The Student Association Voter Registration Committee will be registering voters this week in hopes of improving upon the low NIU voter turnout of about 12 percent during the 1984 presidential election.

Committee Chairman Tom Elkins said registrars at Add/Drop voter registration tables succeeded in signing up about 400 people for the Nov. 8 presidential election and that NIU students can register in residence halls beginning today.

Registration also will be possible toward the end of the week at the Holmes Student Center, he said.

Elkins had stated in a press release the committee hopes to "register 100 percent of NIU's eligible student body and encourage them to vote" by Nov. 8.

But he said that was "a pretty heavy goal. We probably won't be that successful because a lot of students don't care or just don't want to take the time to register.

"The committee's job is not to instruct the voters as to who to vote for. That is between the voters and the candidates," Elkins said. "If 10,000 people come out and want to register, that's what we're here for."

Brantly Womack, director of Graduate Studies for the NIU Political Science Department, said low voter turnout "is a fact of life for United States politics. The U.S. is characterized by low voter turnout.

"As you can see from the discussions on campaign strategies, politicians pay attention to registration statistics. If a certain group neglects to vote, the politicians pay less attention to them," he said.

"If all the students in Illinois voted, then Illinois lawmakers would take the issue of higher education more seriously," Womack said.

A new book has found its way into the Holmes Student Center Bookstore, and it might help students this semester as much as their trusty dictionaries.

And maybe more importantly, the book will put money back into NIU.

The Northern Illinois University Huskie Guide is an academic planner designed to provide "specific information to students on where to go for what," said Student Association President Paula Radtke.

The guide is similiar to a datebook but with much more detailed information, she said.

The guide, costing $2.95, holds information including a calorie guide, a telephone list of university departments and organizations and important dates. A full calendar and space for class scheduling also are included.

The guide was compiled and produced jointly by the SA Academic Affairs Committee and the HSC Bookstore, said David Baum, former committee chairman.

The committee looked at similiar productions from more than 100 schools in addition to surveying NIU juniors and seniors, asking them what they believe should be included in the publication, he said.

Bookstore Director Stan Shedaker said the bookstore was planning to produce a datebook publication similiar to the one the SA was working on.

"Instead of duplicating the same product, we combined forces and produced the Huskie Guide," he said.

Approximately one-third of the 5,000 copies have been sold, Shedaker said. The guide is available only at the HSC Bookstore.

Baum originally obtained a $500 grant from the Committee for the Improvement of Undergraduate Education for the purpose of paying for the initial research and printing costs.

The grant money was deemed unnecessary when the guide became "a money making adventure," he said.

"This was a personal grant," Baum said.

The money has been returned to the SA so it can be re-allocated to student groups, he said.

Radtke said the expected profits from the sale of the guide will be split by the SA and the bookstore.

She did not know what the exact percentage split of the expected profit would be.

Shedaker said any profit would be determined at the end of the semester.

Radtke said a majority of the information is taken directly from the fall and spring semester guide books since these are easily misplaced during the course of the school year.

"What we have produced is a prototype for the future which is customized for the students," Shedaker said.