About 100 African-American and Latin- American students gathered in the King Memorial Commons Monday at noon to protest two recent Northern Star editorial columns.

The protest progressed to the Star’s offices in Altgeld Hall and later to NIU President John La Tourette’s office in Lowden Hall.

The protested columns were written by Star columnists

Eric Krol and Phil Dalton last week.

The group of students marched into the Star’s offices after the rally chanting, “Together, united, we will not be divided.”

Marcus Lee, president-elect of the NAACP, said students are “tired of the racist journalistic practices that have been going on at the Star for years.

“It’s time for the Star to take responsibility for what they write,” Lee said. “We’re also tired of the administration pretending nothing happens here.”

Richard Baker, president of the NAACP, said La Tourette issued a letter dated April 23, which was addressed to the editor of the Star.

The letter states, “I am deeply concerned about two recent columns in The Northern Star. While supporting freedom of expression, I also advocate a responsible press and a campus environment that is conducive to learning for all students.”

Baker said the Star was wrong for not printing the letter in Monday’s paper.

Abe Andrzejewski, Student Association president-elect, said he was disappointed when he read Krol’s column.

“After five years of school here, Eric still has not learned one of the most important lessons we should all learn at college—respect,” Andrzejewski said.

“Eric’s use of the derogatory term … is sure-fire evidence that the administration has failed to take effective effort to address issues of race and culture and understanding on campus,” he said.

SA Sen. Nicole Howell said she was offended personally by Krol’s column.

“Krol’s column on Monday stated, ‘In her ignorant state, Howell fails to realize that last fall as managing editor of the Star, I came up with the newspaper’s first written set of guidelines on the use of race and gender,'” Howell said.

“If those guidelines were effective, comments like those that were printed would never have been allowed to be printed,” Howell said. “Those guidelines failed.

“Krol called me ignorant,” she said. “He doesn’t know me, my background or anything. He’s the ignorant one.”

Che Ford, senior criminology major, said he was unhappy with the administration at NIU.

“We don’t need any of those negro, boot-lickin,‘ Uncle Tom administrators here,” Ford said. “They are wicked demons who are trying to undermine our people.”

Collin Halliman, Alpha Phi Alpha vice president, said he wants students who are upset with the Star to take their student fee support away.

“We have rallies like this every year,” Halliman said. “Take your money out of the Star if you don’t like what it’s doing. Don’t read it and don’t support it.”

Dave Lugardo, Sigma Lambda Beta member, said Latin-American and African-American students have never united like this before.

“If the thought of us coming together scares the administration, all I have to say is ‘Boo!'” Lugardo said.

However, few of the protestors were able to give guidelines on how the Star might improve its racial sensitivity.

Suggestions centered around the Star’s employment policy. The protestors said the Star should hire more minority reporters.

At present, the Star has an open door policy for the employment of general assignment reporters. Applications for employment at the Star were distributed to the protestors.

During a meeting with two editors of the Star Monday after the rally, Lee called for the Star to produce a written statement stating that any Star employee who makes a racist comment will be fired, and Lee called for Krol and Dalton to be fired immediately.

The protestors then left the Star and walked across Castle Drive to Lowden Hall where they asked to be heard by La Tourette. SA Sen. Trevor Rice, who spoke on behalf of the protestors waiting outside on the steps of Lowden, asked La Tourette to meet with the protestors.

La Tourette went outside to meet with the protesters who demanded he take action on the issue immediately. Perez asked La Tourette what he was going to do about the allegations made against the Star.

“I have not yet received a report on the situation, but I am very much concerned about what’s going on,” La Tourette said. He said he understood the situation and had written a letter to the editor of the Star, which he said, was the only means he had to communicate with the students.

“I think we need to work together as opposed to against each other,” he added.

The protestors asked that a formal meeting with La Tourette take place immediately. La Tourette said he would rather wait until Tuesday when he could have the “appropriate staff” present, including Vice President for Student Affairs Barbara Henley, University Legal Counsel George Shur and Judicial Office Director Larry Bolles.

Baker asked La Tourette to reconsider a six-year-old proposal to move the Star off-campus and make it independent from NIU. La Tourette said the proposal had been disregarded, but “I think what we need to do is talk about that issue again.”

He added that such a discussion would have to take place “in a deliberate fashion. You don’t make this kind of decision out in the open air in just two minutes.”

La Tourette said to ask him to make such an immediate decision “is like asking me to stand up against the wall and be shot in two minutes. I mean, let’s be reasonable here.”

He promised to meet with the protestors Tuesday afternoon in the Holmes Student Center and at their request, put the agreement in writing.

The meeting will be at 4 p.m. in Diversions.