Northern is now being compared to schools like Stanford, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, U of I Champaign and UW Madison. Is it because of our academics? No. Is it because of our athletic programs? Of course not. It is because of our racist activities.

Why are people racist? Are we not all human? Do we not feel joy, love, anger, sorrow? Do we not hurt if someone insults us? Why do people make judgments on others simply because of color or cultural differences?

I think it is time the students, faculty and staff at Northern do something about this terrible problem on our campus. The California University system is developing a program that they call the California Compact. The theory behind this is that “in the 60s, there were huge issues on campus which united students. Vietnam. Civil rights. Today, nothing produces that transcendence over differences. So we get student goups of different ethnic backgrounds competing.” (UCLA Vice Chancellor Winston Doby, quoted in College Woman, November/December 1988, page 8). The California Compact is a proposed program which will help students unite against current issues of “urban blight,” such as illiteracy, hunger and crime, instead of fighting one another because of racial differences.

I would like to propose that all the students on Northern’s campus who are against racism, those who support the concept of Unity Through Diversity, write letters to the Student Association and to President LaTourette asking that NIU provide students, faculty and staff with opportunities to work together to combat real “urban blight” issues rather than fight over cultural differences.

This is what college is about: helping each other to become the best possible. It is not a place to foster hatred and fear.

JoEllen M. Simpson

Graduate Teaching Intern

English