Fox News and The Boston Globe reported this morning about a stabbing late last night on Gainsborough Street near Northeastern University. The stabbing marks the second time in less than a week that a non-student was stabbed within just a few blocks of campus.
Boston Police spokesman Joe Zanoli confirmed that the victim was a 26-year-old male who was stabbed sometime after 11 PM on Tuesday night in the upper right part of his chest. The victim, according to Doctors at Brigham & Women's Hospital, is expected to survive the attack.
The suspect, who is wanted by police for this attack, is a clean shaven black male, age 30-35, with close-cropped black hair. The suspect was last seen wearing a white and black zip-up hooded sweatshirt with dice logos on it. The suspect is obviously to be considered armed and dangerous.
If you have any information or sight the possible suspect, please call Boston Police (617.343.4200) or Northeastern University Police (617.373.2121).
16 June 2009
Drinking-Related Deaths on the Rise
Researchers at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism published a report this week that found out that the number of drinking-related deaths among students age 18-24 rose from 1998 to 2005 by 26.7%. Researchers also found slight increases in students driving while intoxicated and binge drinking.
Of course, such trends only go to make college students appear to be irresponsible and encourage those who want to raise the drinking age or keep it at 21 instead of going to age 18 like many other countries have.
The Resident Student Association is always looking out for ways to help discourage irresponsible drinking on-campus, and we have typically participated in Alcohol [Awareness] Week each year.
Of course, such trends only go to make college students appear to be irresponsible and encourage those who want to raise the drinking age or keep it at 21 instead of going to age 18 like many other countries have.
The Resident Student Association is always looking out for ways to help discourage irresponsible drinking on-campus, and we have typically participated in Alcohol [Awareness] Week each year.
15 June 2009
Reclaiming Fridays...
An article from Friday over at Inside Higher Ed, a website that reports on news in the world of Higher Education, discusses the concept of "Thirsty Thursdays" and how some institutions are attempting to curb the trend by scheduling more Friday morning classes or encourging departments to have more classes on Friday. The report is based off a study at Maryland's Loyola College that found that students who don't have Friday classes drank four times as much on average as students with a Friday class before 10 AM.
At Northeastern, during the Summer I and Summer I term, there are no Friday classes and in the Fall and Spring many students have Friday free of class. Do you think University's should try to "reclaim Fridays?" Post your comments and let us know.
At Northeastern, during the Summer I and Summer I term, there are no Friday classes and in the Fall and Spring many students have Friday free of class. Do you think University's should try to "reclaim Fridays?" Post your comments and let us know.
Dining Switches Back
When the dining hall opens up at 7:00 AM, for the first time in more than a month and a half, it won't be Stetson Hall West. Stetson Hall East returns to service as the primary dining hall on-campus starting June 15th. The return of Stetson East will be dissapointing for stir-fry fans and pizza fans, but will be a welcome change for those who enjoyed Stetson West's better configuration for breakfast, ability to feature more diverse options, and Terra Ve vegatarian/vegan section.
11 June 2009
Bias Incident Response Protocol
Northeastern made official today a new Bias Incident Response Protocol. The protocol documents how the University will respond to incidents of bias or hate on campus. The announcement comes following yesterday's tragic and high-profile act of hate at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
The full protocol can be seen on the website of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.
The Resident Student Association, and other student groups, reviewed a draft of the protocol and provided input back in March 2009. We agreed to support the University administration in publicizing the protocol as well as the procedure for reporting incidents of racism, bias, bigotry, or hate on-campus and the new reporting form.
The full protocol can be seen on the website of the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity.
The Resident Student Association, and other student groups, reviewed a draft of the protocol and provided input back in March 2009. We agreed to support the University administration in publicizing the protocol as well as the procedure for reporting incidents of racism, bias, bigotry, or hate on-campus and the new reporting form.
07 June 2009
Updates Resume Today
NACURH 2009, lots of meetings, and the Chairman of the Housing Services Committee getting the flu (luckilly not H1N1 "Swine" Flu) resulted in the last couple weeks being dry on the blog. Look for more consistent updates to kick off starting this week.
21 May 2009
Tweeting NACURH
Writing full blog entries can be hard during the fast pace of the NACURH [National Association of College and University Residence Halls] conference. Thus, I'll be updating about the conference via @soleynm on Twitter.
Other Northeastern students who may be tweeting from NACURH include @savannahmrose, @naegelis, @mozessw, @malloryleigh19, @brittinyrae and @pao612. Look out for the hash tag #NACURH.
For those unfamillar with Twitter, it's a micro-blogging system. Tweets can be posted from computer, mobile application, and from any cell phone via text message. Twitter allows for real-time updates of your status, news, and anything you can say in 140 characters. Anyone can sign up for free at www.Twitter.com
Other Northeastern students who may be tweeting from NACURH include @savannahmrose, @naegelis, @mozessw, @malloryleigh19, @brittinyrae and @pao612. Look out for the hash tag #NACURH.
