Mini No-Frills 2010 Bids

We just finished presenting our Mini No-Frills 2010 bid about ten minutes ago to the NCC Boardroom. We're now in the "holding room" waiting for the other institutions to present their bids. We'll be heading back to the hotel after to get dressed up for the awards banquet. This is when we'll find out whether or not we on various awards or bids.

For Mini No-Frills 2010, it is the State University of New York at New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz) and Boston College (BC) bidding against us.

This conference was my first on a regional bid team, and I had the joy of being on two of them. While it was tough to work on two bids simultaneously and present back-to-back, I felt well prepared and felt that the leadership of our delegation (Coordinator Rose and Assistant Coordinator Butler) were prepared well as was everyone else.

The only downside to our bid times was we missed the spirit showdown, which will make it pretty hard for us to win a Spirit award. Also, the spirit showdown is fun. I think that compared to the last regional conference I attended (Mini No-Frills 2008 at SUNY Geneseo) there was a lot more opportunity to cheer. Nevertheless, the conference so far has been a fun experience. I just wish they had some coffee or energy drink around here, as staying up until 3:00 AM and waking back up at 7:00 AM, after having been up late and waking up early Wednesday and Thursday has led to me being a bit sleep deprived.

SOY Down, Minis 2010 Next

We just wrapped up our presentation for School of the Year. The overall presentation and Q&A went fairly well, but we don't know how well NYU did. The NCCs debate and then vote, and we find out at the banquet.

!!! As of 2:53 I have to stop blogging to go to present with the rest of the Minis 2010 bid team!!

Program Presentations

AVP Brown and I just finished up our program presentation of "Jelly beans about you." It seemed very well received, which made me as a first-time "active" program presenter happy and AVP Brown seemed happy too.

Advisor Cave made it to Fairfield around 10:10 AM. We also found out that our School of the Year bid was delayed until 12:30 PM with the Minis 2010 bid delayed until 3:00 PM. Hopefully, we'll have an update on the NRHH Chapter of the Year bid from someone -- it was planned for earlier this morning and might actually be going on right now.

AVP Brown and I are now in a computer lab classroom [hence why I am blogging now] that is home to a program about the relationship between RHAs and SGAs called "Coexisting with your Student Government Association? Is that Possible?" It is being presented by someone from Syracuse University and is of interest to both her and I as we both serve in leadership roles in RSA and Senators in Student Government at Northeastern.

Breakfast, Finding Boardroom, and Keynote

Breakfast this morning was in one of Fairfield University's dining halls. It was nice to see another school's facilities. They seem to use Sodexho for food service (whereas NU uses Chartwells, a part of Compass Group USA.) However, options were more limited than what you would see at Stetson Hall East on a Saturday morning.

Mallory Brown and I had the challenge of finding the School of Nursing building to bring important documents to Coordinator Rose at NCC boardroom.. It wasn't too hard thanks to the conference staff and volunteers. On the way over we saw some interesting battery and electronics recycling containers that could be useful at Northeastern. We also saw wild turkies. Luckilly, for them, turkey isn't on tonight's banquet menu.

We then headed to the keynote. It started with announcements for program changes and then Professor Lane took to stage.

Day 2

With part of the delegation already gone, the rest of us are meeting now to prepare to head over on the 8:20 shuttle so we can eat breakfast before the keynote speaker, Dr. Phil Lane, who is an Economics Professor at Fairfield and a Northeastern alum. Today is the big day. NRHH presents their Chapter of the Year bid today, and the bid teams for School of the Year and Mini No-Frills 2010 present today. Additionally, there are 4 program sessions and the NRHH and NCC board rooms will be finishing up business. Coordinator Rose and Kate Zasada represent us there, respectively. President Cecil will be in an RHA (Residence Hall Association, what many other schools call their residential programming/advocacy body) Presidents boardroom. This boardroom decides the winner of the First-Year experience award.

This morning we have to pass the spirit stick on, so I expect plenty of cheering. Also, later we will be joined by Advisor Cave.

Pre-bedtime Update

It's 2:33am and some of us are headed to bed, while other remain up. I'm going to bed now and waking up to leave the hotel for Fairfield at 7:40am. We did a lot of SOY practice and mapped out our day. AVP Brown and I present our program tomorrow in the first session. We are officially scheduled for 10:30am to present before the NCC boardroom, but due to a postponement of business we may be later. I'll try to post tomorrow when I can, but it is hard to do via iPhone with all the programs, bids, and cheering.

Spirit Stick and Practicing School of the Year Bid

"We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit how 'bout you?"

The delegation, before heading back to the hotel enjoyed some improv comedy, cheering, and our first round of "ride the pony." Then, we got the Spirit Stick for the first time this conference. For those unaware, the Spirit Stick is a decorated pole that is passed off to different schools throughout the weekend every half hour or so. It is our hope to win "most spirited school" so we can take the spirit stick back to Boston with us.

Right now (12:21pm) we are practicing and revising our presentation for the School of the Year bid. Coordinator Rose and NRHH Treasurer Zasada are still in the NCC and NRHH boardrooms respectively.

Entertainment...

