There are 19 empty Senate seats in the Student Association, and every student representative seat on the Faculty Senate is empty with just three weeks left in the fall 2019 semester. The Northern Star has been searching for a student representative to...
For two years, the United Faculty Alliance has been working on a contract with the hopes of improving teaching conditions for tenured and tenure-track faculty at NIU. The Board of Trustees will vote Thursday on whether or not the contract will go into...
The way student-athletes are compensated for their play is starting to change. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Fair Pay to Play Act Sept. 30, which will allow student-athletes competing at state and private universities to sign endorsement deals....
As NIU President Lisa Freeman approaches her first full year as NIU’s official president, it is important to acknowledge the progress that has been made in mending the relationship between students and the administration.Prior to Freeman’s presidency,...
Welcome to the Northern Star Editorial, where you can find editorials on a regular basis. There is a distinction between an opinion column and an editorial, and we are here to clarify the difference. In doing so, we hope to provide insight into how we...
The Northern Star Editorial Board finds the outcome of the NIU Board of Trustees vs Misty Haji-Sheikh case to be costly and unnecessarily difficult when compared to a lawsuit filed by Sid Kincaid in 2016.Sid Kincaid, former Student Association senator,...
The Northern Star Editorial Board applauds the decision made by the U.S. House of Representatives to reject a proposal for educational funding made by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.On March 21, DeVos and President Donald Trump proposed the most recent...
The Northern Star Editorial Board considers NIU’s recent mismanagement of equipment a poor reflection on the administration as a whole, especially during a time when it’s requesting additional state funding. It is imperative the administration takes...
FILE - Students at Roosevelt High School take part in a protest against gun violence Wednesday, March 14, 2018, in Seattle. Politicians in Washington state are joining students who walked out of class to protest against gun violence. It was part of a...
The Northern Star Editorial Board stands beside the brave individuals who spoke up against gun violence and agrees student participation in walkouts is essential in continuing the dialogue. We stand with students who choose to participate in the national...
Elected officials should use their right of free speech when candidates who are attempting to unseat the representatives employ bigotry, hate and fear to win a race.
Republican Rep. Jeanne Ives has a bigoted political advertisement sarcastically “thanking” Gov. Bruce Rauner for his support of birth control, unions, sanctuary cities and for allowing grown men in dresses to use girls’ bathrooms, according to the BenedictRauner.com ad.
Ives mocked the transgender community and inflamed the bathroom debate by mischaracterizing Rauner’s support of House Bill 1785. The ad depicts a man wearing a dress thanking Rauner because he can now use the women’s bathroom. This representation is inflammatory as Ives is insinuating the transgender community is illegitimate and bills that grant them equal rights are just tools for illegitimate members of the trans community to be sexual predators.
House Bill 1785 actually amends the Vital Records Act. The bill requires those who have undergone “gender transition treatment” to have a licensed health care or mental health care professional make a declaration about the individual’s transition before issuing an updated birth certificate with their new gender and name, according to the bill.
When Ives’ decision to run the commercial and its intent were questioned, her spokesperson doubled down and said “she is not pulling the ad because she is not intimidated by Gov. Rauner and what she called his paid party mouthpieces,” according to a Feb. 3 WGN article.
What’s most interesting about Ives’ political ad is Rauner never publicly denounced her bigoted ad; he remained silent on the topic altogether.
While Ives is in her own right to say and think what she wants about the transgender community, her ad is not a true reflection of the bill passed by Rauner.
Elected officials especially Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner ,should be representing all communities, and Ives’ misleading attack against Rauner was also an attack against the very communities Illinois elected officials are supposed to represent.
The only way to combat an individual’s right to spew hate and bigotry is by using the same right to counter their words.
People in power have an obligation as elected officials to use their voice to represent people. By staying silent, they aren’t doing their job.
Gun violence isn’t just killing youth; it’s also destroying Americans’ trust in one another.As the NIU campus and DeKalb community came together in commemoration of a tragic event that struck the university 10 years ago, another tragedy was unfolding...