For those unfamillar with Twitter, it's a micro-blogging system. Tweets can be posted from computer, mobile application, and from any cell phone via text message. Twitter allows for real-time updates of your status, news, and anything you can say in 140 characters. Anyone can sign up for free at www.Twitter.com
How Can We Reach You?
On Wednesday, with President Naegeli, I attended a meeting about how we market events and other items to the student body. We're going to be working through the summer on this, and it includes the Residence Hall flyer posting policy and process. If you have any ideas about how we can best reach out to you and about flyering in the Residence Halls, let us know.
Legislation Passes
The Resident Student Association passed legislation last night regarding the topic of trayless dining and reassessing student opinion to ensure that the right decision is made. You can read the legislation here [SC: S1-09-1]. Our plan will be to create a new survey and collect actual data, working collaboratively with other student groups. If you have any ideas, let us know.
16 May 2009
Next Weekend: NACURH 2009
It's hard to believe that NACURH 2009 is less than a week away, but it is. Next Friday, a group of 13 will leave Boston and head out West to The University of Arizona in Tucson. We'll be representing Northeastern among other RSA/RHAs across the country, and hopefully we'll bring back some National awards to add to our institutions pride.
While there may be a couple blog posts made from out West, look to Twitter for updates as myself and several other delegates will be tweeting from our mobile phones.
While there may be a couple blog posts made from out West, look to Twitter for updates as myself and several other delegates will be tweeting from our mobile phones.
The Week in Review
This week was an interesting one in terms of my role on the RSA e-board. I didn't update the blog because so much was going on!
We opened up the week with our e-board meeting where we ran down all of the ongoing projects. There's a lot of good things coming for residents, both in advocacy and outreach and programming. The RSA website had some updates made Monday, with many more to come to bring it up to date. All the missing documents for Housing Services Committee from last year will be posted, and then we'll have information about how to get even older documents. It will basically be a request system where you e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and we send you the requested documents.
On Tuesday, I took a trip with VP Rose up to Freedom, New Hampshire where we looked at Camp Cody, a possible new site for the Association's fall retreat which will offer us a significant savings in cost over our traditional retreat to the Ashland Campus. The site was very nice, with a great lake nearby. While the drive was almost 2.5 hours each way, it was worth it because we also got to enjoy some tax-free shopping! Tuesday was also the first Housing Services Committee meeting. It's not too late to join / attend. We meet next week at 6:00 pm in 336 Curry Student Center.
Wednesday was a much calmer day. Not too much to comment on, other than a meeting with the Senior RA Representative to discuss RA Training.
Thursday was a long day. On Thursday we found that our new office furniture would be coming in. We only got two hours notice, so VP Rose, VP Gagnon and I had to do a fast pack and clear job and then set everything up again once the new furniture came. The RSA Office, at 128 Stetson Hall West, has had the same layout for years. Four desks to be used by an organization with over 80 members and more than a dozen officers, Assistant Vice Presidents, and others who frequent the office as a working space. We upgraded to a total of six desks, which now gives each Vice President their own desk. We also switched to desks that provide better cable and power access for technology and gave the Vice President for Finance a bigger desk. We moved our water cooler and installed new seating to provide a more professional look. Once we clean up, I'll post some pictures.
Of course, what began Thursday was interesting. Food Advisory Committee met Thursday. From RSA, myself, AVP for Housing Services Mallory Brown, VP for Programming Brittiny-Rae Gagnon, and Cassandra Chan attended. We discussed the food preference survey results. The full results should be released by SGA soon. There was a bit of debate over the issues with the survey's question about trayless dining and the bias of the question, however. We're still working to make sure students have a choice.
Thursday wrapped up with Hall Council training. Anyone who is on a hall council and has feedback, please send it to RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and it'll help us revise for the fall.
Finally, Friday was a much calmer day for RSA, with not much activity for me.
We opened up the week with our e-board meeting where we ran down all of the ongoing projects. There's a lot of good things coming for residents, both in advocacy and outreach and programming. The RSA website had some updates made Monday, with many more to come to bring it up to date. All the missing documents for Housing Services Committee from last year will be posted, and then we'll have information about how to get even older documents. It will basically be a request system where you e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and we send you the requested documents.
On Tuesday, I took a trip with VP Rose up to Freedom, New Hampshire where we looked at Camp Cody, a possible new site for the Association's fall retreat which will offer us a significant savings in cost over our traditional retreat to the Ashland Campus. The site was very nice, with a great lake nearby. While the drive was almost 2.5 hours each way, it was worth it because we also got to enjoy some tax-free shopping! Tuesday was also the first Housing Services Committee meeting. It's not too late to join / attend. We meet next week at 6:00 pm in 336 Curry Student Center.
Wednesday was a much calmer day. Not too much to comment on, other than a meeting with the Senior RA Representative to discuss RA Training.
