I would like to respond to Eric Krol and the column he wrote on Tuesday, Feb. 4. I agree that your job as a columnist is to get people to think, and that a logically supported argument is much better then petty insults. But I suggest that you take some of your own advice. You are constantly insulting the intelligence and character of your fellow students in your column. Perhaps you feel that this causes your readers to think, but you are only getting them angry. Don’t you feel that there are enough confrontations on this campus? Do you really need to add unnecessary fuel to the fire?

In your column you also stated that the people responding to you do not use proper arguments, instead they let their emotions take control by using insults. Well, a logically supported argument is one in which your opinion is stated, and then justified by sound reasons. From reading your column each week, I feel that you should reevaluate your argumentative skills and perhaps use valid reasons to back up what you state instead of taking cheap shots and over-generalizing.

You also complain about not having any topics to write about because this campus is “dead”. There is so much going on here at NIU, and in the surrounding area to write about. Such topics might be about the governmental cutbacks on student loans, about Black History month, or even about this week’s attempt to make people aware of eating disorders. These are just three issues which could effect every student here at NIU and get your readers thinking. Columns in which you complain about people who ride their bikes on campus or people you call “trendy fools” who wear shorts when it gets about fifty degrees—do these topics really give us things worth thinking about?

I hope this letter makes you think! Maybe you should put aside your emotions and write a column that would really help us expand our minds and expose your readers to different points of view. If not, the Northern Star should find someone else who can.

Michelle Zavislak

Junior

Political Science