The Seattle campus will offer 16 graduate degree programs, according to a statement posted on the Northeastern website Tuesday. The offerings “will range from cybersecurity and computer science to health informatics and engineering.” Northeastern launched its satellite program last fall with a graduate campus in Charlotte, N.C.

“We are living in a period of knowl­edge explo­sion, and higher edu­ca­tion must do its part to develop the human cap­ital needed to power the indus­tries of today and tomorrow,” Pres­i­dent Joseph E. Aoun said in the statement. “Because of our his­tory and our link­ages to thou­sands of employers around the world, North­eastern is ide­ally suited to take on this challenge.”

In Seattle, Northeastern said, it hopes to integrate the graduate program into a technology sector that is “anchored by Microsoft, Amazon.com, and Boeing.” About 13 percent of professionals in the area have a graduate-level education, the university said, and it hopes to fill a gap by producing job-ready workers.

Like the Charlotte campus, the Seattle offering will follow what Northeastern called “a hybrid delivery model,” or a combination of classroom and online learning. Faculty will teach courses both at the satellite campuses and online.

A lawyer from Seattle, Tayloe Wash­burn, will serve as dean and campus exec­u­tive officer of the new branch. Wash­burn has served as an adviser to Wash­ington Governor Chris Gre­goire and was a former chair of the Seattle Met­ro­pol­itan Chamber of Com­merce, Northeastern said. He was named the 2012 Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Cham­pion of the Year by enter­pris­eSeattle, an economic development partnership in the region, and the university views him as a “busi­ness and civic leader.”

Washburn said in an interview Wednesday that the university first approached him about the job eight to 10 weeks ago. After some research, he said he found that his vision aligned with that of the university’s, and he agreed to take the role.

In Seattle, “there’s not just a need, there’s a pressing need” for prepared and innovative workers, the new dean said. Based on almost any metric, he said, Washington does not produce enough employees to fill all of the region’s job openings.

“There is a dire shortage of engineers, of health informatics people, of biomedical folks,” he said.

The satellite campus will not offer undergraduate courses, but the university hopes to bolster its relationship with co-op employers in the northwest.

Washburn said the university’s plan to expand in Seattle offers a “net improvement” for all students. He said he hopes to establish new courses, and he said many co-op positions will emerge in the Pacific Northwest with the new branch.

“We’re going to have a lot more employment opportunities for students here at NU in an area where a lot of innovation is happening,” he said.

The expansion effort follows the theme of shifting away from “place-based” learning that Aoun wrote about last May in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Today a college or university increasingly is not just one place, but many places — a main campus, a satellite branch in a different city or state, an international outpost and a virtual-learning environment,” Aoun wrote.

Washburn furthered that idea Wednesday, saying “what you might call a residential university has some limit.”

Northeastern junior Justin Dowd is ready to take the university’s global learning theme even further — to outer space.

Dowd, a physics major, won the Metro newspaper chain’s Race for Space competition for his chalk-drawn animation “Einstein’s discovery about time,” and an excursion aboard the private spacecraft Lynx, which will travel 120 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.

As the initial hype dwindles, Dowd said reality is starting to set in and he is left with the question of how, exactly, a college student prepares for outer space.

Prior to the launch, which is tentatively scheduled for 2014, Dowd said, he will undergo training programs in the United States and the Netherlands. The training will include a ride in an Aero L-39 Albatros jet, a two-seater military trainer aircraft.

“They’re going to use that to get me prepped for the G-forces because if you don’t have the right techniques to breathe properly and to tense the right muscles, then all the blood can rush out of your head and you’ll pass out,” Dowd said.

He will also fly in a reduced gravity aircraft, dubbed the “Vomit Comet,” a hollowed out and padded jet (similar to a 747)  which will nose dive toward the ocean after climbing up to cruising speed around 30,000 feet.

“When it’s doing a nose dive, the plane and everything in it is falling at the same rate so everything floats,” Dowd said. “It’s what they use to prep astronauts for zero gravity.”

Dowd will also train in the Netherlands with instructors from Space Expedition Curaçao (SXC), the commercial space launch facilities provider that co-sponsored the contest. He will train in a simulator, which is an exact replica of the one inside the rocketplane he will fly to space in.

Besides jaunts in futuristic aircraft, Dowd will need to complete extensive safety training and a tutorial of the spaceship. One of the reasons the jury selected Dowd (who completed the Tough Mudder last weekend) was his peak physical condition.

“Part of the reason why they picked me is so I wouldn’t be completely unprepared when the time comes,” Dowd said. “I’m going to have to be in good shape to actually be able to enjoy the trip.”

