September 26, 2025
The independent student newspaper of the Northeastern community
Northeastern increased salaries, assets and employees in Fiscal Year 2024
@HuntNewsNU
SPORTS What happens to club teams without Matthews? Read more about what the demolition means for club sports.
Photo courtesy Northeastern Archives
LIFESTYLE Are performative males method acting? Read about what students think of the aesthetic.
Photo by Aya Al-Zehhawi. Photos and graphic by Margot Murphy
CROSSWORD Solve The News’ Fall crossword! Answers will be revealed in the next print issue. ALEXA COULTOFF AND FRANCES KLEMM Data Editor and News Staff For the third year in a row, Northeastern President Joseph E. Aoun’s salary has exceeded $2 million, making him the highest-paid university president in Massachusetts, according to financial disclosures.
A graphic featuring David Madigan (left), Joseph E. Aoun and 990 forms. The annual Form 990 revealed raises for university executives and grant allocations. Photo by Isaac Pedersen. File photo by Val O’Neill. Graphic by Lily Cooper. Aoun was the eighth highest-paid return that tax-exempt organizations Northeastern has expanded university president nationwide in with total assets exceeding $500,000 rapidly in the matter of a decFY 2021 and the 24th in FY 2022, are mandated to file to the Internal ade, increasing its enrollment by according to reporting by The Revenue Service, or IRS. Form 990 more than 16,000 students since Chronicle of Higher Education. ensures that tax-exempt organiza2013 and leading total enrollment Aoun’s salary information, along tions, which include universities, growth across all Boston colleges with a comprehensive overview of the comply with the requirements to and universities, according to data university’s finances, is released annu- maintain their tax-exempt status, published by the city. ally in the Form 990, an information according to the IRS. FINANCES, on Page 2
Graphic by Emma Liu
Three NUPD officers added to disciplinary database EMILY SPATZ AND ZOE MACDIARMID Editor-in-Chief and Campus Editor
Photo by Ian Dickerman Passengers wait for the arriving Green Line train at North Station Sept. 15. The MBTA deployed Fare Engagement Representatives to ensure fare compliance.
MBTA cracks down on fare evasion ANNALISE KARAMAS News Correspondent
As Northeastern students stroll through Ruggles Station this fall, they might see some new faces from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, carefully monitoring for any instances of fare evasion. Since Sept. 8, the MBTA has deployed Fare Engagement Representatives at key MBTA stops to promote fare compliance as a part of the Fare Engagement Program, or FEP. In addition to placing employees, who wear blue vests, at the entrances, the MBTA has installed posters
and displays cautioning riders against fare evasion. The attempt to increase fare payment has been ongoing since October 2024 in light of decreasing revenue. Elizabeth Winters Ronaldson, deputy chief of fare revenue for the MBTA, was asked about fare loss in a media availability meeting at Government Center station Sept. 8. She said before COVID-19, the MBTA generated about $670 million a year in fare revenue, as compared to $440 million last year. In a 2021 study, MBTA fare evasion loss was estimated between $25 million and $30 million annually. MBTA, on Page 3
A former officer with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, who supported a colleague accused of rape — then wrote a letter asking the court for leniency in sentencing — is now employed by Northeastern’s police department, records show. Brian Burt was among three Northeastern police officers added to a state database documenting sustained officer misconduct this year, bringing the department’s total to six. Three Northeastern officers were added to the database when it first launched in 2023, The Huntington News previously reported. Burt, Timothy Flynn and Patrick Gaumond — who are all still actively listed on the Northeastern University Police Department’s roster — faced multiple complaints each. They were added to the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training, or POST, disciplinary database sometime after January, web archives show. None of the officers responded
to several requests for comment from The News. The disciplinary records database, collected and made public in response to landmark reforms following George Floyd’s murder, lists thousands of police officers across the state of Massachusetts who have sustained misconduct allegations starting in 1984. As of publication, it was most recently updated Aug. 19. The Northeastern University Police Department, or NUPD, has 58 officers as of Sept. 2, according to POST. Burt, a former MBTA police officer of 25 years, was suspended in March 2024 for associating with a former transit officer who was indicted on three counts of rape while on duty. Burt joined NUPD in February, according to his LinkedIn page, and is certified as an officer until Dec. 1, 2028. While the database doesn’t list the name of the defendant, former MBTA officer Shawn McCarthy was convicted on three counts of rape in March 2024, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. During McCarthy’s trial, Burt attended court “every day in support
of the defendant,” and wrote a letter “seeking leniency” for the convicted officer after a guilty verdict, according to the POST database. In the 2012 incident, McCarthy drove two women in their early 20s to an area near the Museum of Science, then raped both. He was on duty at the time and used his cruiser to transport the women. In 2024, McCarthy was sentenced to four to six years in prison, CBS News reported. He could not be reached for comment. “Against the advice of a fellow officer, McCarthy offered the women a joyride in his marked police cruiser and drove them around the area with blue lights flashing,” the district attorney’s office said in a press release at the time of his conviction. “After stopping in a vacant lot so the women could relieve themselves, McCarthy said he hadn’t risked his job for nothing and he would not take them back downtown until he got something out of it.” Burt was suspended for three days in March 2024 for two complaints stemming from his support of McCarthy, which violated MBTA Transit Police standards. NUPD, on Page 2