Faculty Senate to vote on cutting activities period The Faculty Senate will vote today on a resolution to change Northeastern’s class sequencing model, reducing student activities periods from 105 minutes to 65 minutes, said MJ Paradiso, Student Government Association vice president of academic affairs. The resolution would begin with the 2007-08 academic year. Paradiso said the legislation is based on the faculty’s perspective, not what is best for student activities. “The benefit for faculty is opening up classrooms. Some faculty on this committee feel activities period isn’t worth the time,” he said. “To SGA and the student body as a whole, this isn’t something we were going to let slip by.” SGA moved to protect activities period in legislation passed last week. The legislation stated that if professors schedule class assignments during activities period, students must have the right to make up the assignment or not be penalized for missing it. “We want to make sure this is still a part of the Northeastern schedule for students and faculty,” Paradiso said. “We’re saying yes, there’s a problem, but this isn’t the solution.” Faculty Senate Agenda Committee Chair Carol Glod could not be reached for comment.

– Natasha Kellett, News Correspondent

16 years later, sentence decided in student rape case Michael Brown, 56, was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years probation on Monday after a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted Brown last week of the rape of a Northeastern student 16 years ago. The verdict was based on DNA evidence found on the victim’s underwear, which was preserved by law enforcement officials since the incident in May 1990. Between the incident in 1990 and his arrest in 2004, Brown lived in New York where he served six years in prison for an unrelated instance of armed robbery. The victim, now 38 years old and married to her boyfriend from 16 years ago, testified against Brown in court and delivered an impact statement on Monday. According to an article in The Boston Globe, the victim requested Brown’s sentence be 30 to 35 years, stating, “The defendant took something from me that can never be replaced.” In addition to his 15-year sentence, Judge Quinlan said Brown must undergo sex offender counseling, as well as alcohol and drug counseling. If Brown violates these conditions, he could subject himself to 25 more years in prison, and an additional 10 years for armed robbery. Fred McGrail, director of communications and public relations at Northeastern said the university “follow[ed] the case with some interest” for the past 16 years and remained willing to “do anything we can to help.” McGrail also said Northeastern was “happy the court ran its course and that justice was served.”

– Samantha Egan, News Correspondent

Limits off, SGA wishes for bowling alley, stadium From building bowling alleys to campus-wide wireless Internet access, members of the Student Government Association (SGA) voiced their wish list of things they would like to see at Northeastern at Senate Thursday. President Rogan O’Handley urged senators to use their imaginations and not consider financial difficulties that the suggestions would create. Some of the other proposals suggested were keyless locks in all the residence halls, extending the hours of Snell Library and of dining halls, building a bigger theater than Blackman Auditorium and building an athletic complex that would host sports events. Vice President for Student Affairs Adriana Campos and Vice President for Administration and Public Relations Krystal Beaulieu recorded every suggestion and said they will create an organized list to present to university administration.

– Mary Ann Georgantopoulos, News Correspondent

MyBike founder honored by BusinessWeek.com In recognition of the online bike rental service MyBike, LeRoy Watkins, who graduated from Northeastern in 2004, was named one of the top 25 entrepreneurs under the age of 25 by BusinessWeek.com. Watkins founded the rental service in August 2005 and said in a release from the university that he predicts he will make more than $100,000 in revenue in 2006. With 300 bikes, MyBike allows people a year’s worth of bike rentals for $20. In an interview with The News last February, Watkins said the concept came from his personal experience as a bike owner at Northeastern and the difficulties he faced trying to find storage space and dealing with theft. BusinessWeek.com picked the best young entrepreneurs out of 300 nominations made by its readers. Chris Robertson, associate professor of management in the College of Business Administration, who taught Watkins, praised his accomplishments in the release. “LeRoy Watkins is an entrepreneurial triple threat with that rare combination of optimism, drive and intelligence,” Robertson said.

– Jessica Torrez-Riley, News Staff