Move-In Weekend 2008

Move-In Weekend 2008 has come and gone, and all-in-all it seems to have gone smoothly. Here's a few points about the weekend:

• We were told by one administrator that this was "the best they've seen in years" with regards to the smoothness of move-in.
• We noticed great work from the Facilities Division helping with move-in and responding to work orders quickly. New students and parents were surprised at their great work, and on behalf of the residents I passed a thank you e-mail onto the head of the department.
• If you just moved in and are having issues with anything, you can reach Facilities at (617) 373-2754, or put a work order in at www.workreq.neu.edu.
• Students are excited about Laundry Bucks! It's a great program and I thank the hard working folks in Student Government who helped bring this to campus. If you haven't heard, Laundry Bucks gives you 15 free loads of laundry a semester, a $45.00 value.

A couple other things:

• We've heard rumors of Northeastern University police on the prowl trying to catch people handing off alcohol or drinking underage -- so be smart and don't break the law otherwise you may wind up before OSCCR or the Roxbury District Court!
• All the Welcome Week events can be found at the Welcome Week website.
• If you're interested in joining or learning about RSA, our first meeting is in 335 Shillman Hall at 7:30 PM on Wednesday

September 2008 on RSA Cinema

Watch the video below to learn about movies being featured on RSA Cinema this month:

The Past, Present, and Future of RSA Cinema

This summer the Housing Services Committee worked to develop a report evaluating RSA Cinema's past, current state, and looking forward at what needed to be done. We also set the stage for the creation of an RSA Cinema Manual and developed plans for advertising and promoting the channel. The full report is over fifty pages, and can be downloaded here as a PDF. Feel free to comment on the report, and look for the more formal RSA Cinema Manual next week.

Where Have All The Blog Posts Gone?

We've been pretty busy the last couple weeks in the Resident Student Association. While it is intersession, we were occupied with move to-from, advocating for the residents, and training the Resident Assistants. So the blog didn't get updated for almost two weeks. This update isn't much, but check back later today for a big piece of news!

New Colors

We've mixed up the colors on the Housing Blog for readability. Let us know what you think!

The Lowdown on Elevators with Expired Certificates

The Resident Student Association recently received no fewer than five notifications from students about elevators having expired inspection certificates in the Residence Halls. Upon hearing about the problem, we immediately got in touch with Facilities to let them know and to find out why this was the case. What we found out from Facilities is the following:

The University is in compliance with the requirements of both Massachusetts Elevator Regulations (524 CMR) and Mass General Law (MGL c. 143, sec. 64) pertinent to annual elevator testing and certification. Our service provider has submitted all the applications and required fees to initiate an annual inspection by the Commonwealth. The University has a formal testing schedule, produced by the Department of Public Safety, for both July and August. However, the Commonwealth hasn't enough adequate/competent inspectors for all elevators within the state. As such, the inspection supervisor at the Department of Public Safety, personally, began testing the elevators at Northeastern on Tuesday 12 August, accompanied by a few inspectors-in-training. They will continue this regimen until all elevators are tested.

We were further assured that there is no safety concern with any elevators on campus. By law, the University must leave up the expired certificates until new ones replace them, which is why for the time being you may see expired inspection certificates in elevators on-campus. If you ever notice an elevator issue in the residence halls, report the problem by calling the Facilities Customer Service center at (617) 373-2754.

laundry@neu.edu

laundry@neu.edu

Remember that e-mail address, and spread it throughout the residence halls when your fellow students (or you) have problems related to laundry on campus. Whether it's a dryer not drying, a washer not taking quarters, a card reader not working, or a laundry room that doesn't seem to be cleaned enough, the Resident Student Association can help. Plus, if you have an idea related to laundry, you can e-mail it to laundry@neu.edu and the Housing Services Committee will look into the idea.

There Is No Freshman Housing Shortage

In the Resident Student Association we frequently hear rumors about potential problems on-campus. The latest big rumor was a shortage of 300 beds of freshman housing, caused by more students deciding to attend Northeastern and live on-campus than expected. However, after investigation we found this rumor is totally false and without merit. So don't worry freshmen -- you'll have a bed on-campus come September. And RA's need not worry about their single rooms being converted into doubles to house freshmen either.