But Dowd said this training is at least six months to a year out, as XCOR Aerospace is still building the Lynx in Mojave, Calif. In fact, Dowd will be taking one of the spacecraft’s first trips.

The two-and-a-half-hour journey includes a four-minute Mach 3 blast straight into space, which is approximately three times the speed of sound, or a mile every three to four seconds.

“It is pretty intense I think,” Dowd said. “I can’t wait for that.”

Once he dons his space suit, Dowd will then experience five to 10 minutes of weightlessness while the ship slowly rotates, alternating views of the stars and the Earth, before dropping back into the atmosphere where the rocket becomes similar to a glider, Dowd says, circling for an hour and a half down to the runway on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

Although Dowd recognizes the dangers of his voyage, he said he is more focused on the work ahead of him.

“Just being a physics major, we’re kind of gluttons for punishment,” he said. “We work almost to the point of being ridiculous, and [as you can see] from the video, I enjoy teaching people. It’s what I love to do so it’s pretty awesome that I’m getting to do that on a massive scale.”

And until the voyage, he will get to do just that.

Dowd has signed on with Metro newspapers to do six months of animating, making
chalkmation shorts on science topics including space and biology. The three-to five-minute videos will be featured on the English-speaking Metro news website and will be accompanied by a column about space every two weeks. The first video, slated to come out May 21, is about “aluminum foil and how there is like a billion year journey for it to get into your kitchen,” Dowd said. The second will be about whales.

As Dowd settles into the anomalous life of a college student slated for space travel, he said he has started to reflect on its implications.

“Now that all the media is dying down, it’s kind of slowly sinking in,” he said. “I’m excited to never be the same after I go into space because I’m told, and I’ve read books and all the astronauts say that you’re not really quite the same after you come back and I’m looking forward to that.”

For four years, Nick Payne never lost hope that the people responsible for his daughter’s death would be brought to justice. Now that day may be approaching.

After a lengthy investigation, prosecutors have said two men will face charges related to the 2008 killing of Northeastern student Rebecca Payne, a crime that students said shocked the university community at the time.

“This was never a cold case,” Nick Payne said. “This was never dead in the water.”

Cornell Smith, 30, formerly of Boston, shot and killed Payne in her Mission Hill apartment in a case of mistaken identity, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

Conley said Smith, who is currently serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison on unrelated drug charges, intended to kill someone else who lived in Payne’s Parker Hill Avenue building. Payne and Smith did not know each other.

“She was, in every sense, an innocent victim,” Conley said in a statement.

A building manager found Payne dead in her Parker Hill Avenue apartment on May 20, 2008. Payne suffered gunshot wounds to her legs and chest. Several neighbors said they heard the shots, but no one called the police.

“It rocked a community to its core,” Lauren Ziaks, who described herself as Payne’s best friend, said in an email to The News. “It shocked a lot of people and took the innocence from many people, even those who did not know her.”

Payne, 22, of New Milford, Conn., was an athletic training major and an active member of Northeastern’s athletic training community. She was the president of the athletic training club, the trainer for the women’s hockey team, and she mentored a sophomore athletic training major.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association set up a scholarship in Payne’s memory. There is also a stone dedicated to Payne in the Garden of Peace in downtown Boston.

The news of Smith’s indictment has brought some closure to family and friends, but they said the pain of their loss has not faded.

“At least someone’s on the way to be accountable for what they did,” Nick Payne said. But he added that, “we don’t have our daughter back.”

Friends described having mixed emotions when they learned of the indictment.

“I got very emotional, then I was overcome by a feeling of relief, knowing the system was going to prevail,” Jessica Meiley, 25, who was Payne’s roommate in Stetson West their freshman year, said about hearing of Smith’s indictment.

Ziaks, 26, said she thought police had stopped working the case. She also said she will be more relieved if and when Smith is convicted.

“I think it will be upon conclusion of the case that anyone will be able to feel at peace,” she said.

Payne’s parents will hold a march from Parker Hill Avenue to City Hall Plaza in her honor on May 20, the fourth anniversary of her death. The march will begin at noon.

A second man, Michael Balba, has been charged with four counts of perjury in connection with the case.

Prosecutors say Balba regularly bought crack-cocaine from Smith, and drove Smith to Payne’s building the night of the murder.

During Balba’s April 30 arraignment, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Ian Polumbaum said Balba waited in his car and smoked crack while Smith entered the building to shoot Payne. An unidentified third man stood guard.

Balba was granted immunity, but he allegedly lied to a Suffolk County grand jury during an investigation into Payne’s murder.

James Dangora Jr., Balba’s attorney, said Balba told the grand jury he could not remember some of the details of May 20, 2008.

