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"Northeastern students deserve to have a student government that fights for them and works on tackling the issues that students face in their day-to-day lives."
-Nathan
What We Want to Do
We have three main goals:​​
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Create an SGA that proactively addresses student concerns, from a lack of mental health care and inadequate Title IX support to Wifi unreliability and the high cost of student transportation
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Ensure that students have a seat at the table in decisions that affect student life
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Make Northeastern feel more like a home for all students
Improve mental healthcare services and boost funding for UHCS
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Add at least four mental health counselors to UHCS — One of the most dire issues facing this campus is a lack of mental health resources. Students should be able to receive comprehensive care here on campus for whatever problems they may be facing. If elected, Nathan and Dylan would fight for more mental health counselors at UHCS so students can receive long-term care on campus as opposed to being referred elsewhere.
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Expand UHCS’ hours for students on co-op — Students on co-op should still have access to healthcare. Trying to book an appointment in the limited extended hours often presents frustration to students that are in need. We will fight for extended hours at UHCS to guarantee that all students can access our university’s health services when they need them.
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Expand the Husky to Husky peer mental health education program — Two years ago, SGA partnered with the Office of Prevention at Northeastern to establish Husky to Husky, a peer mental health program with the goal of educating students about the mental health resources available on campus. Over the past year, Nathan has worked closely with O.P.E.N. and his Student Affairs Committee to expand and discuss next steps for the program. Our goal is to train more peer educators, collaborate with other mental health and wellness groups, and do more outreach to inform students of how to access mental health resources.
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Provide equal access to medical leave to students with mental health concerns — Students deserve time and support when they are in a time of need. Requests for mental health medical leave should be treated with the same respect as requests for physical health medical leave. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the status quo. Nathan and Dylan will fight to ensure that no matter what struggle someone is going through, all students are allotted ample time to recover and return to their studies.
Make housing more affordable and accessible
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Eliminate gender restrictions on upperclassmen apartment-style housing — Last year, SGA and RSA teamed up with student activists to present an All-Gender Housing proposal to Housing to do just this. Initially, Housing was on board, but the proposal ended up falling through after the department claimed there was not enough student support. This is why Nathan and Dylan cosponsored a referenda question for the student body election ballot, to hopefully show that students were in favor of getting rid of unnecessary and unfair gender restrictions. If elected, we will continue to work with RSA to push the administration to adopt this proposal, which will improve housing selection for all Northeastern students.
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Make housing more affordable by revising the price classifications — Even though the West Villages are now over a decade old, rooms in the West Villages are still priced at the same level as Northeastern’s newest on-campus housing. With the cost of tuition rising and the age of residence halls increasing, housing costs should be decreasing to reflect the reality of student needs. If elected, Nathan and Dylan will work closely with Housing to explore options for revising price classifications for rooms and make on-campus housing more affordable.
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Incorporate students into the planning process for new residence halls — By 2019, Northeastern will have a new residence hall on Burke Street. It is imperative that students have a seat at the table in discussions over what this residence hall will look like and what prices for rooms will be. This past semester, Nathan launched discussions with administrators to discuss possible features for the residence hall. If elected, Nathan and Dylan will continue to amplify student voices in the planning process and ensure that this residence hall is one that students will want to live in.
Strengthen Title IX protections and support networks
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Add Title IX presentations into New Student Orientation and Introduction to College Classes — We must actively work to eliminate Title IX violations from this campus. One step to address this problem is to ensure that every student entering this university receives a comprehensive Title IX education presentation. We will work with the Office of Prevention and Education at Northeastern to expand Title IX programming and trainings and get them into every Orientation session and Introduction to College class.
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Publicize and clarify the reporting process and options available for survivors — We will also work with student organizers and administrators to raise awareness about current on-campus resources to ensure that survivors know what options are available to them. We will work with the confidential reporting offices and OSCCR to empower survivors to know their options and make the decisions that are best for them.
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Support SARC’s campaign to create a new ViSION Resource Center — All survivors of sexual assault should have access to the resources and support that they need. Northeastern has the ability to expand the resources available to Title IX survivors. Creating a new ViSION Resource Center where survivors can seek help and connect with a support network is a great first step toward ensuring all student feel safe & supported on this campus.
