NIU’s 24-hour discrimination hotline is a novel idea, but it does not appear to be doing anything about discrimination that was not done before.

The hotline does serve as a central location for complaints of discrimination and can refer potential victims to the appropriate agency. And a central location allows for easy monitoring of the number of complaints.

It is doubtful, though, that a hotline needs to be in operation 24 hours a day. Even if the hotline receives a call, no sanctions against an offender can be levied until after a hearing is held, and in most cases, allegations of discrimination can be handled only during business hours.

If an act of discrimination is an emergency such as violence, witnesses or victims would be wiser to call the police than a discrimination hotline. Chances are the hotline would refer emergency calls to the police anyway, and that could waste valuable time in an emergency.

The poor response to the hotline is further evidence that the line does not need to operate 24 hours. Since March, the service has received no more than 15 calls. Such a small number of responses to the system does not warrant a 24-hour service.

The response could be considered encouraging however. The lack of calls is evidence that widespread discrimination is not happening at NIU.

Some might argue that the lack of response is because incidents are not reported, but this is unlikely given that the distribution of racially derogatory materials near campus makes national news. For the most part, NIU simply does not suffer from racism or discrimination as some would claim.

NIU can take pride that the few incidents of racism or discrimination are the exception and not the rule.