“If he has no memory, then he has no memory,” Dangora said to the Boston Globe. “He did testify and he cooperated to his fullest ability.”

Trial Magistrate Gary D. Wilson set Balba’s bail at $100,000.

It remains unclear when Smith will return to Massachusetts to face charges.

Payne’s family and friends are anxiously waiting for that day to come.

“There are a lot of questions I still have and a lot of things I have yet to understand in regards to this case,” Ziaks said.

Thursday, April 19
12:59 p.m.
A student reported her wallet was missing from the Curry Student Center (CSC).  She said she last used it at the Dunkin’ Donuts in Hayden Hall earlier that morning. One of her credit cards later had a $358 charge on it.

8:07 p.m.
A student reported his bicycle was stolen from the rack outside Shillman Hall.

11:25 p.m.
Northeastern University Division of Public Safety (NUPD) officers responded to a report of loud music coming from 67 Symphony Rd. Officers spoke to the residents, who are Northeastern students. The residents cooperated and turned down the music.

Friday, April 20
12:32 a.m.
A student reported an intoxicated man walking down Forsyth Street towards Huntington Avenue. NUPD officers found an 18-year-old student who had been drinking. Boston EMS responded and determined he did not need hospitalization. A cab was hailed so the student could return to his residence in Cambridge.

1:46 p.m.
A student reported his iPhone was stolen from his room in Stetson West the previous day.

4:41 p.m.
A student flagged down an NUPD officer near 106 St. Stephen St. and reported his bicycle was stolen between 3:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. earlier that day.

9:21 p.m.
A Residential Life staff member reported the smell of a Class D drug coming from the fifth floor of Willis Hall. NUPD officers responded and spoke with the occupants of a fifth-floor room. The officers confiscated a small amount of a Class D drug and the students were reported to the Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).

10:19 p.m.
An NUPD officer stopped a 20-year-old Emerson College student near 118 Hemenway St. and confiscated two 30 packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon beer.

Saturday, April 21
2:07 a.m.
An NUPD officer stopped a student in front of 78 Westland Ave. for public urination. The officer gave the student a warning.

2:20 a.m.
An NUPD officer stopped a student at 56 St. Stephen St. for public urination. The officer gave the student a warning.

5:43 a.m.
A student in the Davenport Commons A lobby reported someone stole her purse while she was at an off-campus party. She said the purse contained an iPhone, $200, a California driver’s license and her keys.

11:11 a.m.
A Northeastern staff member at the Badger and Rosen SquashBusters facility reported receiving harassing phone calls from a man.

3:19 p.m.
An NUPD officer reported students were on the roof of 74 Symphony Rd. Officers spoke with two students and confiscated a small amount of a Class D drug and some alcohol.  Officers gave the students a warning. A different NUPD officer reported that while he was responding to the call at 74 Symphony Road, he spoke with four underage students and confiscated a 30 pack of Busch Light beer. The students were given a warning.

7:53 p.m.
A student reported a Husky Card, a Hong Kong identification card and two Visa credit cards were missing from his wallet, which he lost on the third floor of Snell Library between 6:30 and 7:15 p.m.

Sunday, April 22
12:15 p.m.
A student reported her vehicle was broken into in the alley behind 74 Symphony Rd. between 10 p.m. the previous night and 12:15 p.m. that day. The student said it appeared nothing was taken from the vehicle. An NUPD officer responded and reported the rear passenger window had been smashed. The Boston Police Department (BPD) was notified.

1:16 p.m.
A student reported her wallet was stolen from her room in 337 Huntington Ave. between 8 and 8:45 p.m. the previous night. She said the purse contained $30, four credit cards and a New Jersey driver’s license.

Monday, April 23
3:32 p.m.
A student reported her cell phone was stolen from her unattended desk in Holmes Hall. She said she saw a man with dark hair, a black raincoat and a backpack run out of the room with the phone.

6:02 p.m.
A student reported his laptop was stolen from the third floor of Snell Library where he left it unattended between 4:15 and 5:30 p.m.

Tuesday, April 24
12:57 a.m.
A student reported her laptop was stolen from the third floor of Snell Library. She said she asked a friend to watch it at approximately 12:35 a.m. When she returned 15 minutes later, it was gone.

4:38 p.m.
A student in West Village E reported she received harassing text messages and voice mails  from another student concerning a mutual boyfriend since April 1. An officer spoke to the other student, who said she would stop contacting the West Village E resident.

Thursday, April 26
6:04 p.m.
An NUPD officer confiscated a small amount of a Class D drug from four Berklee College of Music Students in the rear of 34 Symphony Rd. The officer gave them a warning.

