By Matt Collette

President Joseph Aoun addressed rumors, in an attempt to put them to rest yesterday.

He spoke on campus twice, to the Faculty Senate at noon in Raytheon Amphitheatre and to the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) last night in the Curry Student Center.

Carol Glod, chair of the Faculty Senate Agenda Committee, asked President Aoun at Faculty Senate about rumors she heard from a senior administrator, that he sought to dramatically change or even disassemble the Senate.

Glod said she had spoken with a senior administrator who heard Aoun discuss an appointed faculty board or the possibility of eliminating the Senate entirely.

“Whoever said that didn’t represent himself or herself on behalf of the university,” Aoun said. “To dispense of the Senate is not something I’d like to see … that doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Aoun continued to say, “I am sick and tired of hearing those rumors on a daily basis. We cannot say, ‘let’s give them credibility.’ They don’t make sense.”

After the meeting, Glod said she was very happy with the dialogue between Aoun and the Senate.

“Yes, [I am] very satisfied and I thought that it put the rumors to rest,” she said. “It was very clear from his response that he supports the work of the Faculty Senate.”

Aoun also spent time addressing the university’s plans for the future. Among these is the need for new classroom and laboratory space.

“We grew too fast, which is great. But what we are wearing is too small now,” Aoun said.

Aoun said the university is focusing on finding more space. A Faculty Senate committee found that in some class sequences 100 percent of classroom space is used. One possibility, he said, is that some of the university’s administrative offices could be moved off campus to free up some space. The university is also looking to expand classroom and laboratory space.

“We need to increase space, we need to increase classrooms, we need to increase offices … everything,” Aoun said.

Glod asked Provost Ahmed Abdelal to report on the issue at the next Faculty Senate meeting.

At both the Faculty Senate and the GPSA President’s Forum, Aoun talked about the need for Northeastern to pursue interdisciplinary education, focus more on community engagement and improve the international co-op program.

Aoun noted that students on international co-ops had been placed in 52 cities and that the program was going to be greatly expanded, largely based on the successful international business model.

Aoun said the limited interest in international co-op is because that many new Northeastern students don’t plan on going on co-op at all. Even though the number of students foregoing co-op has increased, 89 percent of students ultimately do. With more attention on the international co-op program, more students would go, Aoun said.

He also addressed the need for Northeastern students, faculty and administrators to reach out to the community. Aoun said one thing he learned since he has been here is that people with prior convictions could not get jobs at Northeastern. He worked to redefine job descriptions and requirements to let more community members get jobs.

“No university is self-sustaining,” Aoun said.

Speaking to graduate students, Aoun said students needed to break out into new directions on their own. He said they will only succeed in academia if they master new schools and learn to collaborate.

“Don’t think of the confines of this campus as your world. It’s a platform for you,” he said.

Also, at yesterday’s Faculty Senate meeting, the Senate followed-up on the discussion regarding cheating from two weeks ago and approved a resolution that would have a committee propose the establishment of a method for tracking and dealing with student cheaters. The committee is chaired by Malcolm Hill, associate professor of earth and environmental sciences.