In response to Mike Solley’s editorial on Oct. 26 about the JLS, the Day of Action was not a JLS affair. It was a SCOPA affair. That means there were other organizations represented. The Day of Action was organized not by the JLS, but a number of different organizations. True, there are 5 or 6 JLS members on SCOPA, but that’s a very small number compared to the rest of SCOPA.

I was in the protest, and I saw about 20 members of the JLS there. It is wrong for you to call the protest a JLS affair because it was simply not. It was made up of students against the tuition increase, not JLS members against the increase.

I invite the Star’s editorial staff to come to Thursday’s meeting at 9 p.m. in the Student Center to see who really leads the JLS. The members lead the JLS, not Jim Fabris. I saw other people leading the protest, but the Star chose to take Jim Fabris. Jim was not the only person speaking at the rally—about 9 other organizations participated.

The crowd at the highway was inexperienced, so Jim Fabris suggested that they sit down. The crowd chose to sit down.

The crowd of students went to the Star because they were upset about being put down by the Star’s editorial staff. Members of the Star called us “stupid” and “insane.” Dave Duschene had every right in the world to write that SCOPA should “shut up and pay the increase.” And SCOPA had every right in the world to protest at the Star.

Also, a Star editor tried to start a fight with Jim Fabris. I wonder what would have happened if a fight had broken out. I can just see the headline: “Jim Fabris, JLS member, strikes down Star editor.”

The JLS does not promote out-dated views. Is World War III an out-dated view? Is apartheid an out-dated view? We, the JLS, are not into hippie free-love crap. We understand that this is the ’80s and not the ‘60s.

The JLS is not looking for publicity for the group. We are looking for publicity for the issues. We have to get publicity for the issues because NIU is apathetic and unaware of the issues. For example, how many NIU students know that there are nuclear missiles on U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf?

I respect the editorial staff of the Star. They have a right to say what they want. But they crossed the line this time and lied. The rally was not JLS. It was angry students against the increase. These students consisted of different organizations of different political backgrounds.

Glen Szczypka – freshman anthropology