Alumni who live and work in the heart of downtown Chicago now have a piece of NIU close by.

The NIU Alumni Association finished work on their Alumni and Visitor's Center in Chicago on April 1. The center is located at the Chicago Athletic Association Building, 12 S. Michigan Ave.

"We started planning this since Sept. 2001," said Joseph Matty, assistant director of outreach services. "It was a slow moving process, but we wanted to do it right. Both the University of Illinois and Illinois State University have alumni centers in Chicago, and we have more alums living and working in Chicago than those two schools."

Matty is referring to the 160,000 alumni in Illinois, with the majority of them around Chicago. The center was built for convenience, entertainment and keeping the alumni in touch with NIU, something that has been difficult in the past.

"The function of the center is to utilize different events, especially for the three Chicago chapters," Matty said. "We haven't decided whether or not we will have an official grand opening ceremony. We feel that because of the current budget time, we are unsure about publicizing in that manner. We feel that the center is in the alums' best interest."

According to Northern Now, the center will coordinate and consolidate activities, programs, services and events for NIU in the heart of downtown Chicago.

The funds for the center came directly from the Alumni Association operating budget, Matty said.

"Our alums are very excited about this," Matty said. "We appreciate all the help and support we have received from the university. We feel that we are catering to the alums' needs."

n a victory for public college and university newspapers, the U.S. Court of Appeals decided that administrators cannot censor student-run newspapers.

The case arose in 2001 when editors of the Innovator, Governors State University's student newspaper, decided to sue the dean of student affairs Patricia Carter for censoring the newspaper.

The decision, which wasn't expected until mid-summer, doesn't support the state of Illinois' request to apply a ruling in a similar case involving high school publications.

In 1988, the United States Supreme Court granted administrators in the Hazelwood School District authority to review and censor its high school-sponsored newspapers. The state of Illinois was looking for this decision to be applied to public college and university students, but has been unsuccessful so far.

"It's a wonderful victory," said Mike Hiestand, attorney for the Student Press Law Center. "It could have been a devastating defeat, but luckily it went the other way."

He said throughout the case, there was a feeling that the law would be on students' side.

Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, said in a press release he hopes this decision reaffirms the last 30 years of college censorship cases.

"We hope that this ruling will dissuade—once and for all—college officials who are inclined to censor from engaging in that unconstitutional behavior," Goodman said.

In its ruling, the Court said, "...Hazelwood's rationale for limiting the First Amendment rights of high school journalism students is not a good fit for students at colleges of universities."

The decision went on to state that the differences between college and high school newspapers are far greater than differences in curriculum and extracurriculars.

Carter, who looked for qualified immunity in the case, was denied. The court denied her request on the notion that if her action to censor the Innovator is true, then "she violated clear rights of which she should have been aware."

"I think the decision reflects that there was no uncertainty in their mind and what school officials at Governors State did was wrong," Hiestand said.

He said that the case is not over because it could carry on in trial courts if it continues to be pursued.

"Other courts that are faced with this question are going to look at this decision," Hiestand said. "The students won big time today, but the case is ongoing. I think it's just a matter of formality now."

The Vietnamese Student Association and Southeast Asia Club are sponsoring a Vietnamese Cultural night.

"This is [the] first time the VSA is having the Vietnamese Cultural Night at NIU," said Hanh Nguyen, vice president of the VSA. "We wish everything goes well this year and hope the audience will learn and be aware of different aspects of Vietnamese culture and heritage."

Some events included tonight will be traditional dances and music, Ao Dai fashion, Vietnamese martial arts, slide presentation and storytelling.

"Our purpose is to promote Vietnamese culture and heritage at NIU and its community," Nguyen said.

Nguyen also is optimistic about the turnout of the event.

"We are expecting about 300 to 400 people coming from different areas," he said. "[They are coming from] NIU, DeKalb, Rockford, Naperville, Chicago, Iowa and other areas."

Food also will be served, and will be made by members of the VSA.

"Our VSA members will cook all of the Vietnamese food," Nguyen said. "There will be egg rolls, shrimp, fried rice, stir-fried noodles, mixed salad with shrimp crackers, roasted pork, fruit cocktails and other desserts. We will also provide vegetarian meals and beverages."

There is no cost to attend the event but if you choose to eat, a food ticket is $6 per person.

To order a meal, call 753-1771 and specify a meat or vegetarian meal.

For information, e-mail [email protected].