NIU’s Student Association is fighting to make sure students get heard before the graduation ceremony’s invocation and benediction are axed.

Removing the prayers was suggested by Commencement Committee member Bruce Kremer, who cited a conflict in presenting religion in a public institution.

There are no students on the committee.

Additionally, some objections were raised because the committee does not have the power to remove the non-denominational prayers. The decision will eventually fall in NIU President John La Tourette’s lap.

SA Campus Welfare Adviser Curt Stein, who is spearheading the SA’s drive, said he has received at least six calls from students who disagree with the committee’s recommendation.

Nobody ever publicly having problems with the brief prayers before and the fact graduation is the culmination of the college experience are the two biggest reasons students want to hear the prayers when they are waiting in their caps and gowns.

“The first stems from the fact that there have been no complaints or outcries—to anyone’s knowledge—that there is a problem with having the benediction and invocation,” Stein said.

Stein added he confirmed the lack of an outcry with commencement committee chairman Lea Houdek. “From my talk with Lea on the subject, she told me that it’s the function of the commencement committee to do the physical planning for the graduations,” he said. “The colleges themselves are the ones who are in charge of the content of the commencement exercises, and she did not feel that her committee was the proper place to make that kind of decision.

“Secondly, and much more importantly from the SA’s standpoint, graduation is the culmination of the college experience,” Stein said.

Besides, Stein said, students should have a say in any material change in the graduation ceremony.

Stein said, “Graduation is the students’ day. It’s there for our benefit, not for the faculty’s benefit. They’re there to help bestow the honors of graduation to students.”

Stein wrote Provost Kendall Baker and La Tourette about the proposal. “I’d hope before a final decision is made regarding this issue of the removal of the benediction and invocation, students would have an opportunity to express their input,” Stein said.

La Tourette and Baker could not be reached for comment.