September is a roller coaster of a month, especially if you’re a freshman. You not only say goodbye to summer, but to everything back home that’s familiar. It means exciting things too, of course – a new city, new friends and being on your own.
Originally, I was filled with the latter emotion in the months leading up to my freshman year. Coming from a small town in upstate New York, I couldn’t wait to get to Boston. I love where I come from, but I felt destined for bigger things.
Without a doubt, Northeastern students are able to do some amazing things. Few other universities can boast having students learning on every continent. Many undergraduates working in world-class laboratories and institutions around the globe. However, much of what students do is a result of their own determination, dedication and perseverance. Northeastern may have had a marginal role in their success, but, in some cases, it has made things more difficult for them. While some students are able to accomplish their academic and personal goals within the structure of the university, Northeastern really needs to find what it’s missing out on – a lot of good ideas that never get a second glance.
The Huntington News publishes the Crime Log in each issue, a collection of selected entries from the Northeastern University Police Department’s (NUPD) public log of reported criminal activity. Though sometimes entertaining, the column serves a serious purpose: to inform and caution students about crime trends around campus. Frequent, consistent reports of on campus theft reveal a troubling area of unmet need from Northeastern’s Public Safety Division. Should Northeastern be doing more?
Though not without its faults, the Northeastern University Facilities Department is the one department that has resisted getting caught up in the NU Shuffle. Its customer service center serves as a model for the application of efficient and effective technology to quickly respond to facilities-related issues around campus.
What kind of company do you want cooking your meals next year? How about a company engaged in so much illegal treatment of its employees that it was forced to shut down a dining hall for a day? Right now, Northeastern is deciding whether to extend its contract with our current food service provider, Chartwells, or to award the lucrative contract to a different company. There are many issues to consider, but one company is clearly the wrong choice for our university: That company is called Sodexo.
Dear Deans J. Murray Gibson, Georges Van Den Abbeele, and Xavier Costa,
On behalf of the Northeastern community, The News welcomes you to the home of the Huskies and to Boston. You have been selected by a diverse committee of graduate and undergraduate students and faculty members and confirmed by Provost Stephen Director to become the founding deans of our three new colleges. We hope that you appreciate the unique and rare opportunity that you have been offered to pioneer three new colleges at an established university.
Only about 32 professors (six courses a year for five years) determine whether or not a Northeastern student will graduate. They are free to decide the best way to determine a student’s level of mastery of the material in their courses, but should future students be able to see what exams professors have administered in previous years?
How often have you arrived at the Northeastern office or building of your destination only to find it locked and dark? Cursing at your watch, you look closer and see a sign for summer hours: Closed. Looks like you'll have to make other plans.
What may seem like minor, personal inconveniences for summer students becomes a frustrating mess when the annoyances hinder students' studying, living, working, and learning. The nagging feeling of not getting what was paid for fuels the frustration.
