MBTA Fare Hike Hearings

An MBTA spokesperson has informed us that later this week they should be announcing the details of public hearings on possible fare increases and possible service cuts. The fare increases could raise the cost of taking public transit in the Boston area by as much as 20%, which would have a financial impact on students relying on the T to get to class, co-op, and other activities. We'll update once we have details later in the week.

Move In / Out / To / From Problems

Did you, your friends, or fellow residents have problems this summer or last year with move in, move out, or move to/from?

If so, we want to know so we can work on fixing moving problems at Northeastern University. Please let us know by e-mailing RSA (at) Northeastern.edu or posting on the blog. Anonymous posts are not identifiable by IP Address, so you can rest assured your identity will be truly anonymous if you post on this blog.

Equipment Borrowing

One of the great things that our Hall Councils do in the residence halls is purchase equipment that residents can borrow (as well as fixed equipment like table tennis tables). This includes items such as billiards balls and sticks, movies on DVD / BD, and video games and systems.

At present, it is difficult for residents to tell what exactly their hall has, and it is even more difficult to see what other halls have. What this can result in is a single DVD movie being purchased 5 or 6 or even 10 times over, when only 2 or 3 residents will want to simultaneously have it. Likewise, when residence halls want to do video game tournaments and want to see what other halls have a Wii (for example), they don't have an easy way to tell who does.

Even worse, the process for borrowing & returning equipment is not consistent campus-wide. Some residence hall staffs have created their own procedures which have limited accessibility to equipment for students. Others have no documented procedure.

The potential solution that was looked at by the Advocacy Subcommittee is to have a database of what equipment is owned by each hall, and where it resides, which would be accessible to all residents. This would help cut down on wasteful purchasing and let students know what is available. Also, developing a unified policy campus-wide for equipment borrowing is the other idea we have looked at, as well as looking at ensuring that students are billed for items they fail to return.

We want to know what you think, so post on the blog about it!

Article About West Campus Architect

This weekend in the Boston Globe there was an article about William Rawn & his architecture firm which was responsible for the design of the award-winning West Campus residence halls at Northeastern. You can read the article here.

Annual Electrical Shutdown

Each year over the weekend of the Federal Holiday of Independence Day (4th of July), an electrical shutdown takes place across campus as they perform inspections. On Saturday, July 4th between 6 AM and 8 PM, several buildings will experience power loss. The below notice from the Facilities Division lists the buildings affected and provides guidance on how to prepare for the shutdowns as well as why the shutdowns must happen:

As part of the required annual inspections and preventative maintenance program of the Northeastern University electrical utility system, the buildings listed below require a prolonged electrical shutdown or interruption of power. This shutdown is necessary for proper isolation and inspection of the buildings’ step-down transformers, high-voltage switchgear and distribution switchboard equipment.

As has been the case in previous years, to minimize disruption to University operations, this maintenance shutdown will occur over a weekend.

The electrical outage will commence on Saturday, July 4 at 6:00 AM and it will conclude by 8:00 PM that same day and will affect the following buildings:

Architecture Studio (located at MBTA station)
Behrakis Health Sciences Center
Cargill Hall
Dana Research Center
Dockser Hall
Egan Engineering/Science Research Center
Holmes Hall
Kariotis Hall
Knowles Center
Lake Hall
Latino/a Student Cultural Center
Meserve Hall
Nightingale Hall
Ryder Hall
Shillman Hall
Snell Engineering Center
Stearns Center
West Campus Building A
West Campus Building B
West Campus Building C
West Campus Building E
West Campus Building F
West Campus Building G
West Campus Building H
West Campus Parking Garage
Willis Hall
Power Plant

Only the buildings/locations listed above in this communication are affected by this electrical shutdown. All other campus buildings/locations will not be affected.

It should be noted that as a building/location passes inspection and testing, power will be restored to that particular building. As such, some buildings may have their electrical power restored ahead of the established restoration deadline of 8:00 PM.

To reduce the risk of damage to computer and other sensitive electronic equipment, please turn off all such equipment prior to the shutdowns.

