Profile of Today's College Student

Each year the National Association of Student Affairs Professionals does a survey to get a profile of college students. They call the results the "Profile of Today's College Student" and the 2008 results are now out and can be seen here. For us in the Housing Services Committee, this data helps us better know who we're advocating for in the residence halls.

Footloose Is Coming to Campus

The latest press release to come to the Housing Services Committee is about a musical taking place on December 12th and 13th in the Fenway Center. See below for details:

December 2, 2008- Kick off your Sunday shoes Northeastern! The Great White Way, Northeastern University's student directed musical theater group presents Footloose December 12th and 13th at 7:30 pm in the Fenway Center located on St. Stephen’s street.

Footloose written by Dean Pitchford with lyrics by Tom Snow is a musical based on a movie of the same name. The musical follows the story of the main character Ren as he moves from Chicago to a small town named Bomont where dancing is outlawed. The musical includes a host of popular 80's hits including the title song "Footloose," the upbeat "Let's Hear it for the Boy," and the powerful "I need a Hero." Footloose is directed by Peter Karpathakis with Katie Fulton from NuDANCO as the choreographer. The Great White Way held auditions for the musical in September and has been working with the cast of 35 since then. Prior productions include Once Upon a Mattress and Urinetown: the Musical.

Tickets are on sale at the Northeastern box office and must be purchased at the box office before the show. $5 with NU ID, $10 without.

Lance Bass On-Campus Wednesday

For just $10 you could have the opportunity to see former N'Sync pop star Lance Bass right here at Northeastern University. Tomorrow at 7:00 PM in Blackman Auditorium, Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority is presenting Lass Bass. Bass will be speaking "candidly about his childhood, his astonishing experiences growing up in one of the biggest bands in the world, his shock and frustration at the band's eventual dissolution, and his subsequent career, including his four months in Russia, training to become a cosmonaut." Bass will also be discussing life as a homosexual. ASL interpretation will be provided and a book signing will take place after the event for Bass' book Out of Sync. Tickets are on sale at the Blackman Box office, limit 2 per Northeastern University Husky Card.

What's the Higher Education Price Index?

The Higher Education Price Index is something that comes up when talking about costs in the world of higher education. The index is similar to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which is commonly used to gauge rising (or declining) costs of living and inflation, but geared towards colleges and universities. As a result, the HEPI comes into consideration when there is an evaluation of tuition, housing, and fee increases at Northeastern. Similar to the CPI, which is calculated by the United States Department of Labor - Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Higher Education Price Index (HEPI) has been calculated by Commonfund since 2005.

The change to the HEPI historically has been higher than that of the CPI. However, this year the HEPI rose 3.6% while the CPI rose 3.7%. In the current tough economic times with worries of deflation, it will be interesting to see what the next set of numbers are.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Housing Services Committee wishes a Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Thanksgiving Airport Shuttle Service Idea

In the Housing Services Committee we like to keep abreast of the going-ons at other institutions of higher learning, especially those with Residence Hall Associations and a residential community like Northeastern. One of the institutions that came across our radar this week was the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. At the University of Maryland, the RHA worked to create a shuttle service to bring students from campus to the airport on the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Like Northeastern University, the University of Maryland has public transportation access to its local airport, but the shuttle option provides an easier route of travel for students with luggage. The cost there was only $1,400 for the two days of service. You can read more from The Diamondback.

At Northeastern University, such a service could be a possibility prior to Thanksgiving 2009. The Resident Student Association is going to be researching and investigating the possibility to see if it would be a worthwhile service for the residents.

Gunshot Detection System In Testing at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland this week tested a gunshot detection system on its campus which can alert campus and city police to the location of gunfire. The system will help police make faster responses to gunfire, and works through the installation of detector boxes on streetlights, buildings, and other fixed locations. The system has been used in other areas, such as part of Washington, D.C. and was developed by a firm in Virginia. Testing was conducted by police officers firing rounds into sand.

Baltimore suffers from the second highest murder rate in the country (Detriot is #1) with a murder rate higher than that of Los Angeles, New York, and Boston combined. Nevertheless, as technology costs come down this is a technology we could see in Boston one day, perhaps even at Northeastern.

