I am very disappointed in the Northern Star. There was no publication about the Take Back the Night event in Wednesday’s paper. Take Back the Night is a form of protest against sexual violence. The Women’s Alliance organized the event to raise awareness about sexual assault and to end the silence of its victims. I believe sexual violence is still a major problem on most college campuses across the nation, including NIU. In fact, earlier this week, the Star did run an article about a young man who was arrested for sexual assault. Obviously, this is a real issue, but the Star has chosen only to focus on the negative rather than the positive efforts of the DeKalb community to end sexual violence.

Take Back the Night was an empowering evening, held last Tuesday night, where men and women screamed chants against sexual violence throughout campus. At the end of the march, the group of more than 50 people gathered at the fire pit at the lagoon. Diane Kinney, Voices for Change leader, talked about rape and sexual assault in our community. Kinney made important comments about how sexual assault does not happen because of what a man or a woman wears or how he or she acts but because someone has made a choice to make an assault. Kinney informed the group that when she counsels victims of sexual violence, she is usually the last person they come to because the victims turn to their friends and family first. Therefore, we must all be aware of the problem and how we can take preventative measures and be able to help sexual assault victims. Kinney also mentioned that she realized she knew more women who were victims of sexual assault than not.

The Star needs to focus on these communal efforts for change if they are to fully represent the NIU community. Just showing a photograph of the protest does not do too much when there are so many real issues at hand. I propose that, instead of stuffing Northern Star pages full of advertisements of scantily clad exotic dancers, there be more articles of interest to the real issues that affect NIU.

Alison Erazmus

Senior, photography