Thursday was a long day. On Thursday we found that our new office furniture would be coming in. We only got two hours notice, so VP Rose, VP Gagnon and I had to do a fast pack and clear job and then set everything up again once the new furniture came. The RSA Office, at 128 Stetson Hall West, has had the same layout for years. Four desks to be used by an organization with over 80 members and more than a dozen officers, Assistant Vice Presidents, and others who frequent the office as a working space. We upgraded to a total of six desks, which now gives each Vice President their own desk. We also switched to desks that provide better cable and power access for technology and gave the Vice President for Finance a bigger desk. We moved our water cooler and installed new seating to provide a more professional look. Once we clean up, I'll post some pictures.
Of course, what began Thursday was interesting. Food Advisory Committee met Thursday. From RSA, myself, AVP for Housing Services Mallory Brown, VP for Programming Brittiny-Rae Gagnon, and Cassandra Chan attended. We discussed the food preference survey results. The full results should be released by SGA soon. There was a bit of debate over the issues with the survey's question about trayless dining and the bias of the question, however. We're still working to make sure students have a choice.
Thursday wrapped up with Hall Council training. Anyone who is on a hall council and has feedback, please send it to RSA (at) Northeastern.edu and it'll help us revise for the fall.
Finally, Friday was a much calmer day for RSA, with not much activity for me.
Phishing Attempts
Once again there have been e-mails sent out trying to convince students to send e-mail with their myNEU passwords. The messages are not from Northeastern, so don't send any information out. If you have sent information to the people who sent this e-mail, change your password as soon as possible and e-mail help@neu.edu if you are unable to access your account.
11 May 2009
So You Don't Waste the Summer on the Couch...
Due to budgetary constraints RSA TV will not be continuing after May 31, 2009.
However, Channel 117 will still be there! We're not sure how it'll be there, but it may have original content.
Check for updates on rsa.neu.edu and enjoy the last month of movies (there are some good ones).
View the schedule here.
However, Channel 117 will still be there! We're not sure how it'll be there, but it may have original content.
Check for updates on rsa.neu.edu and enjoy the last month of movies (there are some good ones).
View the schedule here.
02 May 2009
Summer I Laundry Bucks
Hi Everyone!
I hope you all had some to time to relax in the warm weather this week. This is just a reminder the your summer I laundry bucks are now available. You should have been allocated $22.50 for this half of the summer.
I hope you all had some to time to relax in the warm weather this week. This is just a reminder the your summer I laundry bucks are now available. You should have been allocated $22.50 for this half of the summer.
Blog Revamped
New session, new blog layout. We've made it a little different. Feel free to post your thoughts and comments about the new look.
29 April 2009
Blog Downtime & Revamp
The blog has been dead the last couple weeks or so, but when Summer I semester starts up next week expect it to be more active and have plenty of updates! There also might be a better layout.
20 April 2009
Duck My Life
RSA has been so busy, I have had little time to update the blog and the same goes for the committee members who make posts here. I did want to note that Duck My Life is today, so look out for rubber duckies on-campus and if you find one you can win a prize by going to the RSA office between 9 AM and 5 PM.
Also, today is Patriot's Day and that means it's Marathon Monday! Enjoy the day off.
11 April 2009
27 March 2009
Earth Hour Tomorrow
Tomorrow is Earth Hour! Earth Hour is an initiative to reduce energy waste by having non-essential lighting turned off for one hour. Supported by Northeastern University and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Earth Hour is Saturday, March 28th from 8:30pm to 9:30pm. During this hour, all resident students are asked to turn off non-essential lighting in their residence hall rooms/suites. Off-campus students are also asked to reduce lighting in their apartments / place of living.
During Earth Hour, around Boston, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, Prudential Center and John Hancock Building will have lighting turned off. There are also 400 cities around the world participating in Earth Hour.
22 March 2009
Morning
It is almost time to leave for Boston. While we did not win School of the Year, did not win Mini No-Frills 2010, and NRHH did not win Chapter of the Year, people had a good time. Individually, Assistant Coordinator Butler won Student of the Year, and Distinguished Service Award went to President Cecil. Unfortunately, AVP Brown did not get First-Year Experience, and Coordinator Rose did not win National Communication Coordinator of the Year.
When we get back to campus our goal shifts from representing NU to the region to representing the region to NU. We saw and heard of Many amenities and services other institutions offer their residents that we do not have at Northeastern. Housing Services Committee will look at many of these ideas. On the programming side, we learned about what programs other institutions did which will help provide ideas to the Programming Committee. Speaking of Programming, many of us are going to The Elephant Walk this afternoon as part of the resturaunt week program RSA is running. Tonight is also Bill Nye "The Science Guy." Student tickets are just $3.00.
When we get back to campus our goal shifts from representing NU to the region to representing the region to NU. We saw and heard of Many amenities and services other institutions offer their residents that we do not have at Northeastern. Housing Services Committee will look at many of these ideas. On the programming side, we learned about what programs other institutions did which will help provide ideas to the Programming Committee. Speaking of Programming, many of us are going to The Elephant Walk this afternoon as part of the resturaunt week program RSA is running. Tonight is also Bill Nye "The Science Guy." Student tickets are just $3.00.
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