Students are being left in the dark by little fault of their own, but must turn on the lights and get informed.

These same students have a chance to vote for or against a $1 fee to fund an organization that is supposed to represent their interests in the state legislature. But whether the organization does its job is what is in question, hence the vote.

It is this vote that they are left in the dark about.

A vote to continue funding the Illinois Student Association through student fees was scheduled for Monday; however, the deadline was extended with the help of Student Association President Rob McCormack.

The reason McCormack pushed for an extension was to allow students to give an informed vote on the referendum. But praise is not in order.

Michelle Emmett, director for University Programming and Activities, said she told McCormack and the other SA executives about the referendum and its voting deadline in May, and she reminded them in October. If this is the case, the SA executives should have been more prepared and hence made the students more aware.

An extension would not have been necessary if the SA had been more on the ball. The SA now has about two weeks, instead of an entire semester, to spread the message of what the ISA does—or doesn’t do—for students.

And the whole point behind the referendum is questionable as well. The ISA fee began as a two-year fee and would have come up for renegotiation this year anyway.

This shows nothing less than a lack of organization and planning.

However, the issue still stands as to whether the ISA is doing its job and deserves another year of student fees. The ISA claims in return for the $22,000 NIU students give it each year, $300 have been saved in tuition costs among other things.

With two weeks left before the vote, students need to make an effort to find out if this is true and what else the ISA has done for them because the senate will need all the help it can get.

It will take more than an SA office open to students questions and one ISA field representative to get the word out about the ISA, and even more difficult to get people to vote.

But if students want better representation in the state legislature, they need to let the ISA know. The vote is the best way to do it.

The ISA is an interest group for students in higher education. No other group lobbying in Springfield has university and college students as its primary concern.

No matter how students vote in the referendum, at least the ISA will get a message. If students reject the fee for the ISA, then it will realize it isn’t doing its job and hopefully will prompt ISA leaders to ask what it should be doing for students.

If students vote for the fee, then students will at the very least have given the ISA a pat on the back.

So, with the help of poor preparations by the SA executives and a two-week deadline, students are being left in the shadows. But there is still time to take the blindfolds off and turn on a light.