It isn’t about winning the argument; it’s about making your point.

This was the point William B. Schiller, attorney at law and adjunct lecturer at Northwestern University, tried to get across during his lecture on immigration issues Tuesday night in the Stevenson Towers Multipurpose Room.

The event, hosted by Sigma Lambda Beta, has been in the works since January said Andy Lopez, senior industrial engineering major, but recent immigration rallies and legislation brought on a new tone to the event.

“We had something planned but we didn’t know what to do until Spring Break,” Lopez said. “Then we found out about Mr. Schiller, and we decided to bring him out.”

The event that got the ball rolling was the now infamous immigration demonstration in Chicago March 10.

Schiller came into the picture because he is a well-known immigration lawyer. Schiller has spoken at NIU several times in the past but this is only the second time he has come to speak on immigration issues and probably the first time he has spoken in front of an all-student audience, he said.

While Schiller discussed a lot about new immigration law and reform, as well as the importance of double-checking the news, the meat of his speech focused on how students, or anyone for that matter, can get involved and make their arguments more effective when faced with someone with anti-immigration views.

“When you bring immigration down to a single level it becomes human again,” Schiller said. “When you can explain immigration on a one-on-one basis, that it’s not an evil thing. That’s really the only way that you’re going to convince that person who [disagrees].”

Schiller also emphasized the numerous immigration reform organizations which students can join as well as the importance of corresponding with ones political representatives. He even included a handout from the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights which gives details about how to contact senators, including Illinois senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, as well as a suggested script to use.

“I think it went well; the turn out [was good],” Lopez said. “I hope people got educated on how they could help out in immigrant issues and just hopefully just keep reading up on certain issues that will affect them in the future.”