I am a 1978 graduate of NIU with a degree in journalism. I read the Northern Star on the Internet almost everyday. The Star helps me maintain contact with my university. Year after year, I am always impressed by the overall quality of the writing in the Star. Good work.

Today, I read the Star’s perspective on the field house renovation. I have no comment on the situation because I have not seen the renovation or understand the problem with the hours. I do, however, take exception to the phrase “the desperately unnecessary Convocation Center.” What is the mind-set of someone who would write something like that?

Prior to the Huskie Stadium renovation and the building of the Convocation Center, I heard for 25 years from students and alumni about how woefully inadequate our facilities at NIU were. To be a first-class state university, this school needed better facilities. Better facilities attract better athletes. Better athletes means winning. Winning means more people at games. When those people come back to NIU, they spend money on both that day’s activities and then as donors. Is there any question between the success of the football team and the great exposure NIU received last year? Put a winning basketball team in the Convocation Center, and it will fill up, bringing more money into the university, making it better for future students.

Didn’t Mr. Barsema come back for a Homecoming game, see a need for a new business facility and then provide the money for one?

Doesn’t the Convocation Center provide a better venue for entertainment? If the building is not being utilized to its full potential, it’s not the building’s fault – it’s the people running it.

The Chick Evans Field House was quaint, but nothing more than a big, old high school gym. During the early ‘80s, the school felt that the field house was so inadequate that they played the “big” games against schools such as DePaul, Wisconsin and Marquette at the Metro Center in Rockford. Taking games off campus and away from students was a ridiculous idea. Why does the idea of having a good venue for sports and entertainment on our campus bother the Star so much?

I agree that the true measure of a school should be reflected in the success of its programs and alumni. But to maintain a school’s financial foundation, it must depend (unless it’s Harvard) on a certain amount of exposure. The way to do that is to have a competitive sports environment.

George Hahne

NIU alumnus