Gittens to sit on Red Sox riot panel Vice President for Public Affairs Bob Gittens has been chosen as one of seven panel members of a commission reviewing police actions that lead to the death of Victoria Snelgrove after a Red Sox victory in October. The committee will conduct an independent investigation into the death of the 21-year-old Emerson College student, who was killed by a pepper pellet gun shot by a Boston Police officer after the celebrating crowds got out of hand. Gittens said he feels “honored and privileged” to have been chosen for the committee because it serves an important purpose in the community. “I think it’s important that the events [after the Red Sox victory] be examined because of what happened to Victoria Snelgrove, but also to ensure the citizens of Boston nothing like this ever happens again,” Gittens said.
Menino visits Northeastern for launch event Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined Northeastern officials at a launch event Nov. 18 for a broadened partnership between the city of Boston and the university, enabled by a recent $1.2 million National Science Foundation grant. The money was given to Northeastern to work in conjunction with the Boston Public School system to train teachers in engineering. “People don’t realize the interaction between the universities and the city,” Menino said. At the event held in the Raytheon Amphitheater, Dean of the College of Engineering Allen Soyster and President Richard Freeland spoke about the opportunities the grant would provide Northeastern and Boston Public Schools. President Freeland stressed the importance of math and science in education. “We aim to be Boston’s and New England’s premier university,” Freeland said.
Housing applications made available online Housing applications for the 2005-06 academic school year are now available online on myNEU, according to an announcement on the site. By choosing the Student Accounts section under the Self-Service tab, students can fill out and submit the application without any of the paper hassle and inconvenience necessary for both sides in previous years, said Marina Iannalfo, associate director of housing services. “[Housing Services] used to get over 5,000 pieces of paper into our office, and we would spend way too much time looking over the papers, making sure they were bubbled in properly and using the right pencil, and re-bubbling ones done incorrectly,” Iannalfo said. “The online application doesn’t allow much for error. Students can fill out the applications correctly, easily and efficiently.” Iannalfo said Housing Services received over 500 applications and has not encountered any problems or errors. “So far, we’re thrilled with the decision and the way it’s been working,” Iannalfo said.
World AIDS Day brings quilt to campus Wednesday is World AIDS Day, and Northeastern is offering events and opportunities for students to take part. To celebrate the day, six sections of the AIDS quilt will be on display in the Indoor Quad of the Curry Student Center until Dec. 5. Student Government Association Quilt Project Manager Billy Haddad said he had been working to bring some sections of the 44,000 panel quilt to Northeastern last year and this fall he was able to through co-sponsorships and an approximate $500 donation. In addition, a World AIDS Day forum is being sponsored by the Women’s Studies Institute for Critical Gender and Ethnic Studies Research. The forum, titled “Call to Activism: The Local-Global Connection to HIV AIDS,” will take place Wednesday from 11:45 a.m. to 1:25 p.m. in 320-322 Curry Student Center. The event, which is free and open to all students, will include such featured speakers as Director of the Women’s Studies Program Robin Chandler and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences James Stellar, said Veronica Paulson, assistant to the coordinator of Women’s Studies Lihua Wang. The forum is also co-sponsored by the School of Law and African American studies.
Political commentator speaks at forum ABC News political commentator Cokie Roberts discussed her new book, “Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation,” at a Ford Hall Forum at the Old South Meeting House Monday night. Roberts said the idea for her new title began while researching the marriage of President John Adams and his wife Abigail for her previous book, which she co-wrote with her husband Steven. “Founding Mothers” raises awareness about the wives, mothers, sisters and daughters, of whom little has been written, during the time of the American Revolution, she said. “This book is about giving credit to those who deserve it,” Roberts said. Struggling at times to find women’s writings during the 1800s, Roberts said she looked at academic text from everyday life and worked from her footnotes. “A woman was not published under her own name because it was unseemly,” Roberts said.
Gay rights activist comes to afterHOURS A Washington, D.C. theocracy, sexually-oriented penguins and the fight for gay marriage rights were just a few of the many issues Gay Rights Activist Elizabeth Birch discussed on Nov. 17 at afterHOURS. For 10 years, Birch was executive director of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization in the country. The talk was put on by the Northeastern University Allied Student Coalition. Birch began her hour-long speech with a rant on the newly-elected president. “I can’t even tell you what it’s like to live in Washington, D.C. these days. It’s like a carnival going on in the middle of a morgue.” Birch emphasized that “gay people do exist,” and spoke of the concentration of them around the country. “God did not look at gay people and say, get to the coasts,” she said.
