“Attention! Attention! What else should we try to keep quiet?”

Dear Editor,

As brought to the public’s attention due to the recent events, NIU and the surrounding area of DeKalb needs to increase its security measures.  The past news articles regarding the disappearance of Antinette ‘Toni’ Keller, and the eventual declaration of it being a murder investigation is definitely an eye-opening occurrence.  It is definitely an excellent idea to keep everyone informed through the media of what is going on and around the campus (or to the best of the media’s ability), and for that I offer a hearty kudos especially to the Northern Star.  Unfortunately, what the public does not know is that there are countless events that are left uncovered in the media.

Within the last month alone, I have personally been informed of, or witnessed, three incidents of gunfire erupting at the “7-11” on Annie Glidden Rd, the now closed-down “Tequila Roadhouse”, and the “Campus Cinema” that were entirely hushed by the NIU and DeKalb police.  Along with this, there was an incident of a girl who was “stabbed” in the nearby dorms, two incidents that I know of people who were mugged walking home from the “Hot Spot”, a local convenient store.  Two weeks ago, there were reported issues of people getting physically attacked outside of the townhouses located on Hillcrest, near Normal.  Once again, there was no further information relayed onto the public, and these incidents along with the countless others have gone completely “swept under the carpet.” 

For example, the shooting at the Campus Cinema occurred when a group of people were gathered in the parking lot, and someone pulled a gun amongst an argument.  The gun went off, unknowingly if it was on purpose or on accident.  This incident was seen by Student Affair Employee’s who were on patrol of Greek Row during the Homecoming festivities.  Where was the coverage on this?  What would it have taken for this to make an article in the paper?  Perhaps if there was a casualty, there would have been a headline or two, but of course, the NIU police were unable to detain anyone for the incident, and thus was kept quiet.

The case of ‘Toni’ Keller exploded onto the headlines, but at what point do we decide “this should be in today’s news, and this is just not important enough so let’s pretend as though it never happened.”?

Why is it that the Northern Star is only posting something when someone gets potentially murdered?  If the paper is being offered to students and locals to keep them up-to-date with what is going on around campus, then they should not keep out what can be potentially very dangerous.  Bring light to the problems that aren’t covered, I’m sure it would be a better article than reading about how two Gamestop stores are across the street from one another which appeared in last week’s Northern Star.  Bring light to the fact that we need to increase our security around campus, not only when something terrible happens, but in general.  No student should have to feel so uncomfortable about walking around campus worrying about the possibility that it may be “their night” that something awful happens to them, and will most likely be concealed from the rest of the public like everything else.

Please keep the public truly informed and stop wasting article space with pointless topics.

Thank you,

David Rose