By Anne Baker
With about two weeks left until the Student Government Association (SGA) election season begins and a little more than four months left in his term, SGA president Joey Fiore said he intends to “cash in and follow through” on his campaign promises from last year in the upcoming weeks. “This semester, you’re really going to see all the things I’ve promised to do are happening and taking off,” he said in an interview with The News.
One these goals is the eradication of the NU Shuffle, Fiore said. The Shuffle refers to the red tape to Northeastern students often face when dealing with administrative offices and working through university bureaucracy. The problem has received much attention from students, and even, at one point, warranted its own website and a Facebook group.
The NU Shuffle took a prominent place in Fiore’s presidential campaign last spring, ranking as one of his “Seven Big Goals,” according to an April campaign video. However, the project did not get underway until mid-November, when Fiore created an ad-hoc committee to investigate and resolve the issue along with former senators MJ Paradiso and Cory Renzella, he said. Renzella currently serves as point-person on the task force.
The committee has primarily focused on collecting information about the Shuffle, and has yet make much movement in eliminating the issue, Renzella said.
“What we’re in the process of doing basically, is really reaching out to the student body, collecting feedback from them,” he said.
The coming weeks will be busy ones for the committee, Renzella said, and students will begin to see movement on the plans to cut down much of the university’s red tape. The task-force has been working closely with the administration on the issue. President Joseph Aoun, Senior Vice President for Enrollment and Student Life Philomena Mantella and Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier, have expressed interest in the project, according to Nov. 19 SGA meeting minutes. A group of people in enrollment management and student affairs is exploring the possibilities of a campaign called “howto@nu,” which would work with the SGA task force and help alleviate problems associated with the NU Shuffle, Klotzbier said in an e-mail.
Both Renzella and Fiore remain optimistic that the June deadline, when Fiore’s term concludes, for the plans are within reach, they said.
“Absolutely. Absolutely, absolutely,” Fiore said about the possibility of completing the project by the end of his term. “I will stand by that until I can happily say, in my last day in office, that I’ve completed all things I promised the student body I was going to do.”
However, former SGA senator Christopher Kelley said he sees time running out on Fiore.
“I think that if that is his goal then the clock is ticking,” he said.
Eradicating the NU Shuffle is a complicated issue, Kelley said, and one that would require altering well-established university practices, something he doubts can be done quickly.
“I think it’s possible to get issues taken care of [in that time], but I think it’s a lot different to change the culture, to change one of the strong cultures of the university,” he said. “[The NU Shuffle] is something that’s been ingrained into the university.”
Regardless, Fiore and Renzella remain resolute that the problem will be resolved by the end of the spring semester, which also marks the end of Fiore’s term. “These are things that Joey cared about when he was campaigning, and these are promises he made to the student body. And he intends to deliver on them and we intend to work on his behalf to deliver on them,” Renzella said.
