Student Government Association President Michael Romano’s name became synonymous with one cause last year — fighting for adequate sexual assault services.

Romano started his crusade to advocate for an increase in services, education and access available for rape and sexual assault victims. After butting heads with the administration, the situation finally came to a head when Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Philomena Mantella announced in August that a position had been created: Coordinator of Sexual Assault Services.

Romano said that although the student body and the Northeastern community “continues to suffer” from the administration not being “proactive in spreading information and consolidating resources to students who have been raped on campus,” one administrator is making strides to bridge the gap of resources currently available.

“The changes Senior VP Mantella has undergone reflect tremendous strides in improving student life,” Romano said. “Make no mistake though, the additional counselor specializing in sexual assault is not an additional amenity to the campus climate, it’s an essential component to meeting student needs.”

Currently, the position of coordinator of sexual assault services is still vacant, but Mantella and Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier said the university is actively looking at candidates, and has narrowed the pool down to two “very qualified” professionals.

“Both candidates come from backgrounds that reflect the kind of person we want here. It is very important that we get this person in here, as soon as possible,” Klotzbier said.

He also stressed that an announcement will be made soon as to the appointment of a coordinator.

In the meantime, a mental health consultant, well versed in social work and mental health services in both the private and public sector, is working on creating an effective model of services for the university to follow. The consultant, Dr. Dale Masi, is also a tenured professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Social Work, and has traveled to campus a number of times, including this week.

Masi, who was hired to survey and assess the state of the university’s services, including mental health, counseling, educating students, etc., said that Northeastern has taken a step that many universities would like to take, but choose not to.

“I think Northeastern should be commended for doing this. This is very unusual, I think. I’ve already done a search of, I don’t know how many universities, other universities would like to try this, but how to accomplish this is not easy to bring all the services together,” she said. “It’s just like a community. You have all these services all over the place that have grown up for a variety of reasons with a history, and how you put them together, is not easy.”

The main focus and goals of the university, which were cited in an external review that was also conducted over the summer, is to create 24-hour services, a single point of entry, strengthening mental health services and strengthening referral and hospital support. Masi maintains that these goals are attainable and necessary.

President Richard Freeland, in an interview with The News last week, said he is pleased with the student body’s commitment to the cause and credited Romano for his dedication.

“I’m very pleased that we have gotten a game plan in place around that and taken a set of clear steps now that are responsive to that issue, and I would cite that as a prime example of the constructive impact of student opinion on the university,” Freeland said. “I’m always impressed at the number of good things that happen at Northeastern because responsible students start pushing in one direction or another and it was students who raised this issue, it was students who kept pushing for it, particularly Mike Romano, for this as well.”

Freeland said he hopes this particular case will reflect positively within the student population, and throughout upper administration.

“I hope this is a great example, from [students’] point of view, of the administration being responsive to student issues, and from my point of view, the students raising, which was an issue that needed attention,” he said. “And so I’m very pleased with that, and it has raised broader issues about mental health and health counseling and health attention, which we are also attending to.”

All in all, Freeland credits NU’s responsiveness to the students and their ability to address relative issues in a responsible manner.

“It’s a clich