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Provide protections for students who experience sexual harassment on co-op — The #NEUToo campaign showed that far too many Northeastern students encounter sexual harassment while on co-op. This is absolutely unacceptable. We will work with the university on efforts to both a) proactively reach out to students on co-op to inform them of their rights and b) improve the support networks in place to ensure that affected students are empowered to make the best decision to address their situation.
Sustainability
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Bring renewable energy to campus — As it stands, less than 1% of Northeastern’s energy comes from renewable sources. Bringing more renewable energy to campus would be a powerful way for Northeastern to live up to its commitment to reducing carbon emissions by 80%. As chair of the Renewable Energy Initiatives Board, Dylan has worked to explore the options with solar energy. If elected, he and Nathan hope to continue this progress and make Northeastern a more sustainable university.
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Phase out single-use plastic products — One of Northeastern’s harmful environmental impacts is the high usage of single-use plastic products such as cups, straws, and bags. Single-use plastics are often not recycled and end up in landfills, costing extra money and causing harm to the environment. Dylan and Nathan look forward to working with student groups and campus offices to evaluate areas of high-plastic consumption on campus and explore possible solutions to reduce the usage of single-use plastic.
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Promote energy efficiency on campus — There is always room for improvement when it comes to increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. In the past, Dylan has worked to reduce energy usage with laundry machines and micro-fridges. If elected, Nathan and Dylan would continue to reevaluate current practices and systems and explore energy-efficient options for hand dryers, light bulbs, and toilets.
Promote a more engaged and connected student body
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Roll out a universal student event calendar — A consistent frustration that we hear from students is that there is no easy way for students to find about cool events that are happening on campus. To combat this problem, Nathan’s Student Affairs Committee launched a project group to create an easy-to-use student organization event calendar that all students could easily access. Over the past two semesters, they have partnered with student programmers, entrepreneurs, and marketing researchers to develop an app to do just that. We will roll out this app by the fall, with the hope of creating a product that all students and student organizations can use.
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Launch “Welcome to Boston” MBTA packages — Nathan has been working with the MBTA on a new project to distribute “Welcome to Boston” packages for incoming students in the fall of next year. The packages will contain a Charlie Card, maps of the bus/T system, and discounts to local businesses, and the goal is to help ease students’ transition into life in Boston.
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Launch projects to boost support for student athletics — If elected, Dylan and Nathan would partner with Athletics and student groups like the DogHouse to increase turnout at athletics events and create more of a sense of school spirit at Northeastern. Partnering on more tailgate-style events and increasing publicity of our teams’ success are two ways we will work to get more students into the fan sections of sports games. We will also work to boost attendance at women’s sports events and fill the stands for every sport’s senior night.
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Foster club collaboration — With a Student Activities Fee budget that goes deeper into a deficit every day, it is important that we prioritize student money in a way that maximizes the value for all students. One way to increase the value-added of events and create a more connected campus is to encourage collaboration between student groups. In order to foster cross-club collaboration, we will work with the Center for Student Involvement to provide platforms for clubs to connect and discuss partnering on events. In addition, we will also work with SGA’s Finance Board to provide financial incentives to groups that are willing to collaborate with other groups to host events.
Foster inclusion at Northeastern
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Improve the integration of International, Transfer, and NUin Students — If elected, Nathan and Dylan plan on having SGA take a more active role in reaching out to students when they get to campus. This includes everything from tabling to answer the questions of NUin students (a project Nathan’s Student Affairs Committee launched this year), to partnering with the Northeastern University Transfer Student Organization to host events geared toward transfer students, to focusing on campus-wide events that are specifically focused on connecting domestic and international students.
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Increase funding for campus centers — We will fight to increase funding for cultural, religious, and LGBTQIA+ centers on campus to ensure that all students have access to spaces where they can feel at home at Northeastern. We will also partner with these centers on cross-cultural events and programming to foster more interconnectedness on campus and improve SGA’s outreach to underrepresented populations.
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Eliminate gender restrictions on upperclassmen apartment-style housing — Last year, SGA and RSA teamed up with student activists to present an All-Gender Housing proposal to Housing to do just this. Initially, Housing was on board, but the proposal ended up falling through after the department claimed there was not enough student support. This is why Nathan and Dylan cosponsored a referenda question for the student body election ballot, to hopefully show that students were in favor of getting rid of unnecessary and unfair gender restrictions. If elected, we will continue to work with RSA to push the administration to adopt this proposal, which will improve housing selection for all Northeastern students - especially transgender and gender non-conforming students.
