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815-753-5606 | @NIUNorthernStar | NorthernStar.info/Opinion
Monday, Sept. 12, 2016
Northern Star
Perspective
Students should continue to get involved before it’s too late in the semester.
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Hanna Markezich | Northern Star
SA campaign falls short of intention Brooklynn Harper Columnist
A sexual assault allegation made on Aug. 16 against an NIU Greek Organization/Social Fraternity brings to light an important campus issue — sexual assault education must be provided in order to prevent these unfortunate situations. Beyond this, students must be willing to listen to the information they are given. One possible solution to this lack of information is the Student Association’s responsibility to promote the “It’s On Us” campaign. “It’s On Us” is a national campaign linked directly with President Obama and the White House. NIU’s SA is one of over 200 studentleadership teams that are working with the president of the United States to prevent sexual assaults on campus and among college students, according to an Oct. 12, 2015 Northern Star article. “I’ve never heard of the Student Association or their Sexual Assault Campaign,” said Adrienne Ray, freshman corporate communication major. The SA needs to get the word about this out; students cannot support a campaign which they do not
know exists. Ray was not the only student with this opinion. “There’s no way they’re helping to reduce sexual assaults, because they aren’t making themselves known. There’s no way it can work if people don’t even know about it”, said sophomore kinesiology major Ryan Jones. Jones has a point, the SA can’t make a difference if the students outside of the group aren’t listening. “Acts of sexual assault happen all over the country across many different communities and demographics. No community or demographic is spared from this reality. It is just simply an unfortunate fact of life that we all must be committed to addressing,” said SA President Giuseppe Lagioia. This is why he has recently met with representatives from the department of Wellness Promotion to discuss launching an updated campaign to build upon the one started in fall 2014. Lagioia says the SA plans to increase their efforts in becoming facilitators in the Bystander Intervention trainings. These are designed to raise awareness on how to intervene and help in situations such as sexual assault and various others. We have to do our part as students. This time, when they talk to us, let’s listen, and not just listen but participate. To paraphrase SA President Giuseppe Lagioia’s words, we all must be committed to addressing the issue of sexual assault if we hope to prevent it.
See what’s a pass and what’s a fail as judged by Columnist Maddie Steen.
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The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center has brought gender pronouns into the spotlight, urging students to discuss transgender issues. The fact that this issue is being openly discussed could be big news for the transgender community as well as the NIU community as a whole. By talking about this topic, we can create a more open and accepting environment for everyone. It is important that all students are able to express themselves as the person they are, rather than just the person they were born as. This topic has grown nationally but to bring it to campus shows the support those students deserve. Instead of being scared to talk about gender pronouns, it’s best to be open about it. Teaching others and being willing to learn will only create positive change and keep students from being ignorant to ideas they don’t understand. The Northern Star now directs its writers to ask interviewees for their preferred pronoun. Northern journalists are dispensed from determining whether the person they’re talking to is male or female, singular or plural — the subject of the article will be allowed to decide for him, her, them or itself. Everyone deserves respect and by addressing these topics, more students will become aware and interested in knowing the facts.
President Baker said we can blame the enrollment decline on general Illinois population decline and the fact that Illinois has the second-highest national rate of high school students leaving state for college, according to a Sept. 8 Northern Star article. This is still a big issue for NIU. After many program budgets were cut in the recent program prioritization report, it is important that we keep enrollment up before we have to cut even more. Fall enrollment dropped about 5 percent. If this decline continues like this annually, it could mean bad news for NIU. Maybe the school didn’t do anything to make less students apply, but now staff must be creative in their efforts in order to get numbers back up to where they should be. In order to get numbers up, plans have been made by the Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Committee to create partnerships with new community colleges. This along with no additional charge for tuition past 12 semesters will interest prospective students. Lowering the price of enrollment in general would be helpful considering the most recent NIU Data Book shows about a 60 percent increase since 2007. Without the level of state support from higher education, our enrollment numbers will continue to fall. It is imperative that our enrollment numbers continue to rise throughout the next few years.