9:49 p.m.
A Residential Life staff member reported at least 12 ceiling tiles had been knocked down on the second floor of Speare Hall East.

10:20 p.m.
A student reported his bicycle was stolen between 7 and 10 p.m. from the rack outside West Village H.

Friday, April 27
10:57 a.m.
A staff member said she saw a man wearing a white T-shirt, black jacket, light jeans and a black hat rummage through her purse in her Lake Hall office. NUPD officers searched for people fitting the description. A staff member approached one of the officers and told the officer he ran after the suspect and took a picture of an orange colored vehicle parked near West Village A that the suspect fled in. The vehicle is registered to someone with no university affiliation. BPD was also notified.

Saturday, April 28
11:37 a.m.
A resident assistant in Willis Hall reported the smell of marijuana coming from a room on the second floor. Officers spoke with two students who each had a prior offense for possession of a Class D substance. NUPD officers confiscated a small amount of marijuana and two pipes. The students were reported to OSCCR.

2:39 p.m.
A Dartmouth College student approached an officer and said his backpack, which contained a laptop, was missing. He said he last had the bag at his feet while he slept on the first floor of CSC.

4:15 p.m.
A student reported her laptop was stolen from the first floor of CSC.

10:28 p.m.
A student in International Village (INV) reported his headphones and iPod touch were stolen between 4 and 10 p.m.

Sunday, April 29
12:57 a.m.
An NUPD officer found an underage student from Wentworth Institute of Technology intoxicated at 210 Hemenway St. Boston EMS transported the student to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Officers notified Wentworth Police.

Monday, April 30
9:43 a.m.
A U.S. Postal Service inspector mailed a student’s wallet to NUPD. The Postal Service attempted to return the wallet to the address listed on his Rhode Island driver’s license, but the address turned out to be that of a business, and the license was determined to be fake. The wallet also contained the student’s under-21 Massachusetts driver’s license. The fake ID was confiscated and the student was reported to OSCCR.

11:04 a.m.
A student said he believed two men working for Lazybones Laundry and Storage, a moving company, stole his Blackberry while moving his personal belongings out of his room in Melvin Hall. He called his phone three times and it was answered the first two times. When he called the third time, the phone was off. The student said the movers were driving a Budget rental van and were on the Fenway. NUPD officers stopped the van at Forsyth Way and found the stolen phone inside the vehicle. The two men, who have no university affiliation, were found to have extensive criminal histories. The owner of the company arrived, took possession of the truck and dismissed the two employees.  The phone was returned to the student, and both suspects will appear in court.

Wednesday, May 2
12:54 p.m.
A staff member reported his laptop was stolen from a room in the Snell Engineering Center, where he left it unattended, on Friday, April 27, between 12:15 and 12:45 p.m.

8:58 p.m.
A student reported a scarf was taken from his West Village A residence, where it was hanging on a wall.

Thursday, May 3
12:41 p.m.
A student reported his computer was stolen from his room in INV.

9:01 p.m.
BPD reported an armed robbery at the Subway at 981 Tremont St. BPD, Transit Police and NUPD searched the area but did not locate a suspect.

Friday, May 4
5:25 p.m.
A student reported her university email account had been hacked after she received an email from Best Buy indicating that she had won a prize. To claim the prize, she said, she needed to enter her personal information, including date of birth, email and mailing address.  The student said she did this and has since received subscriptions to magazines.

5:30 p.m.
An NUPD officer confiscated a small amount of a Class D substance and a glass pipe from a student in the Camden Parking Lot. The student was reported to OSCCR.

7:27 p.m.
A student reported a bag containing her laptop and clothing was stolen from a bin that she left unattended while moving into West Village A.

Saturday, May 5
5:28 p.m.
An officer stopped a 23-year-old man, with no university affiliation, whom BPD was looking for in relation to a violation of a restraining order and domestic assault and battery. BPD was notified, and BPD officers took the man into custody.

Sunday, May 6
1:37 a.m.
A student reported loud music coming from an apartment at 42 Symphony Rd. NUPD officers responded and spoke with a Suffolk University student who agreed to keep the noise down. An officer also spoke with a group outside of 27 Symphony Rd., which agreed to be quiet.

2:03 a.m.
A proctor reported his bike was stolen from behind the proctor station at West Village G.

The undergraduate Class of 2012 consisted of 3,200 students, according to a statement from the university.

President Joseph E. Aoun urged the graduates to to take risks in his missive. Aoun noted how he “traded security for opportunity” when he was a recent graduate, according to a transcript of his speech posted online. He urged the Northeastern students to do the same in search of great rewards.

