Conflicting attitudes exist about racism at NIU and in DeKalb, said an award-winning WNIU radio reporter.

WNIU’s Linda Muszalski received an award from United Press International for her feature report on campus racial incidents last semester.

“I realized that there was something more going on,” Muszalski said. “The piece was important to me because the more I talked to people, the more conflicting stories I was hearing.”

Assigned to cover a workshop dealing with racism on college campuses, she realized “the conflict of opinions about the various incidents on campus.”

Muszalski said she thought on several occasions that The Northern Star’s information conflicted with DeKalb Police information. She said she wanted to achieve a “balanced view” of the situation.

The feature included conflicting opinions from DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow, Chris O’Banner, Black Student Union prime minister, and Student Association President Huda Scheidelman.

Muszalski said Sparrow feels there were scattered racial incidents on campus, but does not believe there is a deeper racism problem in DeKalb. Sparrow also mentioned a “definite” need for better relations between NIU and DeKalb, Muszalski said.

Scheidelman said she is disappointed about the lack of investigation of incidents, Muszalski said. O’Banner said the important thing is to search for the truth, even if it can never be found.

Muszalski received second place in the investigative-documentary category in Radio Division II, where UPI subscribers have news teams of five or fewer people. The award came from UPI’s yearly competition with nearly 50 other stations in the category.

Also receiving awards were WNIU reporter Tony Thomas, who did a sports feature on the Chicago Cubs, and Lester Graham, a WNIU daily news reporter.