware, bowls and plates. We are currently looking for people to stand by the compost bins to educate students about this information. Email megmccormick18@gmail.com if you are interested. Please encourage your friends and fellow dining companions to compost!

Legislation Passes!

With a vote count of 65-0-0, the General Council passed SC FA-08-2 last night to support Gender Neutral Housing! You can read a bit more in the Huntington News. You can read the legislation here.

NU Alert Test

In case you have not yet heard, the NU Alert system will be fully tested Wednesday at 1:00 PM. For more information, visit this page.

Heating Issues

With cooler weather around Boston these days, heat is keeping us warm in the residence halls -- but for some students, it's just too warm! If your heat, in an electronically controlled building (eg. Davenport A, West Campus C, West Campus G) won't go down to 68-degrees, put a work order into Facilities.

In residence halls without electronically controlled heat, if the temperature is too warm, you can adjust it or ask Facilities to do so by entering a work order or calling (617) 373-2754.

E-Mail Slowness

Lately many students have been experiencing very slow e-mail delivery. In fact, sometimes students are seeing e-mail take three days or more to arrive. In the Resident Student Association, this has been an issue as some of our constituents e-mails aren't coming through timely. Just today I received e-mail that was sent on Friday afternoon, and yesterday e-mail from Thursday was coming in. The problem seems to stem from an issue between the Northeastern University mail server and Google's mail servers for Gmail. The number of students that are using Gmail or simply have their @neu.edu e-mail forwarded to Gmail has been causing an issue. Here's the story from Information Services:

Google has changed there rules in regards to the amount of mail being sent to them from external systems. We are working with Google to identify changes that can be made to remove any restrictions on mail. This is causing delays.

In the meantime, a workaround may be to halt forwarding to Gmail and simply check your myNEU e-mail more frequently.

Gender Neutral Housing Legislation Passes Senate; Will Go to General Council

The Student Senate today passed a piece of joint legislation [pdf] supporting the creation of a Gender Neutral Housing program at Northeastern University. The legislation passed with a vote of 35 in favor, 3 against, and some abstaining. On Wednesday, in 335 Shillman Hall at 7:30 PM, the General Council of the Resident Student Association will hear, and hopefully, in accordance with the recommendation of the Housing Services Committee, pass, the legislation allowing it to be sent onto the administration along with the proposal [pdf] for Gender Neutral Housing.