The delegation got to enjoy seeing Fairfeld's Vice President for Student Affairs, a NU RSA alumni from the 1990s, talk to NEACURH about leadership and his experience. He talked about his time in RSA at Northeastern and how it shaped him and helps him become a Student Affairs professional. We then enjoyed a dance crew and hypnotist. We're now partaking in Rockbad, Guitar Hero and karoke while the NCC and NRHH boardrooms run and we have representatives going to RHA Presidents and NRHH socials. We'll be leaving for our hotel around 11:30 to practice our School of the Year presentation for tomorrow.

Fairfield - Opening Ceremonies

The opening ceremonies on the campus of Fairfield University has started. Regional Director Peck kicked things off after a nice session of cheering. She thanked several guests, discussed NEACURH's mission and discussed making the conference enjoyable as well as the no-tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol and then handed things over to Conference staff. At 7:41 NCCs and NRHH reps were called for boardroom.

In Bridgeport, CT

The delegation has arrived in Bridgeport, Connecticut. We are currently at the Holiday Inn. We'll soon be headed to Fairfield Umiversitu for opening and then the NCC and NRHH boardrooms will be taking place. We'll be wearing great pop rockin' shirts.

To Fairfield We Go...

This weekend a group of 11 RSA members are going to the NEACURH Mini No-Frills conference at Fairfield University in Commecticut. The delegation just left Boston and is currently en route on the Massachusetts Turnpike. I'll try to post some blog updates throughout the weekend from my iPhone.

Live! Blog: Advisor Appreciation

Myself, President Cecil, VP Rose, AVP Brown and others from RSA and are currently at the Advisor Appreciation Reception with members of the administration and other student leaders. The reception is a great way to recognize the hard work and dedication of student group advisors here at Northeastern University. We want to especially thank our own advisors, Stephanie Cave and Darren Conine for their support of RSA and the residential community.

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"

Parcel 18 Vendors

After a long wait, we are finally able to report that the vendors that Northeastern is trying to contract with for the Parcel 18 retail space are Jamba Juice and Peet's Coffee & Tea. These two vendors are not 100% confirmed, but this news follows a long process where RSA and SGA surveyed students, found that there was a lack of venting in the facility, and then had to settle for vendors that could operate without a vent.

Do It in the Dark!

Each year, the Husky Energy Action Team works incredibly hard starting in September to plan “Do It In the Dark” (No, it is not a Sex Week event!), an environmentally sustainable initiative combining programming with activism and education. It is co-sponsored by the Resident Student Association and really important for the University the environment and your tutition bill! The focus of the program is energy conservation, hence the encouragement to shut off lights/ water/ dishwasher, etc whenever possible. This is a competition between residence halls to lower the overall amount of energy expended so make signs and encourage your fellow residents!

You can see the list of events at http://www.heat.neu.edu/events. Some of the highlights include Bill Nye The Science Guy [3/22/2009, 7 PM], a showing of Everything's Cool [3/19/2009, 7 PM, 105 Shillman], and the Student Body President Debate [Monday, 7pm, 10 Behrakis] in which our own Vice President of Housing Services, Matthew Soleyn, will be speaking. If you are interested in helping out, send an e-mail to heat@neu.edu. They are looking for Residence Hall stormers to advertise in the residence halls. The competition for Do It In the Dark kicks off this Friday and the winning hall gets free massages for a day during finals week as well as being entered into a raffle for prizes!

Tips:
• Make signs or post-it notes for next to the light switches to remind guests and roommates to turn off the lights.
• Unplug appliances like coffee makers or cell-phone chargers when you are not using them- this helps save little amounts of energy.
• Turn the water off while washing your hair or brushing your teeth, then back on to rinse.
• Wash clothes in cold water.
• Air dry clothes instead of using a dry cycle (saves laundry bucks too!)

Thanks!
Meg McCormick
Member, Housing Services Committee, RSA General Council and Husky Energy Action Team
President, National Residence Hall Honorary
megmccormick18@gmail.com

E-Mail Bounces

On Monday there was a big problem with e-mail to @neu.edu addresses being rejected because the mail servers treated the messages as spam. Vice President Weir of Information Services explained the situation on myNEU:

Northeastern receives over 1 million emails per day to faculty, staff, and students and over 90% of those are SPAM and are rejected accordingly. This afternoon at approximately 2pm, one of the two systems that filter out incoming SPAM malfunctioned. That system was taken offline at approximately 2:30 pm and is being repaired.
During that 30 minute period, the system in question rejected about 6000 incoming emails as SPAM. Unfortunately, a number of valid emails were rejected as well. In those cases, the sender will be notified that the address on the original Northeastern email was invalid and, in most cases, senders will simply resend the message which should be delivered normally.

If you were expecting an email from someone outside Northeastern which has not arrived, you may wish to contact the sender to ask that the message be resent. If you have additional problems or issues, please contact the IS help line (617-373-HELP(4357) or help@neu.edu) for assistance.

We apologize for any inconvenience this problem may have caused.

Bob Weir
Vice President, Information Services

Bids Up

Many members of the Resident Student Association have put hard work, late nights, and lots of dedication into writing a series of various Association-wide and individual bids for Regional Awards that will be announced at the upcoming North East Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls [NEACURH] conference at Fairfield University. Savannah Rose, the National Communication Coordinator for the Resident Student Association has posted Northeastern's bids online. You can download them and read about them here.

UPDATE: If you are looking for other institution's bids, they will be posted on the NEACURH website on Wednesday, March 11, 2009.

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.

Schedule Updated

The new RSA Television schedule is online.

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.