Student Government warns of misleading petition The Student Government Association (SGA) announced Thursday that a petition recently circulated on campus urging students to support the selling of wine at grocery stores in Massachusetts was actually a petition opposing gay marriage. “There are two petitions, one is real, and one is fake,” said SGA Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael DeRamo. According to www.MassEquality.org, signers are often lured to sign a second petition that supports a gay marriage ban, thinking they are signing another document concerning wine. The petition was reportedly seen circulating in Krentzman Quad this past week. At the same meeting, SGA Executive Vice President for Student Affairs John Guilfoil reported he would be organizing town hall forums regarding an upcoming examination of the University Student Code of Conduct. Guilfoil and other students will make recommendations to administration based on their findings.
Congress delays vote on financial aid legislation The U.S. House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution last week that delays voting on a bill that would slash federal financial aid funds to Northeastern by $2.2 million. The cuts would come out of federal work-study, Perkins Loans and Pell Grants. Members of Congress set a deadline of Dec. 31 as they carve out time in the legislative calendar to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The bill, or the Higher Education Reauthorization Act, would rework the model by which federal financial aid is allocated to colleges. Student Government Association Vice President for Financial Affairs Billy Haddad said he is working on organizing a phone bank that would allow students to call their senators and tell them to vote ‘no’ on the resolution in order to save the financial aid funds.
Health Center to offer support group for freshmen Starting this week, University Health and Counseling Services is offering a “Coping with College” support group for first-year college students, which will continue through the week of Nov. 14. The group will discuss coping with loneliness, making friends and other difficult issues for first-year students. “We have offered this group before in years past, but it’s been under slightly different names,” said Jessica Towsky, a psychology intern at the center who will serve as a group leader. “It’s helpful to students who are having trouble [adjusting] to college life and living away from home … dealing with relationships from back home and things like that,” she said. Although space is limited, openings are still available, and students who wish to enroll are encouraged to do so by phone. For details and specific meeting times, call 617-373-7454. The groups are free and confidential.
Faculty Senate elects reps to pres. search committee The faculty senate held their first meeting last Thursday, electing a secretary and a new member of the Senate Agenda Committee (SAC). English professor Stuart Peterfreund was elected secretary, and biology professor Susan Powers-Lee became the SAC’s newest member. Powers-Lee said she hopes to maintain a strong focus on quality of education. “We are academics, and we should be focused on being a community of scholars,” Powers-Lee said. “Of course, extras are important, but academics needs to be the focus.” The senate also elected their eight faculty representatives for the search committee to find a replacement for President Richard Freeland when he resigns in August. The professors elected were Gilda Barabino, Carol Glod, Robert Lowndes, Barry Bluestone, Anthony De Ritis, Michael Silevitch, Harlan Platt and Graham Jones. The senate also approved a resolution to rename the Department of Architecture. It will now be known as the School of Architecture.
Resident Student Association elects two new officers The Resident Student Association (RSA) elected a new Resident Assistant (RA) Council representative and a Student Government Association (SGA) representative at last Wednesday’s meeting. Freshman civil and environmental engineering major Mark Epstein ran unopposed for SGA representative. Middler international relations and comparative politics major Darren Conine also ran unopposed for the RA representative position. “The RA rep voices RSA’s opinion through the RA council,” Conine said. As part of his duties, Conine said he will attend RA meetings and readdress the information back to RSA. The RSA is preparing for a special event, dubbed the ‘Res Hall Brawl’ that will be open to all residence halls. Similar to a college-style Olympics, students will be invited to compete in teams of 15 in various challenges. The event will take place Oct. 29 on Centennial Commons.
BRC allocates funds to bring anchorwoman to campus This week the Budget Review Committee (BRC) allocated a total of $706 to Xcel, the Females’ Center of Excellence and Leadership, to help bring Boston anchorwoman Liz Walker to campus. In addition, the BRC spent this week’s meeting discussing what to do when two similar programs request drastically different amounts of money. A plan is now in the works to streamline the process of allocating funds when faced with this problem. The BRC also discussed the issue of funding programs when alcohol will be present. Currently, the BRC does not fund such events because it would be in violation of their statute, which states they are to only fund events which all undergraduates are allowed to attend. The statute eliminates events with alcohol because only students over 21 would be able to participate. The argument in favor of funding events with alcohol present is that, eventually, all Northeastern students will be of age at some point during their collegiate careers.
— Compiled by staff writers Stephen Babcock and Hailey Heinz and correspondents Jeff Miranda and Alex Pauline.