By Gus Castillo, news correspondent

As of Sept. 5, students have been able to vote for this year’s DogHouse t-shirt, a decision usually reserved for a select few.

“Rather than having five people decide for the masses…we’ve decided to open up it up to the public,” current DogHouse leader and fourth year Health Science major Mike Davis said. “We want to make it a point to show that The DogHouse is a collective, and that every person, from a freshman new to campus to a senior about to graduate is a part of it.”

Students can go online to gonu.com, where a link for the voting page is provided. There are three t-shirts to choose from, and the winning design will be announced on Sept. 26 and available on Oct. 11 at the first men’s hockey home game of the season against Vermont.

According to Davis, the t-shirt contest is just one of the first steps in order to help grow school spirit around campus.

In the past years and throughout Northeastern’s history, school spirit has generally taken a backseat to the University’s focus on academics, and any type of spirit that does seem to hold is usually disrupted by students leaving for co-op or study abroad.

“The students here are very responsible with their grades, and they push themselves in the classroom,” Davis said. “It comes down to a value system; what do the students value and what does the school put first, and obviously, it’s academics.”

However, schools like the University of Notre Dame or Duke University are not only known for strong academics, but are also powerhouses within their sport conferences, complete with a huge following found within their student bodies. As Northeastern continues to rise in school rankings, many students hope that the university will become a school recognized not only for experiential learning and academics, but also a college rich with its own unique way of expressing school pride.

“Duke is not only a strong basketball powerhouse, but the students there are also strong academically. Boston College and Notre Dame, these two schools right in our conference; very, very strong academic programs, still have loud, powerful fan bases,” explains Davis. “My goals, along with my peers’ goals, are to emulate these schools and have the best of both worlds.”

Despite not having as much spirit as other schools, Northeastern is not without pride. The DogHouse, one of the most notable aspects of Northeastern’s traditions, started in 1998, when then Northeastern Hockey coach, Bruce Crowder, suggested to a small group of rowdy students sitting behind the bench, to move up to the balcony so they could heckle the opposing team’s goalie. Since then, The DogHouse has become one of the most infamous student sections in all of the Hockey East conference.

“We’re there to show support for our team, and our coach,” Davis said. “And second fold, we are there to make the experience for our opponents a living hell.”

Others find The DogHouse to be less exciting. Along with creating havoc for opposing teams, The DogHouse has also been on the forefront of generating more school spirit throughout the campus.

Over the summer, Davis and others very active in The Doghouse, along with the N Zone, the basketball student section, have created Husky Nation, a general student support section for any sport, specifically sports that tend to not have student sections, such as Cross Country and Rowing. Also, Davis has worked with Pep Band leaders in order to provide smoother transitions between student cheers and stand tunes, a problem evident in the past. The creation of Husky Nation and talks with the Pep Band, along with the ongoing T-shirt contest, provides hope that Northeastern can succeed in developing a larger sports fan base among its students.

“Voting turnout has been a lot stronger than I expected,” Davis said. “And the turnout at the soccer games this year by this freshman class has been insane.”

Davis advises that all students, especially freshmen, should attend every home hockey game, bringing energy and excitement along with them, and vote on this year’s DogHouse t-shirt before polls close on Sept. 25.

Photo by Laura Pond