Tensions ran high in a Student Government Association, or SGA, meeting Sept. 16 when President Joseph E. Aoun spoke to student representatives and took questions. 

Questions ranged from improving on-campus housing to why it appears the university is spending more money on building facilities for some colleges, but not others.

A student shared his experience asking a Northeastern employee why the number of African American students enrolled at the university has dropped since 1980. The student told Aoun the employee responded that “today we are a much more elite university than we were in 1980.”  

“That answer is unacceptable; we all have a responsibility to change that,” Aoun responded. 

A student asked the president what is being done to improve the housing situation as the university continues to admit higher numbers of students every year. Aoun responded, saying the number of accepted students has not been increasing. 

“We haven’t been admitting more students. We have been providing more on-campus housing by building more and more dorms,” Aoun said.  

According to data on the university website, there were 432 more students enrolled than the year before for the 2017-18 enrollment cycle. 

This data does not include the number of students admitted through the N.U.in program. Last January, 1,170 students arrived for their first semester on campus, according to Sylvia De Witt, a senior data analyst at Northeastern.

One student asked what further action the administration will be taking in regard to climate change.

“I personally believe that this is going to be, and it is, a major defining issue for the world,” Aoun said. “This campus is one of the greenest campuses. In my mind, this is great, but not enough. The answer is not going to be with me; it will be with all of us together.”

When asked why the humanities are not getting as much funding or resources as the sciences, Aoun rebuked the statement, arguing that he considers the humanities to be just as important as the sciences. 

“Our faculty launched a center for ethics in [artificial intelligence] led by a professor in humanities,” Aoun responded. “I do not want to hear that the humanities and social science and CAMD are taking a second seat; tech by itself is not going to carry the world.”

Aoun instead said he believes a combination of science and humanities is the future of education. 

“We want every student graduating from Northeastern University, we want her and him and them, to understand tech and go beyond it to integrate human literacy,” Aoun said.

When asked again about the disparity in funding for college facilities, Aoun pushed back, saying he does not set the budget for spending within colleges. 

“Ask your dean what she has done and what is her plan … Each dean forms their own budget and their own priorities. Ask your dean, that’s the locus of your action,” Aoun said.

After his time for questions was up, Aoun left the members of the SGA body with a message. 

“Today I heard ‘What are you doing?’ I would like the discourse to be ‘What are we doing?’Are we a good place? Yes. Are we a perfect place? No,” he told his audience. “Once you leave your studies, you are going to be associated with this university forever; [but,] 20 years from now, I will be gone.

“In a private university, the owners are the alumni, so ask yourself what can we do to further that together,” Aoun said before leaving the senate chambers.