Updated: myNEU & Northeastern Websites Down

UPDATE: As of 3:00 PM, it appears that all is fine. The outage was due to a power issue in the University data center according to Robert Weir, Northeastern's Vice President for Information Services who posted a statement on the myNEU Portal once it was back up.

It appears that something has gone wrong in the Information Services data center at Northeastern, which has led to a big outage this morning. At present, I.S. is working to restore several websites including the myNEU Portal. They were unable to provide us with a timeframe.

RSA Television Information

The February schedule and other information about RSA Television has gone up on the RSA website. In addition, we are soon going to be doing a lot of pen and popcorn giveaways around campus, so look out for that to take place in the next couple of weeks.

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.

Salting of Campus

We've heard the student concerns about a lack of timely salting on campus after snow/ice events. We'll be working in the near future to address these concerns to Facilities. If you know of any specific problem areas, let us know.

Beanpot

The Housing Services Committee would like to wish both the men's and women's hockey teams luck in their Beanpot games. Northeastern's men take on Boston College in the men's Beanpot at 8:00 PM tomorrow at the T.D. Banknorth Garden and on Tuesday the NU women taken on Boston College right here at Matthews Arena.

News on RSA TV

We have two new ideas for RSATV this spring.

First, we would like to hold a contest for student bands on campus. We would like bands to submit songs to us. The Housing Services Committee will pick one song each month to be the featured song that will play during the Movie Listing Slideshow. This will give us some great music to make the channel more exciting while giving exposure to more student bands on campus.

Second, we are interested in featuring more student content on RSA TV. One idea is to feature student films and documentaries on the channel. I am working on getting in touch with someone who runs the Northeastern Film Festival so the winners will be featured on the channel.

Please, comment and let me know what you think of these new ideas. In addition if you are a band that would like to feature music or a student with a film, please contact me at ouellette.c@neu.edu.

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.

RSA Television Planned Outage

On Thursday, January 29th, 2009, RSA Television will be unavailable from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The outage is to allow us to upgrade the hardware and software behind the channel so we can provide a better experience to students.

Virus Alert!

If you run Windows Vista or Windows XP, you could be at risk for a rapidly spreading virus known commonly as Conflicker or Downadup. The virus uses a vulnerability that existed in Windows XP and Vista, as well as other versions of Windows to infect machines via the network. That vulnerability has since been patched, so you can partially protect yourself by running Windows Update. However, one risk you still could have is infection via removable media such as a USB drive. To curb this issue, you can take the extreme step of turning off auto-run, or ensure that you have your anti-virus software up-to-date. If you don't have anti-virus software or don't want to renew a subscription, go on myNEU where you can download Symantec for free if you are a full-time student. You can read more about the virus here. If your computer is already infected, it is possible to remove the virus and the people at ResNet in Speare Commons can assist you with that process.

Laundry Bucks & Leased Housing

A few students living in Leased Properties have asked about how their Laundry Bucks work. For students in Leased Properties, because Northeastern does not control your laundry facilities, the semester allocation is simply added to your Husky Dollars on your HuskyCard.

If you live in a Northeastern-owned residence hall, Laundry Bucks are a separate allocation but they rollover from semester-to-semester until the end of the fiscal year (after Summer I 2009).

Too Cold?

Are you too cold in your residence hall? Is your room always 68 degrees when you set it to 72? If this is the case, you might have a HVAC problem. The Facilities Division can help with this. Simply enter a work request at http://workreq.neu.edu or call Facilities Customer Service at (617) 373-2754.

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.

Help Inform Students About Upcoming NU Athletics Events

Our friends over in the Student Government Association have come up with a great idea to help inform the student body about upcoming NU Athletics events. Known as the Spirit Crew, it will be a group of students that will go around campus promoting the Huskies the night before big athletic events. Students who are interested in helping out can learn more by attending one of this week's meetings on the topic:

• Tuesday, 1/13/2009 @ 6:00 PM in 433 Curry Student Center
• Thursday, 1/15/2009 @ 7:00 PM in 433 Curry Student Center

We in the Housing Services Committee always encourage students to attend NU Athletics games. This week there is men's and women's ice hockey at home as well as women's basketball. For the full schedule of athletics events, check out GoNU.com.

Pest Control

We wanted to give praise to The Huntington News for today's story about pest control on and off-campus. As the article mentions, if you have a pest problem in the residence halls you don't need to worry about buying mouse traps -- just call Facilities at 617.373.2754 or enter a work order online.

New RSA Website

A new RSA website is up. The new site contains a link over to this blog, and more. It is still being added to, so send RSA@Northeastern.edu any suggestions.

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.

RSA Cinema Downtime and Transition

As was announced several weeks ago, RSA Cinema on Channel 117 is transitioning to the name RSA Television this month to allow the name to reflect the channel's diversity in terms of its offerings. No longer simply a movie channel, RSA Television provides student-created content, information about upcoming events and activities on campus, and student group advertising. At the same time, the channel maintains the classic and new release feature films it has always had.

As a part of the transition, the channel is up and running now after a brief 36 hour downtime. On Thursday, January 15th, RSA Television will officially be here. There will be a launch party (details soon) and give aways to promote the channel. We'll be bringing back the popular popcorn giveaway and also giving away pens and other items. Plus, RSA Television will be offering students in the residence halls the opportunity to create their own television shows for the channel. For more information, e-mail us at RSA (at) Northeastern (dot) edu.