About 100 people gathered at the Holmes Student Center’s Diversions Lounge on Wednesday night to discuss the viewpoints of Northern Star columnist Nick Arhos.

“We’re not here to play the victim or attack Nick Arhos but to raise awareness about these issues,” said Oliver Vazquez, a member of Organization of Latin American Students, which co-sponsored the presentation with the Latino Cultural Awareness Committee.

Arhos did not attend the forum.

“The discussion was scheduled without an invitation from the event’s organizers,” said Mark Bieganski, Northern Star Editor in Chief. “Fliers circulated on campus before we were told about the event, and when we tried contacting organizers, we were unsuccessful.”

Vazquez was among the panelists who discussed Arhos and his columns.

“I think that us being here has a whole lot more to say,” he said of Arhos’ absence.

The panelists talked about myths regarding what they called “undocumented” rather than “illegal” immigrants. The first myth they talked about was that Latinos come to the United States to take advantage of social services. However, panelists said Mexican-Americans come to the United States to work, and they usually work between 40 and 70 hours per week.

The second myth discussed was that immigrants take jobs from U.S. citizens. Panelists pointed out that most of the jobs they take are undesirable and that the average salary of these jobs is pretty low at about $7 an hour.

During the presentation, panelists also cited specific comments in Arhos’ articles that they disagreed with.

“I love how Nick Arhos thinks it’s only Mexican immigrants who come to America,” said Andrew Becerra, Student Association vice president, who was a member of the panel. “Only half are Mexican immigrants.”

Timothy Berg, a history teacher at Elgin Community College who also was on the panel, said Arhos appears to be Christian. However, he said in the Bible it says to “love thy neighbor” and to “not oppress the resident alien.” Berg challenged Arhos to read the “good book.”

Becerra said Arhos is entitled to his opinion. However, he said Arhos’ work is “hate-mongering” and the media should take responsibility and not allow such things to be printed.

Victoria Rosario, a senior music education major and public relations employee for LCAC, agreed.

“I think a lot of things written by Nick Arhos are propagating hate,” she said.

Omayra Rodriguez, a second-year law student, said it was important for Latinos to unite and fight back.

“There’s a lot of misconceptions that people have, and it’s not just Nick,” Rodriguez said.

She said they all should ask Arhos to resign from the Star.

Some students, however, didn’t speak poorly about Arhos.

“I don’t think anything bad about him,” said Guillermo Estrada, a junior math major and president of OLAS. “He just didn’t tell the whole story; he took the story out of context.”

Other students didn’t have a negative view on the situation.

“I came because I wanted to see the unity of the voices of Latinos on campus. I see it more like a beginning,” said Elizabeth Castillo, a senior psychology major.