The Illinois legislature must feel insecure about itself if it feels the need to tell NIU to shut up and do it the state’s way.

This was the attitude taken when the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill over the summer telling Illinois universities they cannot kick out the Reserved Officer Training Corps because the military bans homosexuals from service.

Naturally, this reverses the resolution the University Council made last year to give ROTC their walking papers in 1992 unless the homosexual ban was lifted.

Whether or not NIU should give the boot to ROTC is not the point. The problem is that Illinois government thinks they have to make a law to stop a controversy. Their over-reaction is an insult to NIU and other universities who should have the capability of making reasonable decisions.

But NIU did not exactly fight the decision, either. NIU President John La Tourette seems very willing to bow to the whims of the state and the Board of Regents has taken a “hands-off” attitude as if they had nothing to say.

The legislature certainly has the right to pass any bills regarding their universities, but that does not mean the ROTC bill was necessary. NIU students and officials should have a major hand in decisions regarding their own campus, and the state of Illinois should give us the respect we deserve.