The Facilities Division undertakes these actions to insure that the Northeastern University community is provided with safe and reliable electrical energy. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation and apologize for the inconvenience.

Committee Notes

A few quick notes & questions from committee last night:

• If you have had any issues with move in/out or move to/from, please e-mail them to RSA@Northeastern.edu or comment here. If you want to be anonymous, just post a comment on this blog as an anonymous user. The blog system does not provide us with your IP Address or any other identifying information, so rest assured that you'll be anonymous.
• Do you think International Village should have a display of flags from around the world? If so, how should it be arranged? Send your thoughts to RSA@Northeastern.edu or post them here.
• On an average cross-campus walk, count the number of outdoor recycling bins you see on the way. Odds are, you'll see zero or one if you go by Snell Library. Trash cans are plentiful, however. If you had just as easy an opportunity to recycle a bottle or can versus trashing it, would you?
• Your residence hall probably will lose power on July 4th, for some part of the day, due to electrical inspections and testing.
• Audits are being done to see if people actually moved in. We still don't understand why Residential Life & Housing Services use a better method for this process, but will be working to see if it can be improved.

International Village To Have Trays!

The Huntington News this morning has printed a story about yesterday's news that International Village will have trays available to students, along with modifications to make it so that students won't need a tray to return their dishes. You can read more here.

This news brings to a conclusion a months-long debate in which the Resident Student Association worked to defend the integrity of student opinion and defend the rights of students living in the residence halls. We are going to be continuing work on educating students about sustainable practices in the dining halls, while still ensuring that students' rights are being protected and preserved.

Laundry Bucks Are Active

The Resident Student Association received word from Campus Life and independently has confirmed that Summer II 2009 Laundry Bucks are now active. Residents should now have $22.50 available to use towards washing and/or drying clothes in the on-campus laundry rooms.

Where Are My Laundry Bucks?

If you were hoping to start using your Summer II Laundry Bucks today and have some nice, clean clothes... you're out of luck. Due to what has been deemed "a slight delay" by staff members in Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Laundry Bucks were not activated at the same time as meal plans. We have been told they should be coming forward within "the next few days."

Dining Tweets

For those of you who utilize Twitter, Dining Services now has a Twitter account. You can follow @NEU_Dining on Twitter, along with @NortheasternRSA.

Sunday Looking Good for BBQ

Sunday is looking like a great day for BBQ. While you can't smoke ribs in your residence hall or start a real grill up, you can take advantage of RSA's free trip to the Phantom Gourmet BBQ Beach Bash. We cover the tickets (normally $10) and you just have to buy the food. It's a great deal, and I'm personally planning to go and enjoy some great ribs, cold beer, and perhaps some brisket or pulled pork sandwiches. If you want to join me, simply e-mail RSA (at) Northeastern.edu to sign up.

Stetson East Dining Changes

Many students have been curious about what exactly happened in Stetson Hall East when the dining hall was closed, because it pretty much looks the same as before. Today, we found out from the people in charge of Dining Services what work was done. The list of work includes:

• Atrium flooring replacement;
• Serving line equipment improvements;
• Wall replacement;
• Building-wide bathroom renovations to reduce flooding;
• Tree cleaning (yes, the trees are real, but because it doesn't rain the leaves accumulate dust!)
• Replacement and/or cleaning of seating that was damaged;
• Detailed equipment cleaning; and
• Repainting of all walls

There were also a few other minor improvements that were made.

Shooting Near Campus

We have reports coming in via social networking / micro-blogging service Twitter that a shooting has taken place near Matthews Arena. Reports indicate that there is one victim who was transported via ambulance and one individual taken into custody by the Boston Police.

Details are not yet known, nor has any confirmation come from Northeastern about the incident. This, along with last week's two stabbings near campus, has raised the question of why students aren't getting NU Alert texts about these situations. One tweeter wrote, "I don't understand why we haven't recieved a single emergency alert from Northeastern..."

Given the question of NU Alerts, we will be looking to the University adminsitration for guidance on when they issue alerts or not, and how students can be kept more aware of what is going on around campus.

Another Stabbing in the Northeastern University Area

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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