NIU came up with a great idea last year to help curb horrendous lines at the Bursar’s office but like many of any level of government’s great ideas this one got botched.

A second, satellite Bursar’s office was opened last year in Lincoln Hall for the convenience of students, particularly resident hall students.

As we all well know the first few weeks of school are the most barbarous ones for Swen Parson Hall. A second Bursar’s office might have halted a bit of the tidal wave.

One problem – it’s not open yet. Apparently the office didn’t open because one of the two full-time employees was ill. What’s the deal?

We’re not trying to make light of an employee’s illness, but this is definitely weird. Maybe we won’t have a newspaper tomorrow because Jami has the sniffles.

Do we now close university offices because someone is ill? It’s the busiest time of year for the Bursar, and Swen Parson has been swamped. If there is any time when both the students, who stand in lines, and the workers, who deal with the multitudes need it most, it would be now. Why even have the second office if it’s not there when we need it most?

It’s funny that, as the Bursar’s office pointed out, many students don’t even know about the Lincoln Hall outlet. It’s a ghost town during week one!

Most students believe the lines just come with the territory, we hardly think they’re just being martyrs. Nobody knows the office is there because when taking care of tuition payments in the beginning of the year the Lincoln option wasn’t available to them.

If we’re going to have this office let’s try to have it open especially at the beginning of semesters, if not, at least in the beginning of the school year.

It seems like a good idea to have a second office, it could prove to be a valuable resource for students and might even dent early-year Swen parson lines.

What the people in charge of this backup Bursar’s office need to do now is either find more people so that when someone is sick, there is someone to fill in or buy its workers a lot of vitamins.