The Huntington News December 6, 2024
The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community
@HuntNewsNU
Students brace for Trump presidency By Emily Spatz and Kyle Kucera | Campus Editor and News Correspondent The last time President-elect Donald Trump was in the Oval Office, most undergraduate students at Northeastern were in middle school. Though some remember the rhetoric — mostly anti-immigrant, sexist and inflammatory LGBTQ+ sentiments — that marked his first stint in the White House, students and experts say his second presidency is likely to do more damage to marginalized communities. While Massachusetts state legislators have vowed to do everything in their power to stave off Trump’s possible damaging policies, students are concerned his speech will embolden extremists and his administration’s agenda will negatively impact their lives over the next four years. “I’m worried about how many of my family members and community would be directly impacted by Trump’s immigration rhetoric,” said Kevin Mai, a fourth-year bioengineering major whose parents are immigrants from Vietnam. “I know that currently a lot of the focus on immigration is
on immigrants coming from Latin and South America … [but] when one domino falls, the rest fall too. How long will it take before the focus shifts to immigrants from other regions?” On Nov. 22, Northeastern sent an email to community members who hold reentry visas warning international students, visiting scholars, faculty, researchers and staff to be “proactive with international travel plans during the upcoming months” in light of the “results of the U.S. presidential and congressional elections.” The email, obtained by The News, recommended those on visas return to the United States by Jan. 6, 2025 before “possible restrictions take effect.” The concern for international students and scholars — of which Northeastern has the second-most of any university in the country — isn’t unfounded. Molly O’Shea, a senior associate at immigration law firm Clark Lau LLC, said the last Trump administration attempted to curtail several policies beneficial to international students and compli-
Graphic by Jessica Xing Trump photo courtesy Gage Skidmore, flickr. White House photo courtesy Ad Meskens, Wikimedia Commons. cated the process for entering the U.S. The firm is expecting the next four years to be even more tumultuous. “With Trump, with his first administration, they were a bit disorganized
in their approach,” O’Shea said. “This time around, the theory I’ve heard often is Trump and his team have been planning for four years now. They have a bit more of a strategy in place.”
During his first term, Trump’s administration proposed restricting a program called Optional Practical Training, or OPT. POTUS, on Page 2
SGA gives $4 million Krentzman ‘Rooted’ exhibit faces student calls for removal to student clubs By Paloma Welch & Sarah Sajjad News Staff & News Correspondent On Oct. 28, the Student Government Association overwhelmingly voted to remove Cicely Carew’s “Rooted” art piece from Krentzman Quad after more than 1,890 students signed a petition arguing for its removal. The art piece, often compared to the Truffula Trees from Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” was installed in April as part of President Joseph E. Aoun’s Public Art Initiative, which began in
2014 with a goal of utilizing creative expression to build stronger global communities. The legislation calls on the university to remove “Rooted” from Krentzman Quad and work with students regarding future installations of public art projects. The measure passed with 52 senate members in favor and 12 abstaining. “Our mandate is to represent the student body and advocate those concerns to administration,” said third-year international business major Julian Herzing-Burkard, vice
president of campus affairs for the Student Government Association, or SGA. “We can do what we can do given our mandate, and we believe we have fulfilled that, too.” Chair of the Campus Planning Advisory Board for SGA’s campus affairs division and fourth-year politics, philosophy, and economics major Zi Glucksman said SGA has spoken to Northeastern’s administration on the issue but is not certain on the university’s standpoint or plan for the display going forward. TREES, on Page 2
Photo by Jessica Xing The “Rooted” art installation on Krentzman Quad. The piece was installed in April and has since received many negative comments from students, with more than 1,890 students signing a petition arguing for its removal.
CAMPUS
NU affiliates’ political contributions
Read about how much money faculty and trustees donated in the run up to the 2024 election.
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By Eli Curwin News Staff
In spring 2024, nearly 95% of participating Northeastern undergraduate students voted to increase the transparency of the Student Government Association’s budget allocation process for student organizations. On Nov. 8, the Student Government Association, or SGA, which oversees how much money clubs receive from the university, published student organization funding reports for the first time in over a decade — a pivotal moment in a years-long push for increased transparency into the budget process. The reports, which SGA leaders say are part of a multipronged approach to make the funding allocation process more accessible, provide a generalized overview of how SGA allocated annual budgets during fiscal years, or FY, 2024 and 2025. The FY 2025 report, which encompasses July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025, shows SGA received 222 annual budget requests from undergraduate student organizations totaling $6.8 million. The association approved roughly
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From the Archives
Read documents from Northeastern’s Archives and see how former university presidents molded the Graphic by Emma Liu university.
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$4.026 million of the requested funds to 204 organizations, with an average allocation of $19,733 and a median of $5,855, according to the document. The report also says that organizations received, on average, 7.36% more than in the previous fiscal year, and all requests that satisfied the university and SGA’s established budget criteria “received at least partial funding.” SGA’s Executive Director of Club Finance Alexander Leblang clarified that the 18 requests that did not receive SGA funding did not meet university criteria. According to the Student Activity Fee Manual — the document outlining student organization budget regulations — groups must be in good standing with the university and meet all registration and documentation requirements to receive funding. The recently published report provides a breakdown of the types of student organizations that were granted budgets and how much funding they received. Organizations categorized under “Signature Events & Programming” received $1.51 million, “Performing Arts MONEY, on Page 3
Check your answers from the last issue’s crossword. Photo courtesy NU Library, Archives and Special Collections
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Graphic by Emma Liu