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Thursday, March 19, 2015
815-753-5606 H @NIUNorthernStar H NorthernStar.info/Opinion
Letter to the Editor
Northern Star
Alumna welcomes watchdog program
Campus Life Building, Room 130 545 Lucinda Ave. DeKalb, Ill., 60115 Web: www.NorthernStar.info Fax: 815-753-0708 Editorial Board Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board; columns reflect the opinion of the author alone. Editor in Chief & Publisher: Kelly Bauer Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0105
Sharon May Alumna
Managing Editor: Keith Hernandez Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0177 News Editor: Jackie Nevarez Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9643 Digital Editor: Margaret Maka Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9644 Perspective Editor: Rachel Scaman Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9637 Sports Editor: Frank Gogola Sports@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9637 Scene Editor: Sabreena Saleem Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-5606 Photo Editor: Ryan Ocasio Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-1602 Other Assistant Scene Editor: Darius Parker 815-753-5606 Advertising Manager: Derek Noel Ads@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0108 Circulation Manager: Andrew Parnell 815-753-0707 Adviser: Shelley Hendricks 815-753-4239 Business Adviser: Maria Krull 815-753-0707 Departments Newsroom: 815-753-0105 Advertising: 815-753-0107 Classifieds: 815-753-0707 About us The Northern Star is a limited public forum whose content is determined exclusively by its student editors. Information presented in this newspaper and its website is not controlled by NIU administration, faculty or staff. The Northern Star has a circulation of 10,000 Mondays and Thursdays. It publishes online at NorthernStar.info every day. A single copy of the Northern Star is free. Additional copies are 50 cents. Letters to the editor Letters should not exceed 300 words and may be edited for clarity and brevity. The deadline for a letter is 4 p.m. one day before the desired date of publication. Submissions may be held due to space limitations. Letters written by students should include the author’s year and major. Letters should include a phone number where the author can be reached. Phone numbers will not be published. Letters may be submitted to Editor@NorthernStar.info. Advertisement policy The Northern Star does not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, handicapped or veteran status, or sexual orientation. Nor does the Northern Star knowingly print ads that violate any local, state or federal laws. To place an advertisement, contact the Northern Star advertising team at 815753-0108 or ads@NorthernStar.info. To view advertising rates, go to NorthernStar.info/site/advertise/. Hiring Student employees must carry a minimum of six NIU semester hours and must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better. Students of all majors and experience levels are welcome to apply. Apply at www.NorthernStarJobs.info.
Perspective
Chelsea Ortiz | Northern Star
SA should do more to recruit candidates leads to more Greek participation. Openings in candidate positions were primarily advertised by word of mouth, Palmer said. If the SA were to do more with recruiting candidates there would be a more diverse group of students who are involved in other organizations. This would help the SA represent the needs of all types of students. Although recruitment for elections didn’t start as early as the SA would have liked, SA election commissioner David White said he thinks it was advertised fairly well through social media. But, based on the Northern We are looking more into Star’s observations, the SA posted the future ... . We’re just only once on Facebook about cantrying to make sure that didates’ meetings, which students we get the word out much must attend if they wish to run, earlier than we did in past the morning of the first meeting. years.” The only post about the candiDavid White SA election commissioner dates’ meetings on the SA’s Twitter account was a retweet from the Since at least fall 2012, every Northern Star regarding elections. SA president has been a part of a The SA should have done more Greek organization. Joe Palmer, SA to promote this opportunity to director of Public Affairs, said the students since they are eligible to SA advertises the elections within be candidates as long as they are organizations that have been infee-paying students. volved with the SA, which usually White said the SA started Northern Star Editorial Board
The Student Association should have done more to recruit candidates for this year’s executive elections. Executive elections will decide the SA’s president, vice president, treasurer and student trustee. Students must attend a candidates’ meeting, fill out a registration packet and get 400 signatures from fee-paying students to run in the executive elections. All of that is stated in the SA bylaws, but other than that there isn’t much advertisement of what a student must do to run in the elections.
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More info
For more information on the Student Association executive elections, go to bit.ly/1LwB3X3. advertising candidate positions one week before the start of the candidates’ meetings. That is unacceptable because it doesn’t give the advertisements time to reach a large amount of students. “We are looking more into the future ... . We’re just trying to make sure that we get the word out much earlier than we did in past years,” White said. “... Just try and bring more potential candidates out and about.” It’s great the SA is planning for the future, but it should have started advertising earlier and more often through social media. The SA needs to do more to recruit a diverse group of students to run in elections. They can hang posters on campus or send emails to students. Relying on word of mouth and social media isn’t enough, and will not help with electing the best candidates to represent the student body.
What do you think about the MyNIU app? Students can use the new MyNIU app to register for classes, view their grades and class schedule and look up financial aid and account information on their Apple or Android devices. To read about the app, go to bit.ly/1B2vbcW.
Mohammed Taha Faridi Columnist
Angela Pagan Columnist
Angelina McNeela Columnist
I always thought MyNIU should have a smartphone app. The app functions well: You can do all the work you did on the website. It’s simple and easy to use. It’s also a relief for students who can now do more university-related stuff using just their phones. But, the color and the theme of the app looks gloomy; it should have been brighter and more appealing. It would have been better if it was combined with the Blackboard Mobile Learn app.
Overall, the new MyNIU app seems like a helpful addition to student resources. The layout is direct and simple; I would even say it is easier to use than the desktop version. The thing I like most about the app is it allows students to register and drop classes from their smartphone or tablet rather than having to use a computer, which not all students have. There are only a few issues I have with the app.
After logging into the MyNIU app, I clicked on the first menu selection labeled “What’s happening today.” My first reaction was I am impressed with this app already. There’s finally a place where we can scroll through lists of on-campus happenings without going to the website. What I did not expect to come up was a list of holds and fees. I’m looking for what’s actually happening today on campus and I feel stalked by the $53 I will pay ... eventually.
To read more about the MyNIU app, go to bit.ly/1x2s89s.
Speaking as an alumna (MS finance ’96) and ex-employee of NIU, I welcome with open arms the arrival of the Edgar County Watchdogs to NIU and DeKalb. The two founding members of this group made their first DeKalb appearance at the most recent NIU Board of Trustees meeting, suggesting to the trustees that they use the group as a free resource to possibly identify and, if need be, help correct any systemic problems. In my opinion, a non-political/non-biased offer of “free” should always be welcome to taxpayers; however, considering NIU administration’s two slogans of “accountability, clarity and transparency” and “ethically inspired leadership,” there may be little for this group to look at or expose within our university. Regardless, it is a breath of fresh air to add to the discussion and I wish them well.
Letter to the Editor
Northern Star real fail, not SA members Dillon Domke Student Association Senate Speaker
It was utterly mind-boggling to return from Spring Break to find the Student Association in the Fail column of the Pass/Fail section of the Northern Star. The supposed reason for the SA ending up there was for calling off a phantom meeting that never actually existed. I would like to pose the question of how does one cancel something that doesn’t actually exist? Well, to answer that myself: You can’t. The SA, as we are all students, honors academic recesses so its members can take time off of their busy schedules to relax, travel or spend time with family. Yes, the executive elections are coming up, but I don’t see how holding a meeting would have any impact on the elections at all. The Board of Elections and the elections commissioner, David White, have been doing a tremendous job thus far and don’t need a formal platform for their work to be completed. For their work I give them a Pass. With that comes the next point of transparency. In my years in the SA there has not been a more transparent time that I can remember.
Read Online | bit.ly/1H3QHGr