Whoever decided stark naked florescent strip lights on the roof ridges of the student center would somehow fittingly crown that prominent structure and were appropriately harmonious with the stately character suggested by limestone and copper, made a mistake.

In comparison, the residence hall towers appear elegantly lit. The understatement of Zulauf Hall as it looms unlighted against the night is certainly more appealing than the obnoxious, glaring, isolated pinnacle which overwhelms the student center.

I don’t pretend to be an arbiter of taste or an aesthetic authority, nor do I wish to deride anyone’s architectural intentions.

It is hard for me to believe, however, that someone actually intended our student center to look like a harlot on the horizon.

I think somebody attempting to visualize the lighting effect just made a mistake, as did the person or persons in the NIU bureaucracy responsible for approving the design.

I’ve made mistakes before. But if, in some lapse of discretion, for instance, I buy an ugly shirt, I don’t wear it until it’s threadbare.

I don’t make a public confession of my error, but neither do I make a public display of my folly by wearing the thing.

Whoever is responsible for the florescent fiasco atop the student center could follow a similar course.

Don’t admit you were wrong; you don’t need to. If it is within your power, decree that the lights be left unlit for the sake of the environment. It would be the absolute truth, even if not a single watt of electricity were conserved.

T.R. Biddle

Graduate Student

Psychology