This is your newspaper. Use it.

The Northern Star offers the NIU and DeKalb communities a forum for which to express ideas. Those ideas might be an advertiser telling the consumer why they should shop at the business, a student or long-time DeKalb resident looking for a job or the same person trying to sell something.

What it is, in every conceivable absolute, is yours. The Star is operated by students. Students make the decisions with the help of advisers. Students report the stories. Students sell the advertisements. Students physically put the paper together and then distribute the final copy each school day.

As students, we are working for you. You read the newspaper and therefore are special to us. Without you, our efforts are fruitless. Without you, are advertisers could be in financial straights. Without you, other people looking for help would be in a bind.

So use it. Keep up-to-date with what is happening in DeKalb and NIU. Read the newspaper to find out how the DeKalb City Council is affecting your life. Find out how the NIU administration is trying to make your stay in DeKalb a little more beneficial.

Find out how the athletic teams are doing. Take a glance at some pressing state and national issues affecting you or your family.

These are the Star’s editorial pages. Each day, you will find provocative opinions meant to stir emotions and inform.

This space is reserved for editorials. The editorials are opinions of the editorial board, as the box directly above indicates. Please, these opinions are by no means those of the university’s, the Star’s advisers or any other faculty and staff. They are the newspaper’s stance.

Columns run right next door and will have the author’s name and picture. These people work for the Star in some capacity and express their opinions only.

The following page is yours. Write a letter to the editor and let everyone know what you’re thinking. More often than not, you will have some insight on a timely topic or criticism of NIU programs, DeKalb efforts or the Star’s coverage. Let us hear from you.

Your page also will feature some timely and informative columns from NIU offices. Learn about the latest developments and opportunities from the Student’s Legal Office or the Health Enhancement Services. Again, these columns are for you and are the author’s opinion. You can take it or leave it. It’s your paper.

Unfortunately, we can’t always accommodate everyone. Anything submitted to the Star becomes our property. Letters to the editor will be edited for punctuation, grammar, length and any potentially libelous material. Because of space limitations, concise letters might appear before lengthy ones.

In a letter to the editor, enclose your name, age, year in school, phone number and address. We will verify all letters with the authors. Letters without names will not be published.