Moments before my grandfather died, my uncle and father were in his room as he lay on his bed, barely able to speak or move because of how weak he was. We had known his health was declining for some time now, but it was a lucky coincidence that my uncle...
While readying myself for my upcoming graduation, I can look back on my four years at NIU as a satisfying experience overall. All of the clubs and opportunities I had wanted were available to me, with maybe the exception of a Beard Appreciation Club.But...
Since fall 2006, NIU has seen a decline in enrollment by about 5.8 percent. Although NIU is not the only four-year Illinois public institution to suffer a dip in enrollment between fall 2006 and fall 2010, other schools have grown over the past four years....
Jeff Zimmerman is just glad someone is paying attention to him. While playing for Victor J. Andrew High School in Tinley Park, pitchers would constantly pitch around the young slugger. That isn't the case anymore, playing on the Division I level with...
Within the past two years, there have been two high-profile gun incidents in DeKalb involving members of NIU's Greek community. On Feb. 19, 2010, NIU student Zachary Isaacman shot another student, Brian Mulder, outside of Stevenson Towers. At the time,...
At the risk of coming off as a self-indulgent, student newspaper editor suffering from delusions of grandeur, I would like to use my last column to talk about the importance of newspapers in general, as well as the Northern Star in particular. Before...
Imagine getting off of school for winter break when Thanksgiving break starts instead of a week or two later, an extra week for spring break and fewer classes per period. These are some of the benefits that NIU would see from a trimester schedule versus...
There are a number of colleges that employ a trimester schedule as opposed to the semester schedule (which NIU uses). While some people may want to switch, I don't see any benefit that would come from it.Knox College in Galesburg, IL uses a trimester...
Over the past four years, NIU and the surrounding DeKalb community has reported six murders, over 30 aggravated assault charges and over 120 reports of burglary, according to the office of postsecondary education. NIU also recently ranked number 10 out...
NIU has faced a lot of misfortunes over the past several years: the Feb. 14 shootings, the Antinette "Toni" Keller incident, a shooting outside of Stevenson last year, the football player who was recently shot. Despite all of this, I still believe that...
"Did you hear that NIU is one of the 10 most dangerous schools in the country?" I've had a few people ask me this over the past couple of weeks. In light of the April 5 shooting of NIU linebacker Devon Butler, I can see how this designation stands out....
The Internet is a useful tool for social interaction, business, education and any number of purposes. However, this increasing use of the Internet for every aspect of our lives puts a lot of our personal information into online storage, which in turn...
