In today’s Northern Star (Weds.) Maura Jandris, intelligent lady that she is, wrote a nice article pointing to the dismal record of Illinois. Maura says that Illinois is ranked 50th nationally in state support of higher education. If my NIU education serves me correctly, I believe that there are only 50 states in this country. Does that actually mean that the “Land of Lincoln” is last? Oh, I think it does. Should we all be self-educated like the ol‘ express? Nah! That’s o.k., NIU’s reputation will never tarnish, fade, dull or otherwise dissipate. Or will it?

A small magazine titled U.S. News and World report (dated Oct. 4, but on the newsstands now) just published their 1994 College Guide, ranking 204 universities. Maybe you’ve heard of this publication, and maybe you haven’t, but you can buy one and turn to page 116 to discover a list of the best national universities in this country. Of course, NIU isn’t among them. To see NIU’s ranking you must go to page 118. There you can see that NIU ranks 170th in academic reputation in the nation. NIU also has the distinction of being rated last in this state.

(Is that where the idea for UNI came from?)

Suddenly I’m feeling a little sick, I’m worried about Maura. She’s an intelligent woman, but come on. How is she supposed to get a job with NIU’s reputation and current direction? OH NO!! Another thought, how will YOU get a job with a degree from NIU? I just don’t know.

Let’s face it, I am not a professional educator, and would never pretend to be. To ask for my plan on how to fix our system once and for all is to play a sick joke. Of course that doesn’t mean I’m brain dead and have no ideas. Are you ready for an idea? Maybe what we should do is hire some talent from another university to help fix NIU, and fire the people that got NIU in this awful mess. There’s an idea we can all live with. Something needs to be done, or soon none of us will be able to get jobs.

K.O. Johnson

Senior

Marketing