Emily Batt, a physics major and one of Northeastern’s “Most Influential Seniors,” was the student speaker for the 110th Commencement. She spoke of how, at Northeastern, students learned to develop relationships with the people around them and their environments. For the graduates, Batt said, such relationships will be an important and cooperative part of individual success in the future.

When Powell took the stage, several students using the official Commencement hashtag, #NU2012, reported on Twitter that some of their peers were drifting into sleep and boredom. But the retired U.S. general quickly energized the crowd with a light-hearted blend of humor, wit and inspiration.

Powell told students of meeting his wife on a blind date in Boston and of almost ditching his own graduation. He preferred a stool in a local bar. His mother did not. But he also tried to motivate with his address, encouraging the graduates to seek satisfying work — perhaps even in public or elective office.

“We can’t sit around waiting for superman to come save the day,” he said “We the people are the supermen and superwomen.”

After the speeches finished, President Aoun saluted each of the colleges, and all graduates processed in two lines to receive their diplomas from college deans. The ceremony lasted approximately two and a half hours.

For more Commencement coverage, check out The News’s Storify post.

Payne, who was an athletic training major at Northeastern, was on the Dean’s Council and President of the Athletic Training Club. Rebecca was also influential in hosting the Vision for the Future Athletic Training Leadership Conference at the university about a month before her death. A seasoned athlete and a scholar of the biomechanical and nutritional needs of athletes, Payne was passionate about the athletic health and training field. She was a student member of The National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA). She was also active in the Lutheran Episcopal Campus Ministry on campus.

NATA has since set up a scholarship fund in Payne’s name. To honor Becca and assist in its endowment of a scholarship for an athletic training student in the Northeast United States, donations can be sent to:

Becca Payne Scholarship Fund

National Athletics Training Association

2952 Stemmons Fwy

Dallas, TX 75247

Payne’s family and friends have also set up a memorial fund:

Rebecca Payne Memorial Fund

P.O. Box 1448

New Milford, CT 06776

The Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut’s Camp Washington began a “Becca Fund” and there is a memorial in her name at St. John’s Parish Memorial Garden in New Milford, Conn. There is also a stone dedicated to her in the peace garden in downtown Boston. There will be a march in her honor May 20, the four-year anniversary of her death. Payne’s father confirmed the family was in contact about possibly having a stop at Northeastern during the march.

Payne’s friends, family, local community and even a national organization have set up funds, events and memorials, but the university where she spent (and stood out for) four years has been curiously quiet. Shortly after her death the Office of Student Affairs arranged for transportation and assisted with travel accommodations for students who wanted to attend memorial services for Payne in Connecticut.

Northeastern lost a dedicated, driven and active student and leader. The university should honor Payne with a memorial or scholarship. A bench, tree, or even a plaque would be appropriate to remind the Northeastern community of Payne’s scholarly dedication and leadership in action. Perhaps something in the athletics department, where Payne was particularly active, would be even more fitting.

Payne deserves more than a stop at Northeastern during a road march and the students of the university deserve a permanent reminder of an outstanding student and leader.

I just spent eight days in France and I’m not sure I put a sentence together in French.

Considering I speak as much French as I do Hebrew – only the common phrases – that’s probably a good thing. Or is it?

It might prove that foreigners have a leg up on us. They can switch languages based on hearing an accent or butchered speech.

Think about it: If you’ve been abroad, how long did it take a waiter or shop owner to switch from French, German or Spanish to English just based on your accent – or worse, your appearance?

I know I can’t and I don’t think the baristas at Pavement Coffeehouse or Starbucks on Huntington Avenue could either, but I might be wrong.

After five days in Aix-en-Provence with my almost-fluent best friend from high school, I expected to be able to fake my way through three days alone in Paris. I could successfully order between one and seven (because I forgotten how to say eight through 19) pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants), café au lait (coffee with milk) and poulet frit (chicken and fries), among the many other French classics that I came to eat.

But I was wrong.

It was pure English after the “Bonjour!” and before whichever delectable I was craving.

At first, I was kind of offended they wouldn’t let me try to fake it, but by dinner on day two I’d accepted that I was the American galavanting through their city in my North Face rain jacket (what’s a girl to do when the forecast calls for showers?) with a Nikon SLR slung over my shoulder.

But a few days earlier, while sitting on the train between Aix-en-Provence and Paris, I realized how much of a double standard we hold; we pride ourselves on higher education but few could serve the French in French. The night before this epiphany, my waiter couldn’t have been more than 16 years old and spoke in English so clear that it was obviously ingrained around toddlerhood.

