Editor’s note: This letter will be included in the Northern Star’s time capsule to be opened in April 2050. The time capsule will be sealed at 4 p.m. Wednesday within the walls of the Peters Campus Life Building.
Dear NIU in 2050,
A lot can and will change in 25 years. Northern Illinois University’s campus will probably look vastly different in 2050 than when this letter was written in 2025. Still, I am sure students will have the same drive and passions that we have at NIU today.
Fresh off of an election, political topics have been essential to our campus.
In our current political climate, the free press is more important than ever. Since President Donald Trump entered office in January 2025, he has attempted to control the political narrative. Misinformation spreads like wildfire. Trump makes claims not based in fact and even barred reporters of the Associated Press from attending and covering meetings.
America is in a time of uncertainty. A plethora of executive orders have threatened higher education, Diversity of Equity and Inclusion initiatives, undocumented individuals and international students.
Across the nation, hundreds of international students have had their visas revoked. As of April 2025, five students have had their visas revoked at NIU. We at the Northern Star were the ones who broke this fact to the concerned students at our university.
As student journalists, it is crucial to report on those in power and advocate for those who aren’t. That comes in the form of writing columns, critiquing figures like Trump and Elon Musk. We publish editorials, highlighting the harmful policies the current presidential administration supports. We cover protests, uplifting the voices of the DeKalb community.
And most importantly, we advocate for truth. It is paramount we write with integrity and give the NIU and greater DeKalb community factual reporting they can trust.
In the next 25 years, we will continue to advocate for the issues we hold dear. Regardless of who is working at the Northern Star, we will stay committed to the people and advocate for our First Amendment rights and the importance of the free press.
While this political turmoil is a highlight of conversations, there is still so much more that goes on in our day-to-day lives.
We have classes, many offered online – synchronous and asynchronous – and some hybrid. In- person classes still lead the charge, though. However, most of the work we do is online. We submit our assignments through Blackboard and anxiously check our grades at an easy click through our laptops or smartphones.
Social media is increasingly taking the world by storm as well. Many of us are experiencing TikTok addictions, doomscrolling and decreased attention spans as a result. In 2050, I am sure there will be a new social media that is all the rage, replacing our current obsessions with TikTok, Instagram and YouTube. We have already seen a recent decline in Facebook’s popularity. X, formerly known as Twitter, has fallen off especially as users search for alternatives – a response to the company’s ownership by Musk.
Early in 2025, TikTok was banned. The app has returned, but its fate still remains uncertain. In 2050, has the app been banned or just forgotten? Only time will tell. As we live your history, we dream of your present but, we cannot predict the future. We have no real gauge of what life will be like in 2050. We can only hope for the best, advocate for what matters to us and live every day to its fullest extent.
While technology, political climates, entertainment and so much more may be different in the future, we are all still Huskies. I hope NIU is still fostering friendships, learning and the community we know and love in 2050.
Best wishes,
Brynn Krug
Editor-in-Chief
