If you are a student living in a residence hall, and you walk into your bathroom and find feces in your sink, wouldn’t you want to know what happened and what your CA is planning to do about it?

If you feel this question is in poor taste, rest assured that we on the Star Editorial Board do as well.

We feel that NIU is a serious school with ultimately serious students who are concerned with all aspects of their academic career. Thus, we view the recent incidents of feces being found in the restroom sinks of Grant Towers North C-Tower and Lincoln Halls D-wing to be completely disturbing.

It goes without saying that the individual(s) who is/are responsible for this need either to be reprimanded severely or ultimately expelled. A thought process that looks at a sink as a toilet and can’t decide what to do is not Division I worthy. It’s not even community college worthy.

However, what does not go without saying is the policies of Student Housing and Dining Services that do not allow Community Advisers to talk to the media about these incidents.

Why not?

While human feces has been the stuff of humor over the years, what it can do to you is certainly not funny in the least. Exposure to feces can include giardia (a parasitic infection of the small intestine), E. coli and Hepatitis A and B. When the immature individual(s) did this disgusting act, they put the health of their fellow students at risk.

Surely these incidents do not reflect poorly on Student Housing and Dining Services. No organization in its right mind would look at feces in a sink and say it should have done something to prevent this.

However, given the seriousness of this issue and others such as fires in the residence halls, dining dollar disputes, etc., CAs and other students within Student Housing and Dining Services shouldn’t have a gag order placed on them by the university.

They are eye-witness to these activities, and in the interest of providing the students with proper news and perspective on the issues facing the residence halls, however juvenile, it is in everyone’s best interest to lift the gag order.

Those who work for Student Housing and Dining Services provide important roles concerning the student population here at NIU. It’s far too important for them to be told to keep their mouths shut concerning this issue and any others that may arise.

This is not something you can flush down the toilet.