Well, I can’t say that I’ve read the New York Times lately, but I am an avid reader of the Star. And I find it very amusing that Mr. Hausmann finds it necessary to try and compare the two.

Perhaps Mr. Hausmann thinks that he can intelligently address foreign, economic and governmental policies in 350 words or less. (I don’t know; I haven’t seen a letter from him prior to Tuesday.) I must be stupid, though, for I can’t. And while I care deeply about some of these issues, the most important think in my mundane life at the moment is the quality of child care. But since Mr. Hausmann doesn’t seem to relate to civil rights or American Indian issues, he probably won’t find mommy problems important, either. Too bad, I guess I won’t write a letter about that.

But Hausmann has obviously decided that student columnists don’t qualify as part of the NIU student body that he so eloquently slams, or that the column content doesn’t count for intelligence. Once one gets past the nose-picking problem, the Star has printed several very thought-provoking columns on health care, cancer cures and brotherly love (by Craven, Schuh and Gonzalez respectively). But perhaps Mr. Hausmann isn’t interested in those issues either.

I’ve had the dubious pleasure of serving as assistant editor of my community college newspaper and we were damned glad to get any letters to the editor, PERIOD! (Oh, by the way, God must not qualify as an intelligent topic, either.) I think the NIU student body and community does a fine job of responding to the matters they care deeply about, issues of PROXIMITY (a journalistic term Mr. Hausmann may not be familiar with.) While they don’t interest Hausmann, they do interest some of the rest of us.

But in all fairness, perhaps Mr. Hausmann didn’t mean to be so critical and condescending; perhaps he meant to be informed and intelligent.

In the meantime, I will continue to read the Star (great job, Gonzalez!) in blissful ignorance and content myself with purely superficial ‘letters to the editor’.

Karen A. VanHoose

Junior

Communications