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Monday, February 16, 2015
Northern Star
815-753-5606 H @NIUNorthernStar H NorthernStar.info/Opinion
Perspective
Students should be ready for Internship Fair
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 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
Chelsea Ortiz | Northern Star
Students must have input on programs Northern Star Editorial Board
NIU administrators must listen to the Student Association as it pushes for more student input in program prioritization. Advertising Manager: Derek Noel Ads@NorthernStar.info SA Senate is considering a resolu815-753-0108 tion that expresses how disillusioned it has become with administrators’ Circulation Manager: Andrew Parnell support for shared governance in 815-753-0707 light of the way students have been Adviser: Shelley Hendricks forced out of the program prioritiza815-753-4239 tion process. This resolution is the first step in students’ push for being a Business Adviser: Maria Krull 815-753-0707 part of the decision-making process in program prioritization. Departments Prioritization will undoubtNewsroom: 815-753-0105 edly change NIU as programs Advertising: 815-753-0107 Classifieds: 815-753-0707 are cut, merged or grow based on how they are used. It will directly About us affect how students are educated The Northern Star is a limited public forum whose content is determined exclu- and what areas of study are availsively by its student editors. Information able to them, and students can presented in this newspaper and its webprovide invaluable feedback on site is not controlled by NIU administracriteria on which to judge the tion, faculty or staff. programs and deficiencies and The Northern Star has a circulation of 10,000 Mondays and Thursdays. It areas of potential growth. publishes online at NorthernStar.info Yet, there are no plans to include every day. A single copy of the Northern Star is free. students as members of two task forces that will make recommenAdditional copies are 50 cents. dations about program changes. Letters to the editor Students are also not able to take a Letters should not exceed 300 words and survey about what criteria programs may be edited for clarity and brevity. The should be judged on. deadline for a letter is 4 p.m. one day before the desired date of publication. Instead, it appears adminisSubmissions may be held due to space trators will rely on data about limitations. Letters written by students should include student interests and will encourage students to provide feedback the author’s year and major. Letters should include a phone number where the about programs by contacting author can be reached. Phone numbers task force members. will not be published. Letters may be That’s not enough. submitted to Editor@NorthernStar.info. NIU must create more opportuAdvertisement policy nities for students to learn about The Northern Star does not knowingly ac- program prioritization and be cept advertisements that discriminate on the basis of sex, race, creed, handicapped involved in its process. An elected member of the SA should be a or veteran status, or sexual orientation. Nor does the Northern Star knowingly voting member on the task forces print ads that violate any local, state or that will review programs. Since federal laws. SA representatives are elected, this To place an advertisement, contact the person would have the backing of Northern Star advertising team at 815753-0108 or ads@NorthernStar.info. the student body. To view advertising rates, go to But, NIU must protect this NorthernStar.info/site/advertise/. person just as it would the rest of its task force members: Members Hiring Student employees must carry a minimum must know about NIU’s grievof six NIU semester hours and must have ance policy and how it can be used a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better. to address concerns if a person Students of all majors and experience thinks he or she has been treated levels are welcome to apply. Apply at www.NorthernStarJobs.info. unfairly. Information about NIU’s Other Assistant Scene Editor: Darius Parker 815-753-5606
If you go
What: SA Senate meeting When: 6 p.m. Sunday Where: Holmes Student Center’s Sky Room grievance policy for employees can be found at bit.ly/1Cya0mJ. For students, the ombudsperson can provide services for working out concerns with community members and can also direct students to information about the student grievance policy. Administrators should also host panels several times each semester so students can ask task force members questions and provide them with feedback in a face-to-face format. This will help students hold NIU and its officials accountable and will give them a greater voice in the future of the university. The SA Senate had its first reading of the resolution Sunday; at the next meeting, senators will vote on it. Administrators must act to renew student faith in NIU before then. Shared governance Another aspect of the SA Senate’s resolution is concerns about shared governance, which must be better defined. There is no definition for shared governance in NIU’s bylaws, and that muddies the issue of student involvement in program prioritization and future projects. The SA, faculty, staff and administrators should create a more clear set of guidelines for how students and their representative bodies, like the SA, are involved in university decisions. Those guidelines should not be strict, but they should promote student involvement in governance. NIU should meet with SA to talk about how student voices can be heard and how students can be involved in decision making when it comes to program prioritization. Without this definition and a greater effort to include students in program prioritization, shared governance will become an empty term.
Kelsey Brown | Northern Star File Photo
Diane Yunek, 53, of Sycamore, mans the table at the Chuck Siebrasse Corn Boil Aug. 30 at DeKalb Corn Fest. The Corn Boil was named after Siebrasse, a former chairman of Corn Fest.
See what’s a pass and what’s a fail as judged by Perspective Editor Rachel Scaman.
Pass
Voting will bring DeKalb together Corn Fest’s nomination for a Rockford Area Music Industry award is a great way to bring the community together with a common goal. Corn Fest used Twitter to ask people to vote on the Rockford Area Music Industry Award website for DeKalb Corn Fest in the special event category. Corn Fest is one of the events DeKalb has to bring everyone together for a day of fun. It’s exciting to see Corn Fest nominated because it will get locals involved in voting and may persuade people who haven’t been to the fall festival to go. It will also give DeKalb some fame since it’s such a small town. The voting will close at midnight March 21 and I encourage everyone to go vote before it’s too late. It’s always fun when DeKalb, or a DeKalb event, is in the running for an award, and I think Corn Fest deserves to take home the gold.
Fail
Printing survey questions biased The Student Association’s printing survey is a good way to get student input, but the questions shouldn’t be biased against allocating funds for printing. On Feb. 9, an email was sent to students with a link to the SA’s Student Printing Quota Survey. Toward the end, the SA’s opinion started to reflect through the questions. One question asks, “Should the university continue to allocate funds to provide free printing for students? Keep in mind allocating these funds to printing would not allow for advancement of other technologies (WiFi, computer labs, etc.).” Another question asks, “If you were given money to allocate to only 1 technology on campus what would that be?” Among the possible answers are advanced Wi-Fi connection and providing an iPad to every student at NIU. The survey should be unbiased and should ask questions that really gather student opinion about money going toward free printing.
Links To vote for Corn Fest for favorite special event, go to bit. ly/1KPcQrd. To take the SA’s printing quota survey, go to bit. ly/1zgrUdx.