By Anne Baker

Inevitably, a large part of any senior’s year is spent thinking about her freshman year. My freshman year was spent missing my home, being very drunk, and ruining most of my clothes while attempting to wash them. With some variation, I think this is the essence behind every freshman’s year. But in the fall of 2006 there was another freshman whose experience was definitely different.

University President Joseph Aoun started here the same year I did. We had different goals:’ I wanted a good education in the big city and President Aoun wanted to advance Northeastern in every way possible.

I got my education, my big city. But how far has Aoun come?

Northeastern has jumped to 80 in the US News and World Report Rankings. (By the way, Vice President of Marketing and Communications Mike Armini says the administration doesn’t care about the rankings, but I bet Columbus Place is on pins and needles all August just like the rest of us. Give it up, Mike. Nobody’s buying.)

The College Sustainability Report Card has awarded Aoun and his administration for being a leader in environmentally friendly practices on campus.

And while big-name colleges like Harvard have suffered crippling losses to their endowments in the last year, forcing lay offs and budget cuts, Northeastern has suffered little in the economy because our operating budget is still tied to tuition, not the interest made from our endowment. Last year was perhaps the only time a college has celebrated for having less in the bank.

But Aoun’s time here hasn’t been all champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Aoun’s administration has had to weather some pretty substantial press relations nightmares, right from the start.

There was the time way back in 2007 when his inauguration week cost more than $300,000, drawing ire from students who felt that money would have been better spent elsewhere.’ Or when popular math department chair David Massey was suspended from his position in March 2008 ‘- without the proper due process ‘- because a student filed an undisclosed complaint against him. Or when Dean Stephen Zoloth unceremoniously cut the Athletic Training major from the Bouv’eacute; College of Health Sciences.

Well, gee, you know. It was the Board of Trustees who gave him the ballin’ inauguration. Massey’s suspension was handled by the College of Arts and Sciences. Athletic Training was Zoloth’s call.

But there has been one major event that the President is tied directly to:’ the hiring of Provost Stephen Director. And Director, just like every college student’s crazy best friend, has managed to get Aoun into a little bit of trouble.

It was Director who was accused of firing beloved College of Arts and Sciences Dean Jim Stellar last fall. In April, Stellar told The News that he had not left the university voluntarily, which is a pretty far step back from the party line on the issue.

‘Most university deans serve five to 10 years so it’s not a surprise for somebody to say, ‘Look I’ve done it for 10 years,” Director said in the Sept. 11, 2008 issue of The News. ‘Being dean of the College of Arts and Sciences is very demanding. It takes a lot of time and effort. It’s unusual for someone to stay in that position for that long. It’s not a surprise people want to move on to other things.’

And then there’s the College of Criminal Justice fiasco from last spring, during which students felt left out of the process. Many criminal justice majors said they felt restructuring the college had been a done deal from the beginning; last spring’s committee was just for show.

I don’t know if the college restructure is such a bad thing. Maybe it will help the university run more efficiently than ever and help get more students the personalized attention they deserve. But that’s not really the point, is it?

I’ve learned a lot from this college. Northeastern has taught me that it’s OK to make mistakes, and that it’s not always so hard to fix them. I’m not sure Aoun has learned the same lesson.

The students at Northeastern are smart. They want what’s best for the school. Time and time again, in every one of these issues, all the students have asked for is that the administration be up front. It’s not so much to ask for, but Aoun seems to have a hard time telling it.

Graduation’s just around the corner for me, and I have a final request. I’m calling on the president and his administration to start being completely honest with the students, staff and professors.

Is it naive? Perhaps. Cynicism isn’t something I’ve learned here.