Laundry Bucks Rollover

Hello Residents! I have exciting news!! Laundry Bucks will now roll-over from semester to semester until the end of NU's fiscal year (which is at the end of Summer I).

What this means is that any Laundry Bucks that you have left-over at the end of a semester starting with Summer II (or July) will stay with you until the end of Summer I (or June).

Building K Halted...

You may have read confirmation that Building K plans were halted today in the news. We heard rumor of this last month, and now that it is confirmed we'll be having some discussions with University administration and discussing the matter in Housing Services Committee tonight in 450B Dodge Hall at 6:00 PM

RSA Cinema Survey Results

The results of the RSA Cinema Survey were presented to the General Council tonight. You can see the results here.

Congratulations Amy!

The Housing Services would like to congratulate Amy Osborne as the winner of the $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card for taking the Cereal Survey at General Council last week.

Recommendation for New Cereals

Today at the Food Advisory Board meeting, the Resident Student Association put forth its recommendation on the addition of new cereals to the Stetson Hall East and Stetson Hall West dining halls. We also recommended that new options be placed in Outtakes. You can see our recommendation here and you can see the survey data here.

Winners of the RSA Cinema Survey Prize

The Housing Services Committee would like to congratulate Daniel Pino and Kristin Richardson for being the two winners of the $25 Visa Gift Cards that were given away at random to two people who took last month's RSA Cinema Survey. The survey results will be unveiled tomorrow evening at the RSA General Council meeting in 335 Shillman Hall at 7:30 PM. The results will then be put on the RSA website.

Heater Spitting Water?

Is the heating unit in your residence hall room spitting water out, dripping water, or leaking excessive amounts of steam? If so, contact the Facilities division at 617.373.2754 or enter a work request online. Facilities will do their best to help fix the problem. You can also contact Facilities if the temperature ends up being too hot or too cold in your room and you don't have a control on the wall.

Solicitors Not Wanted!

This is just a friendly reminder that solicitation is strictly prohibited in all residence halls. If at any point you notice someone in your hall that does not belong there please feel free to call the NUPD at 617.373.2121. Please do you part in promoting safety in the residence halls.

Parcel 18 West Named?

Rumor has been flying around campus that Parcel 18 West might just be getting an actual name soon. The rumor is that the building will be called Renaissance Park Residence Hall. While we don't know if the rumors are true or credible, it sounds reasonable. We'll of course keep the student body up to date. In the meantime, post your thoughts on the comments area about the rumored name.

Money Matters

Jared Schlar, the founder of the website Youbux.com will be speaking about budgeting, credit scores, debt, and other topics as a part of the Money Matters seminar being put on by Student Financial Services and the Student Government Association. The seminar is free to students and is on November 20th at 6:00 PM.

Basketball Doubleheader

On Tuesday, November 25th Northeastern Men's and Women's basketball teams will be hosting a basketball doubleheader against BU in Matthew's Arena. The women's game begins at 5pm and the men's game begins at 8pm. In addition to two great Division I games, free food and prizes will be given away throughout the evening. Admission is FREE for all students. Go Huskies!

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.

Naming Buildings

Parcel 18 West, West Campus E, Building K, 780 Columbus Avenue -- all buildings that have yet to be given a true name. There's an interesting blog out at Inside Higher Ed today, which discusses ten rules for naming buildings that are fairly standard at institutions of higher education. Here at Northeastern, the Resident Student Association has been told that "the University is weary of naming buildings after people who are alive or corporations" because it could harm the University if the person was found to be a racist, or committed a crime, or the company went under. It's a valid point -- after all, would you want to live in "The Enron Village" and go to class in "Kennith Lay Hall"?

For those who don't know, Kennith Lay was chairman of Enron back when it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Lay was indicted on counts of securities fraud, wire fraud, misleading statements, and conspiracy. Lay was found guilty on several counts, but died of a heart attack before they could sentence him to jail time. As he had not exhausted his appeals, the charges were vacated.