Now admittedly, I speak a decent amount of Spanish and in most situations I found myself in this week, I could have answered in Spanish. (And I did. At customs in Amsterdam: Questioned in English, answered in Spanish while standing under a Dutch sign I explained why I was headed to Marseille, France.)

But what should be more alarming is that my transcript shows two semesters of elementary French under my belt. Only now did it become obvious that I “learned” it for the quizzes and final and not for practicality.

If you’re pursuing a bachelor of the arts, the NU Core has a foreign language requirement, but from what I’ve now experienced, it seems as if it’s a waste of credits – assuming you don’t follow your footsteps from high school.

Does that requirement really make us well-rounded and worldly if we can’t use it?

Some say it’s my responsibility for not keeping my French up, but the majority of the blame should be on our culture for not encouraging, or forcing, us to keep our foreign languages up.

I was in Spanish classes from second grade through junior year of high school and wanted to try something new because I felt like my knowledge had plateaued. I also didn’t feel like returning to writing papers in Spanish.

This plan failed. Switching to French was so hard that I longed for Spanish and went running back, but since it was ingrained from my childhood it didn’t take long to pick up where I’d left off.

Imagine where we’d be as a community if we were all multi-lingual and could treat foreigners the way they treat us.

Maybe then my North Face jacket wouldn’t seem like such a turn off.

Even the most casual observer of American politics has probably come to notice that over the last few years Democrats and Republicans have gone to extraordinary lengths to disagree. Putting ideology aside, and without arguing the merits of the blatant disregard for bipartisanship displayed by both parties, this is a fact that is difficult to dispute.

That is why I was ecstatic to recently learn that congressional Democrats and Republicans alike voiced support for preventing federal student loan rates from doubling in July, which they will do without congressional action.

Unfortunately, if it seems too good to be true in Washington, more times than not it is.

As rabid as the polarized politics are in a typical year in Washington, 2012 is an election year, which means every lawmaker in the District of Columbia will be turning the demagoguery levels up to the proverbial 11. Although election year politics make for good sound bites on cable news, some poor saps always gets stuck in the middle. Right now those poor saps are students.

Don’t get me wrong, this could turn out to be a very good election cycle for students. In an attempt to lure the ever-elusive college-aged voter to the voting booth, President Obama has made it a point to include ballooning tuition costs on his campaign platform. The issue has been one of his regular talking points since the beginning of 2012.

The problem is that when the issue is dragged into the national debate it’s politicized, and when it’s politicized, everyone loses. Both parties want to fund this measure in a method that the other side would never go for, thus forcing their opponents to vote against a popular measure.

House Republicans passed a bill last week that would freeze the rates, but President Obama has threatened to veto it. Yes, that is the same President Obama who has been campaigning, seemingly exclusively at times, to make college affordable for all Americans. The problem is the House bill would pay for the rate freeze by eliminating a preventative health fund, which is a key component to the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act, aka Obamacare.

President Obama expended absurd amounts of political capital pushing Obamacare through Congress, and he isn’t going to let Congress unravel it, especially in an election year.

Senate Democrats have proposed an alternative. They want to finance the bill by ending some corporate tax subsidies. While raising revenue is a completely sensible way to pay for a much needed government program, the Democrats are putting student loans in jeopardy by attaching it to corporate tax policy, which has been a contentious issue.

So where does this leave us? For now, we’re all caught in the middle of a firefight, D.C-style. The no-tax-no-matter-what Republicans aren’t going to vote for the Democrats’ bill, and the Democrats aren’t going to vote for a bill that undermines one of Obama’s biggest achievements.

Instead, there will be weeks of bickering, which will probably result in a watered-down compromise. I’m not trying to make a bold prediction of the future; I’m just assuming history will repeat itself as it often does.

This is an issue that we cannot afford to politicize. Those of us paying for our education in part with federal loans have an obvious incentive to freeze rates, but this issue is even bigger than us. Young Americans are no longer academically outperforming our foreign counterparts. American innovation is what made the United States a superpower, and we will need to foster innovation to maintain our status in the world.

Lawmakers would be wise to put politics aside and solve this problem rationally. Unfortunately, wisdom and rationality are rare in Washington, especially during an election year.

The Northeastern baseball team hoped its four-run fourth inning would help springboard it to a win against the University of Connecticut Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough.

Northeastern (18-26, 8-16 Colonial Athletic Association) battled back from an early seven-run
deficit to pull within one run, but eventually fell 8-7 to UConn (27-21, 14-7 Big East) at Friedman Diamond.

Tuesday’s loss to UConn marks Northeastern’s third consecutive loss, as the Huskies dropped two out of three games in its weekend series with Hofstra University May 4-6.

