President Joseph Aoun summed up his State of the University in a few words on Wednesday: “The university is in great shape.” This can’t be disputed – Northeastern is more diverse and competitive than ever, and initiatives announced by Aoun today will certainly continue this trend.
However, Aoun failed to mention any real areas of improvement that Northeastern needs to address.
Aoun said graduation rates are at an all-time high, with 83 percent of the incoming freshman class expected to graduate. Over the past four years, 204 new faculty colleagues have joined the Northeastern community. More students are applying to Northeastern than ever before.
International opportunities for students continue to grow – study abroad trips exist in 160 cities, 69 countries and on all seven continents. And co-op consistently gives our students a competitive advantage in the real world. No one can argue these stats aren’t impressive, and they should make us proud to be Huskies.
Looking forward, Aoun outlined his plan for the next five years, including expanding the number of students who travel abroad and increasing faculty. He also said this year the university will carry out plans to develop the Northeastern Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative. Basically, the initiative will allow members of the Northeastern community, namely students, to work together with the university to propose ideas on how to improve on existing programs on campus.
The location of Northeastern, co-op and study abroad opportunities all help to mold Northeastern students. We are independent and creative thinkers, so this initiative is a great idea and will give students a chance to spread their wings and really improve how the university operates.
But if Aoun is so proud of the free thinkers whom Northeastern harbors, he should have considered giving the university, and himself, some constructive criticism and spared us the PR talk. There are many aspects of Northeastern that need work and need to be addressed.
Community relations are horrible because there is not enough housing to keep students on campus, and some just plain can’t afford it. The university has failed to follow through with contractual agreements to build another residence hall because of debt accumulated during the recession.
These are big issues, and the student body is aware they exist. Northeastern is a great university, and is consistently climbing the ranks of best colleges in the country.
But It’s not the State of the University if the only topics discussed are new initiatives. Aoun should have addressed the not-so-great issues as well, putting his money where his mouth is and understanding that Northeastern students are informed and waiting to hear where the university stands on some major issues that have plagued us for the last few years.
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