Group projects can teach students important lifelong skills if they take them seriously.NIU came up with eight student learning outcomes (SLOs) that every undergraduate should achieve during their college experience here — one outcome being the ability...

Kara MercerI think it’s a good idea for the Student Association to purchase locks for the Recreation Center lockers. Walking into the locker room at the Rec and having to bypass all but two rows of functioning lockers is a problem I face every time...

Hanna MarkezichNIU is already making an effort to be environmentally friendly — it’s students who are needed to accomplish this goal.There are classes and student organizations to educate people on what we can do. As a fellow student of the environmental...

Kara MercerI believe marijuana possession should be decriminalized, but with limitations.Alcohol and tobacco are drugs that are sold for recreation, but they come with limitations. Marijuana should be no exception. Recreational drugs are only made available...

Faith MellenthinI see many benefits to the skills that writing provides and agree that requiring at least one upper level writing course could be beneficial to all majors.The general education courses have been reconfigured, and students are required...

The university is finally working on plans for a 24 hour lab, an action that shows NIU cares about students’ studying concerns.Between limited library hours and noisy roommates, it’s hard to find somewhere besides Barsema Hall to study after hours....

The Affordable College Textbook Act, a bill reintroduced by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) on Oct. 8, would encourage universities to support pilot programs that create digital and print open-source textbooks. Universities participating in the programs...

Students should be careful when opening emails in their student accounts, as some spam emails make it through NIU’s filtering system.Spam emails through student email accounts have been landing students in technical support because of hacked accounts....