Listing a few, little campus problems

By Claudia Curry

Mondays usually mark the beginnings of my weekly column idea searches. They usually end on Tuesday nights after I have painstakingly screened every current publication known to man and made a final decision on what shall be the topic if the week.

Well, no matter how much I tried I could not pick just one topic this week. Realizing that I have only four more columns remaining in my stint as Thursday columnist, I have come to the decision that…I gotta get a move on.

So many things have not been commented on, and to get the ball rolling—these issues need no introduction…

NIU parking. I don’t have a car up here. I don’t have a car, period… but there is nobody at NIU I empathize with more than: a.) commuter students who have nowhere close to campus to park after their lot fills up, b.) faculty members who have to walk all the way across campus to get from their parking space to their classrooms and c.) the poor souls who live in Neptune Hall and are expected to realistically share the west parking lot. These residents usually end up parking their cars in the gravel lot by the towers. So, where is the NIU Parking Committee and what exactly is it doing?

NIU Late Night Ride Service. The whole concept of Late Night Ride Service is noble and the SA Mass Transit Board gets my applause for providing this exceptional and successful community service, but as for the riders—they might want to take full advantage of this service while they are still NIU students and a part of their student fees supports the program.

However, they might want to keep in mind that there is no Friendly Late Night Ride Service after graduation. This means that after they are no longer NIU students and go off into “the real world,” they will be expected to drink responsibly and be able to secure their own safe rides home. So, why not start now?

CAB Films. Is it just me or does everybody like to hear the dialogue when they go to the movies? Why is it that some people will pay $1.50 to attend the Sunday, 10 p.m. CAB movie and then want to talk through the whole thing?

I realize that CAB is trying to solve the problem. They even go as far to say that loud or rambunctious showgoers will be kicked out of the theater, but I’d like to know, how many people have actually been thrown out of the shows? Considering the amount of noise which still exists at the Sunday night show, I’d have to guess that not too many people feel threatened in any way by the red coats.

In the end this is not a CAB problem, but an NIU student problem. We, as a group, simply do not have enough respect for each other. Some of us didn’t learn or don’t care that there are two places in our society that are supposed to be quiet, 1) the library (oh, and you can’t write in the books either) and 2) the theater.

If you’re one of those infamous chatter-mouths which consistently attend the Sunday night show, I have news for you—you are not the only person in the world. Oh, what am I thinking? Those people aren’t reading this… they’re too busy walking in front of moving buses or standing in front of the HSC television or something.