I would like to know more about the “‘publish or parish’ syndrom” (sic) that Miss McGinnis spoke of in her column of 11/30. I’m not sure what is the exact nature of a “syndrom,” but in light of its modifier “publish or parish,” I would guess that we are being told if university professors fail to publish the prescribed amount of papers, they have the option of either resigning themselves to join the Roman Catholic clergy or moving to Louisiana. How interesting. I would suppose that a similar fate looms before doctoral students as well; is the same true for other graduate students? If so, perhaps I should reconsider pursuing a master’s degree, since I am Protestant and not really fond of Louisiana at any rate.

I also recall that a few weeks ago, one of the other regular columnists informed us that John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 25, 1963. I found this to be interesting, since I had always heard and read that he was shot on the 22nd. Perhaps someone at The Northern Star got wind of some little known fact, like JFK lived after being shot but succumbed three days later to his wounds. Have you notified the men who were in charge of the Warren commission about this? I’m sure that with this spectacular information, you could get them to re-open the investigation.

Such examples are nothing new; I have noticed typographical errors and the like all semester. Perhaps I am mistaken, but I would think that the first step towards excellence in journalism would be to use a proofreader to check for spelling, grammatical, and factual/historical errors, et cetera. Perhaps I am speaking in my naivete—or perhaps the staff of The Northern Star isn’t serious enough to be committed to excellence in journalism.

Janet Norbrothen

Graduate Student

Mathematics