To whom it may concern, I am neither a football player, nor member of any other NIU athletic team for that matter. The only dollars I generate for NIU are through my tuition, lab fees, books, etc. I have an academic investment in NIU that deserves priority over athletics, for not only me, but for the rest of the students that have come here to complete their educations.

So please, if anyone can give me a reasonable answer to my question, I would be grateful. Why have the lab fees I paid last month for my courses in the Art Department been frozen, so my professors cannot reorder supplies needed for successful completion of my classes, while the Athletic Department received the TVs, VCRs, cables, etc.? They requested without any problem. There are those professors in the Art Department that can’t even afford to photocopy their syllabi, but $5,000 later, the football team can now conveniently review their games on the bus.

Now granted, athletics is an important part of this school’s income, but there is a greater number of students that choose NIU for its Art Department, and deserve the education they pay for.

Lauren J. Kurtz

Senior

Art