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Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016
Northern Star
815-753-5606 | @NIUNorthernStar | NorthernStar.info/Opinion
Teaching assistants should be evaluated more frequently
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Columns Columns reflect the opinion of the author. Editor in Chief and Publisher: Leah Nicolini Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0105 Managing Editor: Nick Bosshart Editor@NorthernStar.info News Editor: Madison Kacer Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9643 Digital Editor: Kaylyn Zielinski Editor@NorthernStar.info Perspective Editor: Angela L. Pagan Editor@NorthernStar.info Sports Editor: Scott A. Nicol Sports@NorthernStar.info Scene Editor: Jay Ibarra Editor@NorthernStar.info Photo Editor: Andy Cozzi Editor@NorthernStar.info
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Faith Mellenthin | Northern Star
Students must learn to avoid fraudulence
Lagana, acting executive director of Career Services . Lagana said internship promoters usually partner up with the department About us and continue to work with them The Northern Star is a limited public and students throughout the year. forum whose content is determined excluNIU Police warned students Maddie Steen sively by its student editors. Information about other scams including presented in this newspaper and its web- Columnist site is not controlled by NIU administrabank fraud involving debit tion, faculty or staff. Students cannot be helpless and cards, according to a Sept. 14 The Northern Star has a circulation of must learn to protect their bank NIU Today article. In this situa10,000 Mondays through Thursdays. It accounts against possible scams. tion, students are approached by publishes online at NorthernStar.info Monday’s through Fridays. Going to college means gaining someone and are guaranteed fast A single copy of the Northern Star is free. financial responsibility and promoney if they provide their debit Additional copies are 50 cents. tecting one’s money from scamcard information which is then mers. When student loans are alused to make charges or write Letters to the Editor Letters should not exceed 300 words and ready being dumped on our heads, checks. may be edited for clarity and brevity. the last thing anyone needs is to be The student is told by the scamThe deadline for a letter is 4 p.m. one scammed out of more money. mer to report their bank card as day before the desired date of publicaTwo individuals walked into stolen long after they make these tion. Submissions may be held due to space limitations. separate classrooms handing out charges with a promise to split Letters written by students should “internship” information and the money. The student’s bank is include the author’s year and major. collected student information on then left to pay. A student can be Letters should include a phone number where the author can be reached. Phone “interest” cards Aug. 31, according charged with various counts of numbers will not be published. Letters to a Sept. 12 NIU Today article. Class 4 felonies by reporting the may be submitted to Editor@NorthernAlthough it might have seemed scam as a stolen credit or debit card Star.info. like a legitimate offer at the time, if they have knowledge it is not, the professors had no prior knowl- according to the article. Advertisement policy The Northern Star does not knowingly ac- edge of the individuals coming to “This quick cash opportunity cept advertisements that discriminate on their classroom. encourages students to do the the basis of sex, race, creed, handicapped NIU Career Services works with wrong thing, which is to take the or veteran status or sexual orientation. organizations who come to promote bait,” wrote NIU Police Chief Nor does the Northern Star knowingly print ads that violate any local, state or internships and career opportunities Thomas Phillips in a Sept. 14 federal laws. on campus which means professors NIU Today article. To place an advertisement, contact the are always aware of speakers prior to Young people are falling into Northern Star advertising team at 815a visit, according to the article. fraud tricks faster than any other 753-0108 or ads@NorthernStar.info. To view advertising rates, go to Students should ask professors age group. 18- to 24-year-olds NorthernStar.info/site/advertise/. what knowledge they have about are the top demographic losing the potential internship being money to scammers; 11 percent of Hiring announced before they provide seniors lost money to scams while Student employees must carry a minimum of six NIU semester hours and any information. 18- to 24-year-olds tripled that at must have a cumulative grade-point People who come to campus to 34 percent, according to the Better average of 2.0 or better. share internship opportunities Business Bureau website. Students of all majors and experience schedule a visit to speak about it We as students need to be levels are welcome to apply. Apply at NorthernStar.info/apply. with a department, said Brandon aware and able to recognize a Departments Newsroom: 815-753-0105 Advertising: 815-753-0107 Classifieds: 815-753-0707
NIU eases transfer of class credit Northern Star Editorial Board
Editorial Board Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board.
Other Advertising Manager: Jonathan Davila Ads@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0108
Perspective
scam when it’s presented to us. Students are targeted because we are new to financial independence, deal with more technology and when money and internships are presented to us for free, why wouldn’t we want to take them? “I would encourage students to understand [first off,] if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and [secondly,] take a minute to step back and say, ‘do you really want to share this information?’ ” said Director of Student Conduct Jeanne Meyer. Falling victim to a scam could leave a student in an unfortunate situation. Through scams, identities can be stolen and used. As students, our credit scores are just now being created. If a scammer gets a hold of that information, students can kiss their good credit score goodbye. Bad credit can make future purchases difficult; when a student is finally ready to buy their first house or car, a past scam could ruin that big-life step.
For more information • To learn more about protection from scams, visit Career Services at scamprotect.niu.edu. • Victims of a scam or those who know about others occurring on campus should file a report with Career Services or the NIU Police Department. • Call NIU Police at 815-753-1212 or call the NIU Police tip line to remain anonymous at 815-753-8477.
The process for students to move from one college or university to NIU is almost seamless with NIU’s direct approach in accepting course credit. Universities need to have a welldeveloped transfer process that will encourage more students to transfer to its university, which is something NIU has already established. More than 50 percent of students at NIU have credits from other institutions, according to NIU’s website. “It was easy to transfer; all my credits transferred,” said senior psychology major, Joseph Crookshank. Crookshank transferred to NIU from Rock Valley College in Rockford. The Illinois Articulation Initiative has made transferring simple for those moving from another Illinois college to NIU. This initiative created a package of lowerlevel general education courses called the Illinois Articulation General Education Core Curriculum to make it easier for students to transfer to other Illinois schools, according to the Illinois Transfer portal. Students who are looking to transfer from an Illinois community college to NIU can find easy-to-read tables on NIU’s website that break down every course from their college to what credit it could be transferred to at NIU. After transfer students are accepted to NIU, they can look at what courses from their other college transferred into a course at NIU. Those courses that do not align with another course can still be accepted by taking the course syllabus and an unofficial transcript from their previous college to the course department for it to be looked over. If the department agrees, it will be accepted and credit can be given for that course, according to the NIU International Admissions webpage.
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It was easy to transfer; all my credits transferred.” Joseph Crookshank Senior psychology major
For example, if a student has already taken a graphic design course for journalism at an outside college, yet it did not transfer initially, that student can take their syllabus and unofficial transcript to the journalism department adviser and have the course approved to count towards that NIU course. The Northern Star Editorial Board commends NIU for allowing transfer students an easier transition to a new university. It should be widely known that students do not have to retake the same course twice even if the course did not directly transfer into the NIU course. With more information available to students about the ability to have a transfer course reevaluated, the NIU’s transfer process would be seamless for all transfer students.