Some meteorology majors still feel as if they are being snowed by NIU officials who have not yet confirmed if they plan to drop the program.

But meteorology professors believe the program will continue despite the financial concerns of the administration.

Students in the meteorology program, a subdivision of the geography department, are still waiting for answers about rumors that the program will be cut because of a lack of funds.

Some students feel they have made no progress since The Northern Star printed about the demise of the program on Sept. 26.

Geography Department Chairman Don Maxfield said, “As of yet, there are no new developments, but the geography department is looking for solutions in favor of keeping the program.”

Maxfield said he does not know when a decision will be made.

Until then, the students are left in limbo because NIU is the only school in Illinois that offers an undergraduate program in meteorology.

Some are concerned about the limited number of professors in the department. At present, there are three professors teaching all courses. But it is the feeling of most of the faculty that the program will stay.

Associate meteorology professors Douglas ReVelle and Allen Staver said they feel the program will probably survive. ReVelle said the three professors recently received letters from the heads of the department asking them what they thought they needed to keep the program running, in reference to new equipment and funds to maintain present equipment.

“The professors gave estimates and they have not heard any news yet, which I feel is encouraging,” he said.

Jim Noel, a junior meteorology major, said getting the issue out in the newspaper is helping. “It needed attention and it helped because it’s not all hush-hush now,” he said.

The solution is to hire another professor, Noel said.

However, some students are still insecure as to whether the program will be here because nothing has been confirmed.

Michael Joyce, a meteorology graduate student, came to NIU from Texas in August. Joyce worked as an intern at WGN in Chicago where Tom Skilling, WGN weather personality, highly recommended NIU’s meteorology department to him.

Because Joyce is a post-graduate, he is mostly concerned with the graduate program. He said he approached Maxfield after the article was printed and was told, “If anything was going to be cut, it would be the graduate program.”

“I get to class and the morale level in the whole department is really low,” Joyce said. He noted the students do not really know where they stand.

Meteorology majors Amy Gustafson and Dan Koch approached Maxfield in September when the rumors first surfaced and told the Star at that time they found Maxfield to be “evasive.” Neither has approached him since the article appeared.

Now, Gustafson said she is concerned because, “They (administation) say it is not going to happen, but no one has confirmed it. I don’t think Maxfield is happy with what we have started,” she said.

But Koch said, “Now that the issue is out in the open, I don’t think it is as big of a concern as it was before.” He said it has been quiet lately around the department.