Northeastern senior co-captain and left fielder Matt Miller continued his offensive dominance, going 4-5 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs Tuesdsay. Junior catcher Jon Leroux also maintained his hot streak, hitting his fifth home run in his last six games.

“I just hit really well at the plate and just saw the pitcher pretty well,” Leroux said. “All the pitchers we faced were really good. We hit the ball very well as a team. We were tied going into the eighth inning and struggled going into the ninth. I felt we really outplayed them until that point in the game.”

Sophomore pitcher Matt Cook (1-6, 7.58 ERA) took the loss for Northeastern, pitching five innings and allowing seven runs (five earned) on nine hits. Junior reliever Michael Murphy took over in the bottom of the sixth and allowed just one run on three hits over two innings.

UConn junior starting pitcher Pat Butler (2-3, 6.23 ERA) pitched four and two-thirds innings and allowed four runs on six hits. Junior pitcher Will Jolin (1-0, 4.18 ERA) relieved Butler in the fifth inning and picked up the win despite giving up three runs on five hits over two and two-thirds innings.

UConn scored a pair of runs in the first inning and extended its lead to four runs in the second inning courtesy of a two-run home run from senior infielder Tim Martin. UConn would go on to score one run in both the third and fourth innings to bring the score to 7-0.

Miller got Northeastern’s offense started with a double to left field in the bottom of the fourth. Leroux then reached on an infield single and second baseman Jason Vosler doubled to right to score Miller and make the score 7-1.

The Northeastern offense found more success in the bottom of the fifth. After sophomore outfielder Aaron Barbosa grounded into a fielder’s choice, junior catcher John Puttress was hit by a pitch before Miller hit his second double of the day to score Barbosa.

Jolin came in for UConn in the bottom of the fifth with Leroux at the plate. The catcher hit a three-run home run, putting Northeastern within two runs of UConn, who led 8-6.

Murphy came in to relieve Cook in the sixth and threw a scoreless frame but allowed one run in the seventh off a solo home run by redshirt senior catcher Joe Pavone.

Northeastern cut the UConn lead in the bottom of the seventh with a lead-off single from Lyons. Next up,  Barbosa laid down a bunt for a single with two on and no outs. Puttress then singled, scoring Lyons from second base. Miller followed with his fourth hit of the day in as many at-bats, singling to left field and driving home Barbosa to cut UConn’s lead to 8-7.

After sophomore center fielder Connor Lyons led off the ninth with a double, Barbosa advanced Lyons with a sacrifice bunt before Puttress was hit by a pitch. Miller attempted a suicide squeeze, but Lyons was tagged out at the plate for the second out of the inning. Leroux was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up Vosler who grounded out to second and stranded the three runners on base to end the game.

The loss to UConn came on the heels of a disappointing showing the weekend before.

The Huskies lost their weekend series with the Hofstra Pride (28-18, 16-8 CAA) after giving up eight runs in the eighth inning of the series finale Sunday afternoon en route to a 15-9 loss in Hempstead, N.Y.

Northeastern won the series opener 7-5 before the Pride routed the Huskies 10-2 on Saturday.

“Its was a tough weekend but our confidence is still pretty high and we all believe that we have a chance to win out in this conference,” Leroux said. “With the pitching we have and they way we are starting to swing the bats again, I have all the confidence in the world that we can make a run.”

The Huskies offense was once again led by Leroux Sunday afternoon, who had two home runs and drove in five runs while Lyons had his first career home run in a pinch-hit at-bat to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning.

National Player of the Week and junior pitcher Kevin Ferguson (5-3, 3.44 ERA) started for the Huskies and allowed five runs on eight hits in five and one-third innings pitched.

David Jesch started on the hill for the Pride and surrendered six runs on nine hits over four and two-thirds innings, but reliever Andrew Barbarino came on in the fifth and pitched two and one-third scoreless frames to allow Hofstra to make a comeback.

Northeastern didn’t waste any time getting on the board, scoring four runs in the first off an RBI single by Volser and three-run home run by Leroux. Hofstra fired back in the first and second innings, putting three runs on the board to cut the Northeastern lead to 4-3.

In the fourth inning, Pride junior center fielder Taylor Stuart hit a solo home run to tie the game at four apiece. After a two-run fifth inning, Hofstra rallied and scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 7-6 lead.

Lyons hit a solo home run to tie the game in the top of the eighth and breathe new life into the Huskies’ offense, only to have the Pride respond with eight runs in the bottom of the inning, breaking the game open for Hofstra and giving the Pride a commanding 15-7 lead.

