The beginning of student’s college career is a time for a person to adapt to and build impressions about college life. These impressions can be positive or negative, but each student has a right to form impressions for themselves.

Wednesday, at the first CHANCE program meeting of the 1988-89 academic year, CHANCE Director Leroy Mitchell told the students in the program, “You can look for negative stories in The Northern Star, but don’t let that determine your future; don’t allow a student reporter to determine whether or not you make it.” And Mitchell says the Star is negative?

Three implied misconceptions about the Star in Mitchell’s statement must be clarified. First, the Star is not a negative newspaper. The Star exists for one reason—to inform the university community about the campus and city—good or bad. The Star never sets out to be negative. However, if the facts are negative, such as the CHANCE program’s 20 percent rate of graduation, they must be reported.

Second, Star employees want to see all NIU students, including those in the CHANCE program, graduate from college and make a positive contribution to society. In no way is any student reporter trying to impede that end.

Third, no student could be so heavily influenced by what a student reporter writes that it stops the person from being an effective student, let alone trying to graduate.

Obviously, Mitchell thinks the Star is responsible for spreading a negative attitude. However, if he would look closely at what he said about the Star Wednesday, he might find that he is spreading a negative attitude.

The students in the CHANCE program should be allowed to build their own impressions about the Star and the rest of the university.