From the Archives

In keeping with the Freeland/NU Shuffle theme in the wake of Freeland's surprise resignation here's probably my favorite editorial about Richie Rich, one entitled "Student Centered?":

Northeastern officials always maintain that the student is at the heart of everything they do. The motto, "student-centered and practice-oriented" personifies the belief that without these blue-collar, hard working students, Northeastern wouldn't be in the position it is today to move up in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. But the rhetoric that's coming from the University President is painting a different picture.

In the May 28th edition of the Northeastern News, President Freeland graced us with his Top Ten List for 2003. As predicted, the list contained all of the president's favorite rankings from U.S. News to BusinessWeek. It also touched upon the great academic achievements of the incoming freshman class and praised the new additions to campus such as the Behrakis Health Sciences Center.

However, conspicuous by it's absence on this list was any mention of students. With Northeastern relying so heavily on student-based tuition payments to afford those aforementioned campus improvements, it's a little odd that the university president would fail to mention the accomplishments of the university's lifeline. It's about time Freeland and the rest of the suits in the administration got their heads out of their asses and opened their eyes to the real Northeastern.

How about instead of trying to knock down the African American Institute to build West Village Z, taking the time to reflect on the accomplishments of this staple of campus life. If the Freeland Administration only took the time, they would realize that the AAI celebrated its 35th anniversary this year and have helped to make Northeastern the center of diversity that it's brochures claim it to be.

What about a mention of SGA's groundbreaking achievement of getting the Student Activities Fee Referendum passed? Having over one million dollars to plan programs and events with next year will improve Northeastern's campus life ten-fold. That's something that should make Freeland happy, but after reading his Top Ten List you wouldn't have known it.

Or what about a shout out to all of the students that give up their free time for extra curricular activities like the Northeastern News or for student groups. Those students have worked around the clock, taking their respective groups to new heights and yet if you only got your information from Freeland you wouldn't even know they existed.

In fact if you lived in a bubble and relied on the administration to get a feel for what Northeastern was all about, you would think that the campus only consisted of state of the art flat screen Dell computers, operated by award winning landscapers, inside a recently renovated library, that sits adjacent to the new residence halls, that help attract incoming students, to a school that's number one in co-op.

But the last time I checked you needed students to live in the residence halls and operate the computers and go on co-op. Without students there wouldn't be a Northeastern and yet they're treated like statistics and not real people. The legandary NU shuffle is the perfect example of the mistreatment of students. Customer Service is a joke because Northeastern doesn't really care about the students.

They could care less if students transfer because they know that as long as the campus looks pretty, some other unassuming sap out of high school will jump at the chance to go on co-op. The bottom line is that a school can survive without being student-centered if it is practice-oriented.

The NU shuffle will always live on and Northeastern will probably never be a student-centered institution. We all know that and have now grown accustomed to it. I have now been numbed to it all. But when the university president tries to take credit for the students' accomplishments without recognizing them, then that's where I get upset.

So Freeland, why don't you leave the Top Ten Lists to Letterman and get back to watering the flowers.