Pass:

It’s been way too long since NIU has held a Homecoming concert. The university used to hold annual Homecoming concerts at the Convocation Center. Friday’s was the first one since 2006 when rapper Chingy performed with singer Tyrese and rapper Chamillionaire. DeKalb has a great music scene, yet we rarely seem to have big celebrities pass through anymore. Friday’s concert, which featured rappers Rich Homie Quan and Hoodie Allen, hyped students up for the weekend and gave kids another reason to stay on campus. Hopefully NIU can make the Homecoming concert an annual event again and keep it up for more than four years.

Fail:

Gov. Bruce Rauner will visit campus on Thursday — but not to talk to students about their future. Rauner will deliver the keynote address at the DeKalb County Economic Development Corporation’s Annual Dinner and State of the County on Thursday at the Holmes Student Center, Duke Ellington Ballroom. He has been locked in a stalemate with the General Assembly over an appropriate state budget for more than three months, an impasse that may jeopardize the future of Monetary Assistance Program funding, the reconstruction of an academic hall and state health insurance claims of NIU employees.