NIU administrators should be encouraged by a recent survey of students but also be wary that it might not reflect more than a knee-jerk response.

A survey, commissioned by The Northern Star, gauged student attitudes at NIU and came up with some positive results. It found, among other things, that 81 percent of NIU students would come back if they could make the choice again.

Two-thirds of the students surveyed found NIU’s nonacademic services to be above par while nine out of ten thought the quality of education was worth some praise.

NIU administrators should be pleased with this approval.

However, it would be a mistake for them to assume positive student attitudes imply a committed and enthusiastic student body.

Despite the satisfaction the survey suggests, the NIU student body remains conspicuously inactive, if not apathetic. Turnouts for campus sporting events, cultural activities and lectures are usually only fair and often embarrassingly sparse.

A sizeable amount of off-campus students might contribute to the disunity but this cannot be the whole answer.

With this lack of involvement so evident, administrators should wonder how much merit the student approval shows in the survey.

Administrators should not be misled by a survey when there is such obvious apathy on campus.