“We are never out of a game, which is the best thing about this team,” Leroux said. “We have had a lot of come-from-behind games this year, which is a great thing for us.  We are always confident going into the later innings when we are down and it’s tough to be down, but we always have confidence that we can come back from any of those situations.”

Leroux hit his second home run of the game in the top of the ninth inning to cut the lead to six runs, but the Huskies’ rally was stifled when junior right fielder Jason Roth hit into a double play to end the game.

Leroux’s performance carried over from Saturday’s 10-2 loss, in which he had both of the Huskies RBIs in the fourth inning on his only hit of the game.

Puttress, Vosler and sophomore shortstop Oliver Hart each had two hits on the day.

“We had a tough day Saturday as a team,” Leroux said. “We just couldn’t get much going.  I felt like we hit the ball well all weekend. [Hofstra] just made some good plays against us, but overall I don’t think we really played that bad, they just played a little bit better than us that day.”

Freshman pitcher Nick Berger (3-4, 5.57 ERA) lasted five and two-third innings, allowing eight runs (three earned) on 12 hits to take the loss.

Hofstra junior pitcher John Tiedeman allowed only two runs to advance his season record to 6-3.

After a solo home run from Pride junior first baseman Jared Hammer in the second inning, Leroux gave the Huskies a 2-1 lead in the fourth with a two-RBI single.

Hofstra then shattered any hopes for the Huskies by scoring two runs in the fourth inning, three in the fifth and two more in the sixth to break open the game at 8-2.

Pride senior outfielder Danny Pomma and junior infielder Matt Ford gave the Pride its final runs of the game with RBI hits in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Huskies’ only win of the weekend came after they scored four runs in the ninth inning to erase a two-run deficit and take a 7-5 lead Friday afternoon.

Senior pitcher Andrew Lennhouts (5-3) got his fifth win of the season and had seven strikeouts in eight innings. Junior pitcher Dylan Maki closed the bottom of the ninth inning to earn his third save of the season.

“I can’t say anything bad about Friday,” Leroux said after the game. “Any win is a good win but CAA are definitely the most important games. We want to win every game but especially CAA games.”

Trailing 5-3 in the top of the ninth, Leroux started the comeback with a solo home run to lead off the inning. RBI hits from Barbosa, Puttress and Miller put the Huskies up 7-5.

Northeastern will host Old Dominion University this weekend in the final CAA weekend series starting this Friday at Friedman Diamond at 3 p.m. The team will also honor its seniors as part of Senior Day Saturday.

Both the varsity eight and second varsity eight finished in first place, and the varsity four finished fourth. The Huskies’ performance earned them a CAA Championship-record 39 points, good for first place ahead of Boston University (34 points) and the University of Buffalo (30).

The title was just one of many accolades Northeastern earned that day, as four Huskies were named to the All-CAA First Team and head coach Joe Wilhelm earned CAA Coach of the Year honors. Seniors Sarah Giancola, Greta Haselmann, Luisa Maldonado and Clare Samuelson were each named to the all-conference squad.

Here’s a roundup of what else is happening in Northeastern sports.

Men’s Rowing

Northeastern rowing is well represented at the national level, as the team announced last week that three current rowers and a Northeastern alumnus have been tapped to join national teams.

The U.S. Under-23 team invited senior Matthew Schanck and sophomore Justin Jones to its training camp, while the Canadian Under-23 team invited sophomore Ryan Rosts to its camp. The Under-23 tournament will be held July 11-15 in Trakai, Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Will Miller, a 2007 Northeastern graduate, will represent the United States on the men’s eight crew at the Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, May 20-23.

The national team news came after the Huskies were swept by No. 1 Harvard University in the annual Smith Cup on the Charles River April 28.

Men’s Track

The Huskies finished fourth overall but had three individual student-athletes earn conference titles at the CAA Championship May 4 and 5 at George Mason Stadium in Fairfax, Va.

Senior thrower Patrick Jablonski won the discus with his 50.55-meter throw May 5, a Northeastern record at the conference championship. Senior Andrew Staples won his second CAA high jump title later that day with a season-best 2.04-meter jump.

A day prior, sophomore thrower Max Milder won the hammer throw with a 59.15-meter toss, the second best in CAA Championship history.

The Huskies combined for 117 points overall on the weekend. Host school George Mason University won the conference title with 267 points.

Women’s Track

The women’s track team finished ninth at the CAA Championship May 4 and 5 in Fairfax, but junior thrower Julia Westover was the team’s bright spot on the weekend as she won the CAA hammer throw title.

Westover threw a season-best 54.27 meters, making her the third consecutive Husky to win the event.

Northeastern finished the weekend with 57 points.