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Expand and publicize the WeCare resources and network —The WeCare program was developed to aid students but students often either don’t know about it or are unclear on how it operates. Additionally, the website interface surrounding seeking assistance and especially with reporting bias incidents is often confusing if not connected to a broken link. The administration cannot expect vulnerable students to navigate this or to know what is available to them. This program needs to be more specialized for transgender and gender non-conforming students as well as both streamlined and prioritized.
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Partner with LGBTQIA+ student groups to put their needs first — While strides have been made at Northeastern, we should not be complacent about how we could better serve our diverse student body. LGTBQIA+ students should be woven into the fabric of student government, and these student advocates should have their causes supported and voices amplified when approaching the administration. We will work with the LGBTQIA+ Center, Trans@NU, and LGBTQIA+ student groups to prioritize the issues that matter most to them.
Promote student artwork
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Support programs that celebrate the work of student artists — In the fall, Nathan’s Student Affairs Committee collaborated with over 20 student art groups to hold Northeastern’s first annual block pARTy. This program brought student art groups together on campus for a daylong celebration of student artwork. We look forward to collaborating with art groups and providing more opportunities like this to recognize the work of students who often go unrecognized.
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Push for more student-created public artwork on campus — Northeastern is home to some of the best student artists in the country, and we believe our university should do a better job of showcasing their work. Nathan and Dylan will push for more public artwork and murals that are created by students and local community members as a way to beautify our campus and celebrate our community.
Work to ensure students of all colleges feel equally valued
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Fight for more college-specific resources — Right now, many students do not have access to the resources that they need to be successful in their majors. Thousands of students have to pay ridiculous sums of money (on top of costs for tuition and textbooks) simply to access software that is required for their major. CAMD and CoE students lack access to everything from functional equipment to space where they can do their work. We will prioritize the concerns of students from all colleges and ensure that all students are able to access resources they need. In addition, we will push academic colleges to cover unnecessarily high costs that students are being forced to pay, from Adobe Software to Tophat.
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Open up more study spaces — One of the biggest day-to-day frustrations of students is not having a place where they can go to study. Snell and Curry are frequently packed with students, and possible study spaces in buildings such as ISEC and Renaissance Park are often inaccessible. Dylan and I will fight for student representation in administrative discussions on the physical planning of this university, and push for more study spaces on campus. We will also prioritize intermediary steps to increase study space, such as opening up more spaces in ISEC to students.
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Work with the administration to create more college-specific home bases on campus — The majority of CSSH and CoS students (as well as over 40 percent of Bouvé and CAMD students) do not feel as though their college has a designated home space on campus where students can interact and study. We will advocate on behalf of these students in discussions with administrators and make sure all students feel at home at Northeastern, regardless of their major.
Lower the day-to-day costs that students face
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Negotiate better discounts on and options for student transportation — Nathan has spent the last semester organizing conversations with the MBTA and the administration to explore different ways to lower the cost of transportation for students. If elected, Nathan would work tirelessly to implement a better student discount on Charlie Cards and more university-provided shuttles for students on co-op. We will also work with the administration and student advocates to create more bike infrastructure on campus.
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Lower the cost of meal plans and push for rollover options — We believe that no student should have to spend $18 on a dining hall meal. We also believe that no student should be charged $18 if they don’t have the chance to use their meal swipes over the course of the week. The Budget Priorities Survey showed that both of these ideas are widely supported by the student body, and Nathan and Dylan will use this data to push the university to provide more reasonable meal plan options to students.
Address day-to-day technological frustrations
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Fight for more reliable Wi-Fi — NUwave has been incredibly unreliable this year. While this is sometimes a minor frustration, it makes no sense that a university of our caliber cannot provide reliable Wi-Fi to its students. Students deserve Wi-Fi that they can depend on, and we will set up recurring meetings with ITS to ensure that the effectiveness of our wireless network is always being improved.
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Bolster technological infrastructure — We will also routinely compile a list of students’ top concerns relating to technological infrastructure (from printers being broken to Northeastern web pages being down) and work with ITS to address these as soon as possible.
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Revamp myNortheastern — The current myNortheastern system is not only inconvenient and frustrating for students to use, but it also poses immense obstacles for students who are seeking to schedule meetings with their counselors or student employees who are trying to update their timesheets. We will work with ITS to ensure that students are brought to the table in the revamp process and that the finished product is one that all students can be proud of.
