By Bradley Rosenberg

Craig Shames, a middler political science major, says that he sees great things in Northeastern University. But he also says that he has grave concerns about the school.

“I think Northeastern has great potential,” he said. “Our location in Boston is a great asset; we have a beautiful campus. It just seems there’s such a disconnect between the students and the administration that I think could be better, and that’s why I get so frustrated [with the school] sometimes.”

Shames has recently found an outlet for his frustration, though: NUShuffle.com, a newly-established cyber/satire newspaper set on the humorous derision of NU. The site is garbed in the familiar school colors of red and black, but beneath the NU color scheme lays the mischievous mockery of the institution whose name it bears. The centerpieces of the site are the fictional news accounts, articles that speak of the alleged shame and confusion of the NU experience.

Jabs at NU President Richard Freeland are a common sight on the Web site, with stories like “Freeland calls school ‘Northwestern’ during NU Day speech” and “A visibly shaken President Freeland holds chaotic semester conversion forum.” The mockery goes further than words, though, as an animated head of Freeland jabbers noiselessly at top of the page. Even the Web site’s slogan is at the expense of the president.

“Higher Tuition. Richer Freeland,” it says, playing on the words of the NU ad campaign “Higher Learning. Richer Experience.”

Despite all the lampooning of the university and its president, Shames said the Web site is all in good fun.

“We’re not going after anyone,” he said.

Instead, he said that the site is simply allowing students to vent their frustrations with the school in a humorous way.

“Through NUShuffle.com, myself and other students now have the ability to express ourselves,” Shames said.

And Shames does not only “express” himself through satirical news reports. He also does it by writing scathing editorials about various Northeastern-related topics. Other contributors to the site add their two cents through the creation of non-fictional investigative reports titled “factual articles.” And more still do it through the sale of “Higher Tuition. Richer Freeland” t-shirts.

Richard Middleton, a junior economics major and contributor to the site, believes these functions of http://NUShuffle.com are a great asset of the Northeastern community, and said that the community has responded with great enthusiasm and appreciation.

“This is the one thing I’ve seen here that draws students together,” he said.

Shames agrees.

“We’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from the students,” he said. “Some of the general sentiments are, ‘finally someone’s doing this.'”

“There was no outlet [before the site], and there’s a lot of criticism that the students have. There needed to be an outlet for criticism, for students to voice their [complaints],” Middleton added.

Middleton said that the idea for the site began with the realization that such an outlet was needed.

“It was basically a group of friends who came together to voice displeasure about NU,” he said. “We’d been coming up with stories criticizing the university, sort of like [satire newspaper] The Onion does. We showed our friends, and they liked it. We thought that maybe more students would appreciate our sense of humor.”

Some students have voiced their appreciation for the humor provided by the site.

“I think it’s funny,” said freshman sociology major Lauren Joyce. “I think it’s somewhat valid.”

Other students, like junior English major Trevor Crippen, have voiced a more negative opinion of the satirical site.

“There’s only so much making fun of Freeland that you can do,” Crippen said.

He also had some issues with the format of the http://NUShuffle.com, in particular its mixing of news reports and satirical articles.

“I don’t buy the claim that it’s ‘classified as a work of parody,'” he said. “It’s difficult to tell sometimes when the content is supposed to be serious and when it’s supposed to be parody. I love humor, but it can’t be so randomly mixed up with very angry, acidic, seemingly serious commentary like it is on NUShuffle.”

Crippen, who serves as the editor of the recently-established, officially-sanctioned NU satire newspaper “NU Times New Roman,” does not wish his fellow satire publication to stop publishing, though.

“I don’t mean to discourage the makers of http://NUShuffle from exercising their right to free speech,” Crippen said. “We welcome competition. I just think that they should be a little more careful about what they pass off as humor and what they pass off as serious commentary on that site, and they should think about the line between the two.”

Though http://NUShuffle recently moved the “factual articles” onto another page called “Forum@NUShuffle,” some say the site’s creators may still encounter difficulties with their articles, especially when approaching the blurred line between parody and libel.

On the first edition of http://NUShuffle.com, the publication ran an article featuring the name and insignia of the campus cookery “Chicken Lou’s.” According to NU media advisor Sandra Miller, the article could leave the operators of the http://NUShuffle.com open to a lawsuit.

“I think the part about Chicken Lou’s could border on libel,” she said. “Chicken Lou’s is not a public figure, and they did not deserve that kind of parody. It pushed the limits a little. I hope that they have someone who’s advising them.”

Miller added that if http://NUShuffle.com were part of the NU media board like the “NU Times New Roman,” they would be able to receive tips on how to avoid such problems.

Shames and Middleton think that their lack of NU sponsorship is actually a good quality to have, however.

“I think we have a little bit more leeway,” Shames said. “If [a publication is] sponsored by the university, there’s less they can do.”

Miller disagrees.

“It’s actually not within the university’s best interest to censor, because then they’re open to lawsuits,” she said. “It’s a funny little law: If the university does practice prior restraint, then they are opening themselves up to being responsible for that content.

“When you’re part of the Media Board in Student Activities, it’s just one more emphasis on professionalism, a professionalism that we at NU try to encourage.”

While Miller thinks that http://NUShuffle.com could use the polish of a media board, she did acknowledge that, “They created what they wanted: a response.

“On a campus that speaks of apathy, that’s a good thing,” she said.

Though President Freeland could not be reached on the matter, the Director of University Communications Ed Klotzbier did respond to questions about NUShuffle.

“Our students are having some fun at the expense of others,” he said. “Some of what we are seeing is very funny; some in poorer taste. We’re certain to see more of this creativity … and hope those students involved keep things light-hearted, good humored and in good taste.”

The Web site does indeed plan on continuing with “more of this creativity.”

“As long as people want to see it, we’ll keep on running the site,” Middleton said.