Reserve your spot today!

DeKALB, Ill. — As a public service in this presidential election year, the Northern Star Alumni board will host an on-campus panel discussion featuring three prominent in-state media voices: Mark Brown of the Chicago Sun-Times, Bruce Dold of the Chicago Tribune, and Bernie Schoenburg of the Springfield State Journal-Register.

The panel titled “Election 2012: What’s In It for Illinois?” will be open to the general public and the university community. It will be held on Sat., Feb. 25 at 3 pm (CST) at the Campus Life Building, Room 100, at the corner of Lucinda and Normal in DeKalb.

“For over a century in print and online, NIU’s student newspaper has been a vital public forum for national, regional, and local politics,” said Caron Blitz, president of The Northern Star alumni board. “In this election year, our group thought such a ‘live’ panel would be relevant for the community. We are extremely fortunate to have this distinguished group of journalists share their diverse perspectives from both Chicago and downstate. It should be a great event.”

Brown, a 1977 Northern Illinois University graduate and former Northern Star editor, enters his fourth decade on the Chicago Sun-Times and has served as full-time news columnist since 2000. Renown movie critic Roger Ebert called Brown the “best local columnist since Mike Royko. Chicago Magazine also recognized him in its “Best of Chicago”: issue. Brown also worked at the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa.

Dold, the editorial page editor at the Chicago Tribune since 2000 and a 1994 recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, has covered city, state, and national politics since joining the Tribune in 1978. He is responsible for the daily production of the Tribune editorial, “Voice of the People”, and “Commentary” pages. Under Dold’s direction, the Tribune editorial board has earned a dozen national awards, including the Pulitzer Prize in 2003.

Schoenburg, an Evanston native and Illinois-Champaign/ Urbana graduate, has covered politics since joining the Springfield State Journal-Register as city hall reporter in 1990 and becoming the newspaper’s political columnist in 1992. In 1993, he shared a national George Polk Award for a series of stories linking state contracts to political contributions. Schoenburg also has worked for the Associated Press in Chicago and the Bloomington Pantagraph.

Seating is limited, so reserve your seat now. While there is no charge for this event, tax deductible donations will be accepted at the door and are greatly appreciated to support the Star’s operations.

For more information on The Northern Star panel discussion, contact Maria Krull at 815-753-0707 or [email protected].