Create a more diverse, representative and proactive SGA
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Constantly seek feedback from students and student groups and implement that feedback via tangible changes to the way SGA operates — If elected, Nathan and Dylan will visit a different student organization every week to collect honest feedback about SGA and discuss what we could do to better work for all students. We will also expand and improve upon the Reaching Out program—an SGA outreach initiative started by Nathan in 2016 to send monthly email updates to all 400+ student groups on campus, collect feedback and concerns from these groups, and improve SGA’s relationships with them.
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Restructure the Student Senate — The Student Senate should serve as a welcoming mat for all students—a place where students of all backgrounds can come to advocate for their concerns and discuss action-oriented solutions. Unfortunately, our Student Senate has frequently been bogged down with procedure and formalities that have restrained it from living up to its potential. Senators should feel like they are part of the conversation at Senate, not like they are part of an audience. If elected, Nathan and Dylan will restructure the Senate and use it as a platform for meaningful discussion and action plans. Starting in the summer, we would also proactively reach out to student groups that are not represented in the Student Senate to invite them and discuss how SGA could better serve them.
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Work with historically underrepresented groups on more intersectional events & advocacy projects — We will proactively work to ensure SGA feels more like a home for all students. One way we will do this is by utilizing SGA’s Diversity & Inclusion Subcommittee. This subcommittee, launched by Nathan’s Student Affairs Committee this year, is composed of senators from SGA and representatives of cultural, spiritual, and LGBTQIA+ student groups. The goal of the subcommittee is to bring groups together to discuss collaboration and work on advocacy projects. If elected, we will expand and prioritize this subcommittee and ensure that it continues the great work it is doing next year. We look forward to actively collaborating with these groups to bring their concerns to the administration and plan collaborative events to bring students of different backgrounds together.
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Give student organizers and affected students a seat at the table in discussions with administrators — We are passionate about amplifying the voices of student activists who are already pushing for change around campus. We will not take credit for their work; rather, we will support them in any way we can, including by organizing meetings with administrators to address student concerns and take action.
Make Northeastern a more sustainable campus
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Bring renewable energy to campus — As it stands, less than 1% of Northeastern’s energy comes from renewable sources. Bringing more renewable energy to campus would be a powerful way for Northeastern to live up to its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 80%. As chair of the Renewable Energy Initiatives Board, Dylan has worked to explore the options with solar energy. If elected, he and Nathan hope to continue this progress and make Northeastern a more sustainable university.
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Phase out single-use plastic products — One of Northeastern’s harmful environmental impacts is the high usage of single-use plastic products such as cups, straws, and bags. Single-use plastics are often not recycled and end up in landfills, costing extra money and causing harm to the environment. Dylan and Nathan look forward to working with student groups and campus offices to evaluate areas of high-plastic consumption on campus and explore possible solutions to reduce the usage of single-use plastic.
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Promote energy efficiency on campus — There is always room for improvement when it comes to increasing energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions. In the past, Dylan has worked to reduce energy usage with laundry machines and micro-fridges. If elected, Nathan and Dylan would continue to reevaluate current practices and systems and explore energy-efficient options for hand dryers, light bulbs, and toilets.
Promote sexual health on campus
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Provide free monthly STI/STD testing — Sexually transmitted infections and diseases are appearing at an ever-growing rate, with one in four college students contracting an STI or STD during their time in school. Out of pocket, each individual test costs $25, and this often presents a barrier for students seeking help. Nathan and Dylan want to implement free STI/STD clinics to provide students with access to these tests and empower students to take control of their status.
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Deliver condoms and menstrual health products to student mailboxes — Access to free contraceptives and menstrual products can be a struggle for countless reasons. Whether it’s inconvenient locations on campus, limited supplies at UHCS, personal finances, or social stigmas, students deserve fair access to these products.. A successful model that Nathan and Dylan hope to implement at Northeastern is a discrete contraceptives-to-your-mailbox program through UHCS. We would also love to incorporate menstrual health products into this service, offering full access to personal health products for all Northeastern students.
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Implement a PrEP education campaign — Pre-exposure prophylaxis (or “PrEP”) is an effective way to prevent HIV in high-risk communities. It is our goal to launch a PrEP education and access campaign to empower students to make safe and well-informed choices about how to best avoid contracting HIV.
Did we miss something? Please share any ideas, concerns, and suggestions for improving Northeastern University with us here!