GrandMarc Issue Sent Back To Committee

After a long debate, the General Council decided that it was not yet time to take a stance on the topic of Northeastern placing students in the proposed GrandMarc at St. Boltoph Street, and voted down the Sense of the Council that had been brought forth. However, the General Council formally referred the matter to the Housing Services Committee, so we'll be dealing with it later in the year.

Northeastern Ranks #568

In a ranking of United States Colleges and Universities, Northeastern came in at #568 today. The ranking, done by Forbes, is an alternative to the U.S. News and World Report where Northeastern was ranked #96. Forbes claims that "for too many years, information about the quality of American higher education has been monopolized by one publication" and offers their ranking as an alternative.

Forbes' rankings feature a methodology featuring the perspective of being in a student's shoes. Part of the ranking is based on student evaluations of courses and instructors, part of the ranking is based on alumni being listed in the "Who's Who in America" and the rest of the ranking is based on student graduation rates, debt, and the number of students and faculty who have won national awards. For more about the rankings, you can go here.

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.

Our GrandMarc Comments

If you read the housing blog during the last couple months, you'll know that the Resident Student Association was very active in the public comment process for the proposed GrandMarc at St. Boltoph Street. We culminated our work on a public comment with a letter of comment and accompanying legislation. You can read the entire document, known as Council Resolution S2-08-1, here in PDF form. Our work related to the GrandMarc isn't done. We're currently working to address the topic of Northeastern University possibly leasing a block of space in the building for students to live in leased housing. If you have comments on this topic, feel free to post them here on the blog.

Sustainable Food Production at Universities Nationwide

Eaters must understand that how we eat determines how the world is used." – Wendell Berry

Change is happening all over our campus. Student activists are growing in population world-wide, nation-wide and throughout Northeastern's campus. The Cafeteria can be an integral part of an effort to make changes in health, agriculture, resource usage and the entire food system. When researching this topic I found many interesting articles and websites, sparking my interest in bringing this important movement to Northeastern. (I will include more information about the articles below.) Cornell University and their Department of Agriculture sponsor a Farm to School Extension program, connecting locally and sustain-ably grown food with schools from elementary to university. Occidental College recently connected the Tierra Miguel Foundation's organic farm to the Los Angeles Public schools in an effort for children to learn in a hands-on (and mouth-on!) way about agriculture and the environment. The University of Connecticut pledged last year to buy as much food locally "as possible" and has started producing honey on the property to fufill the 1,000 pounds of honey that students go through per year. The University of Vermont (UVM) currently partners with Black River Produce, supplying all of their fruit and vegetables, Champlain Orchards, supplying apples and cider, and the Vermont Fresh Network, connecting UVM to more farms in the area. Our landscaping on our city campus is beautiful. Imagine planting apple trees, squash or pumpkins in just garden plot on campus and eating that food in the Caf. Suddenly the beauty of our campus means something and is helping the environment. Chartwells, our catering and dining services provider, has just unveiled it's plan to "Go Green". How can we support them? Give them your feedback and show your appreciation of their efforts. Post your ideas here and the Housing Services Committee will bring them back to Chartwells in an effort to work together to make Northeastern greener!

The following articles were informative about this subject. I would suggest reading them for more information:

• Fresh from the Farm and Into the Classroom provides an overview and a link to a more detailed report about this program from the department of Urban and Environmental Policy at Occidental College's partnership between organic farms and Los Angeles public elementary schools.
• This article gives more information about Cornell University's successful Farm to School Program.
• This is a handbook for schools for buying and serving locally grown food in school meals provided by the USDA.
• Slow Food Nation: Come to the Table is a movement for a week of awareness of locally grown food. University Students are holding their own month of awareness and activism to get more locally grown food on the tables at their dining halls. Find out more about the Real Food Challenge at this website.
• This is a link to the Uconn newspaper article about the introduction of beehives and production of honey to their campus in an effort to become more sustainable.
• Check this site out for more information about Northeastern University Dining Halls. Discover their plan to "Go Green" by downloading the PowerPoint presentation on the home page.

