The Office of Parent Programs and Services will host its annual Parents’ Weekend starting Friday. About 2,000 families are expected to join the campus community for the weekend. Organizers say the event provides an opportunity for parents to come to campus and reconnect with students.
Students will have 11 new options for the Dialogue of Civilizations program this summer, including programs in Indonesia, Israel and South Africa, said Director of the Dialogue of Civilizations Program Denis Sullivan. The Dialogue of Civilizations program, which has been in place since 2001, affords students the chance to complete a summer semester in a foreign country, under the direction of a professor familiar with the area. Students take two classes for eight university credits, and get to explore the area, according to the Dialogue of Civilizations website.
Students, staff, and alumni volunteered in Roxbury, Mission Hill and other areas surrounding Northeastern last weekend as part of the university's effort to give back to the community for NU Service Day. “We have a lot of people that live in Mission Hill, and it's very important for us to be seen out in the community helping people out,” said Dan Murdzia, president of Northeastern's chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity.
Whether it is used for prayer, meditation or yoga, the Sacred Space acts as Northeastern’s on-campus spiritual center. Now, with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) releasing a three-part broadcast called “God in America,” which features the Sacred Space, the spiritual hub will receive national attention.
Parsons Field is rough around the edges, neighbors said. The home field of Northeastern soccer, baseball and formerly football, located in a residential neighborhood in Brookline, was resurfaced earlier this year, displacing about 160 tons of dirt from the field. The dirt was moved to a berm, a large dirt barrier, along the Harrison Street edge with a retaining wall along the sidewalk. Harrison Street residents say they weren’t properly notified or consulted about the work.
The Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern (OPEN) will begin its annual Alcohol Week Saturday. The week will run through Oct. 21 with events promoting alcohol awareness, including a bartending challenge and a date auction. The purpose of alcohol week is to increase awareness on campus,” said Ana Mascagni, an OPEN social work intern and Boston College social work graduate student. “Alcohol is so heavily used in college, we want students to not think drinking is bad; we just want them to think critically about it.”
Sweatshirts, tote bags and T-shirts donning large Greek letters are becoming more visible on campus as fraternities and sororities continue their blossoming presence on campus through pledge weeks. In the past two years, two sororities and one fraternity opened chapters on campus, and another fraternity will be added in the spring.
Student government financial officers at some Massachusetts universities, including Tufts University and University of Massachusetts (UMass)-Amherst, said they felt managing students’ money should be a transparent and open process.
Northeastern’s Information Systems (IS) Department is rolling out a new way of printing in the university’s computer labs, aiming to put an end to long waits in front of the machines. Starting next week, the existing free print quota system will be supplemented by a self-service free print allowance at InfoCommons 1 and 2, Dodge Hall labs, Snell Library labs and Behrakis Health Sciences Center.
Northeastern’s rivalry with Boston University is embedded in both schools’ sport culture, even if it doesn’t have an outlet, save for a Facebook fan page. But one student wants to reinvigorate the tradition of the competition by selling shirts and starting a website, ensuring its legacy. Senior political science major Rocky Slaughter said he sees “an established, year-after-year demand” for the shirts as a business opportunity.
A decision to make Northeastern’s sophomore students live on campus, discussed for years by university officials, has been put into effect starting with the class of 2016. Housing officials are touting this move as a encouraging step as Northeastern tries to improve relations with surrounding communities.
Northeastern President Joseph Aoun, along with Provost Stephen Director and Faculty Senate Chairman Lou Kruger, outlined the university’s academic plan at the State of the University address yesterday. Aoun spoke in the Curry Student Center Ballroom to a mixed crowd of students and faculty about the university’s standing and policy. 
