I am writing to you in response to an article in which Paula Radtke had stated that she felt the “REG” stamp people were treated unfairly. These people did something wrong and fraudulent and got away with it. Unfortunately, many people do not know the whole story to the REG stamp issue. People had been using the REG stamp for years and last year some people got caught. (I’m not talking about those people who were innocent.) These people consciously falsified school documents to get into closed classes. There are more than 18,000 people at NIU and 60 of them felt they could beat the system by registering illegally.

I was personally offered the opportunity to use the REG stamp, but I chose not to. The guy who offered it to me had stolen a REG stamp for his fraternity, and had been using it for a couple of semesters. He was one of those who pleaded guilty and, like all who pleaded guilty, no punishment was given to him. He told me when he went up against the board that he lied and said he had to graduate in four years but couldn’t get some of the classes. Another guy from his fraternity REG-stamped his whole schedule. (Three of the classes were business permit classes.) He too lied and pleaded with the board for no punishment.

What irritates me and many others (not Paula Radtke) is that we, too, want to graduate in four years and some of us won’t be able to do so because of the registration process at NIU. We stood in add/drop lines for hours while they REG-stamped their schedule in five minutes. I believe our registration process is faulty, but I do not feel this should be the scapegoat for the guilty REG stamp offenders. If a student really needed a class he could find the means to do so legally. If those who were guilty really needed the classes then why weren’t they knocking on the doors of people who could help them? I’ll tell you why, because they’re lazy and ignorant and felt they could get the classes illegally, so why bother.

I know about 15 people who were found guilty and they told me they would have continued to use the stamp if they hadn’t gotten caught. These are not upstanding young individuals who accidentally registered illegally. They thought about the consequences and felt they could get away with it, and thanks to NIU’s board members, they did. In the real world if you do something illegal, you are charged with a felony; in a company if you do so, you get fired; but at NIU, they give you credit and tell you not to do it again. The students have proven to be cheaters and will continue to cheat in the real world and life. I hope that the board will reconsider and make the students retake the classes (which puts them right back where they started).

senior, name withheld

finance