The Housing Crunch On-Campus

It's a well-known fact that each year at Northeastern University more students apply for housing than there are beds. The same is the case elsewhere, and this year the crunch is even worse due to economic conditions. High fuel costs have led students who once planned to commute to school to want to live on-campus, and the fixed cost of residence hall living is becoming more appealing as utility prices rise. Additionally, dining halls have become a more reasonable option for students to eat at because of the rising costs of food.

This year's trend is notable and has been covered by a lot of media. The Boston Globe today featured an article by Peter Schworm about the cruch in Massachusetts. In Mississippi, LaRaye Brown of the Clarion-Ledger writes about the situation at the University of Southern Mississippi. Also, today the Florida Sun-Sentinel writes about the squeeze for space at Florida Atlantic University. Finally, Brittany Anas of the Boulder Daily Camera wrote Saturday about how the University of Colorado is booking hotel rooms to house students temporarily due to the crunch.

Lack of Posts & Writing for the Blog

Blog updates have been slow lately.

However, there is good reason. I, and the rest of the Housing Services Committee have been busy working on initiatives like the Fraternity and Sorority Life Leadership Living Learning Community, RSA Cinema, and making sure student voices are heard with regards to the GrandMarc. Blog updates should be more regular soon, and if you're interested in helping by writing on the blog send me an e-mail!

This Month on RSA Cinema

We've got a video of information about the August movies, it's going to run on RSA Cinema between films in August

August Movies on RSA Cinema

In August, RSA Cinema will feature the following movies:

• The Bank Job (IMDB)
• Brick (IMDB)
• The Bucket List (IMDB)
• Flawless (IMDB)
• National Lampoon's Animal House (IMDB)
• Saving Private Ryan (IMDB)

If you have a movie request, be sure to tell us.

Why Do We Have NUIDs?

At Northeastern University, every student has a student ID number. Students often wonder why they need to remember their Northeastern University ID number, known as "NUID" for short and why the University doesn't just use an existing number such as a Social Security Number.

It turns out, the elimination of using Social Security Numbers is the entire point of the NUID. Social Security Numbers, in the wrong hands, can lead to serious, costly fraud. The Social Security Administration has a good website about the problem of identity theft. By having a NUID, in the normal course of business you won't need to use your Social Security Number unless you are doing something where the law requires a Social Security Number such as employment or financial aid.

On a historical note, the first major call for Northeastern to replace Social Security Number use with something else came back in 2005 as a resolution from the Student Government Association. The resolution called for the change to happen with the next incoming class, but because dozens of University systems needed to be changed, the NUID transition didn't happen until February 2007 over a three-day weekend.

Hot Tubs In the Residence Halls?

Megan K. Scott of the Associated Press wrote an article that was published this week in The Detroit Free Press about how colleges and universities are trying to draw students by pampering them with amenities such as wake-up calls, hot tubs, laundry services, valet parking, and apartment-style housing. While at Northeastern we have some amenities such as apartment-style housing for upperclassmen and honors freshmen and laundry service (through Husky Express), we're far from having snacks always available, valet parking, or hot tubs in the residence halls.

The movement to replace the traditional dormitory with resort-like amenities stems from the demands of millenial students and their parents, who are looking for a bigger bang for their buck. Students today are looking for more in college housing than students twenty years ago. Students, for example want single rooms because they want their own space and more privacy. However, in the article the Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Daniel Webster College in Nashua, New Hampshire warns that students may miss out on learning communication and negotiaion skills by not sharing space as freshmen. Likewise, a risk of having services available to students for laundry, cleaning, and parking is that students won't learn on their own how to do these things.

We in the Housing Services Committee would like to know how you feel about giving students more amenities in on-campus housing. Post your comments or send us an e-mail.

Useful Links Updated

Hi blog readers! The blog hasn't been active the last few days due to the Housing Services Committee being extremely busy as we approach our next meeting this Thursday, which will be full of business items related to the GrandMarc, RSA Cinema, and HuskyCable. We've updated the useful links section, and some of these links will wind up in the revamped Housing FAQ for the RSA Website. If you have any ideas for the Housing FAQ, post about it here. You can see the current FAQ here.