NIU claims its primary mission is education, but judging from recent decisions, students only are numbers.

During Wednesday’s University Council meeting, NIU President John La Tourette said summer classes will begin June 24 and run for six and a half weeks, instead of the usual eight week session, which would have begun June 15. It’s hard enough for students enrolled in summer courses to sit through lengthy summer classes without making them longer.

La Tourette and UC Executive Secretary J. Carroll Moody claim the six days faculty members do not teach will save NIU a tremendous amount of money. But, classes that meet four times a week will have to meet 20 minutes longer this summer. If some of the classes are longer, what’s the point in saving six days?

Yes, NIU could use the $400,000. However, is making the students sweat out a course in six and a half weeks the right way to do it?

Physics Department Chairman Richard Preston was right on the money when he said the increased class time will put more strain on the students. Preston added that faculty members should be allowed to teach the regular schedule and receive the same amount of payment.

Of course, what everyone is forgetting is that many students depend on the summer school sessions to graduate.

By displaying this disregard for the students’ well being, the administration is telling students they’re the first to suffer when it comes around to saving a buck.

Dahmer deserved life sentences

Justice was served when the jury came back with a “he’s sane” verdict.

If the jury had decided otherwise, it would have been easier for Dahmer to enter society, a place where he should never be allowed again.

At least with 15 consecutive life sentences, Dahmer’s chances of getting out are slim to zero.

If the jury decided Dahmer was “insane,” he would have been admitted to a mental institution where he could have petitioned to get out in one year. If he convinced police he was fine all this time, then he could have convinced a doctor that he was cured.

Dahmer will be sentenced today. If the judge is smart and has any compassion for the victims’ families, he will lock him up and throw away the key. Dahmer definitely does not deserve to be eligible for parole anytime in his lifetime.

The fact that Dahmer brutally killed and dismembered his victims is cause enough to deny parole. But when it was revealed that he had performed lobotomies on some of his victims, the thought of parole at anytime should have been discarded.

The jury decided Dahmer was sane based on his premeditation of the murders. One juror described Dahmer as “a con artist.” That description seems to be pretty accurate.

The victims’ families also will be able to cope better with

their deaths if they know Dahmer will have no chance of being free again.

Other serial killers have tried unsuccessfully to use the insanity defense. It is times like these that one should be glad justice is being served at least part of the time.