Conservative Rumblings

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight

Facing serious opposition from concerned students and local lawmakers, the demolition plan for NIU’s Cole Hall has faltered and slowed to a near stop.

In an email sent to the students and faculty of NIU on March 4, NIU President Peters announced the creation of a “February 14th. Memorial Committee.” The purpose of this committee, according to Peters’ email, is to solicit the opinions of students, faculty, alumni and families, in order to “develop ideas for a fitting memorial.”

Peters announced a “three phase process” that will involve the newly formed committee collecting and organizing the suggestions on the future of Cole Hall. At the present time, the hall will remain closed, but no steps will be taken to tear the structure down.

This reversal is significant; it stands in stark contrast to the sure-fire statements put forth by Peters and Gov. Blagojevich at the press conference last week, when both leaders stated unequivocally that the building would be taken down. However, as that plan quickly came under fire from many sides, its supporters were forced to re-evaluate their stance.

Part of the pressure to reconsider the decision came from a student group that coalesced online within hours of the Feb. 27 press conference; one of the key leaders of this opposition group was Amy Genova, an anthropology/archaeology graduate student at NIU.

Genova, along with several colleagues, created the Facebook group “Preserve NIU’s Cole Hall” immediately after the press conference. According to Genova, the group was reaction to a decision the group felt was made without the “consultation of the greater NIU community, students, faculty [and] staff.”

“Our original intention [for the group] was to find out whether or not other students, faculty, and staff disagreed with the proposed legislation,” Genova said.
The group quickly ballooned up to several hundred members, and the discussion board of the group became the site of lively and spirited debate regarding the future of the building.

Genova and the other administrators of the Facebook group sent a lengthy email to Peters the day after the press conference, and also contacted State Representative Robert Pritchard (R-DeKalb) and State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore) to express their concerns.

Both lawmakers responded “immediately,” according to Genova.

“Burzynski wrote in an e-mail that the proposed legislation was to be revised, and that more community voice will be involved. Pritchard contacted me via telephone and expressed similar sentiments,” she said. “Both men have been truly amazing, and I value their hard efforts to make certain that all voices be heard this time around.”
The group also organized a petition that has been signed by over 1300 students, faculty and alumni. Those signing the petition essentially stated that they were in favor of calling a general community assembly to address all options regarding the future of Cole Hall.

Genova explained that the goal of the petition was to educate the community as to the options and consequences involved with the various choices for Cole Hall’s future, and also to ensure that all sides of the issue were able to voice their opinions. The intended recipient of the petition is Brian Hemphill, NIU Vice-President of Student Affairs.

“Because we had no formal venue to discuss our thoughts and opinions regarding the matter, [the online group and petition are] all we had,” Genova said. “After seeing the reactions of my fellow community members, I knew that we needed to combine efforts and make sure that our voices were heard regardless if one was in favor of the demolition or not.”

“The petition was and still is a movement for the community to move ‘Forward, Together Forward’ without forgetting who we are and why we need to support each other in such times of tragedy.”

Despite her leadership role in the group, Genova quickly pointed out that the project would have never been possible without the support of the hundreds of members of the Facebook group, as well as all those who signed the petition.
“I believe everyone deserves credit,” she said. “Those who signed placed their personal opinions aside to advocate a community voice, even if that meant their voice would receive opposition.”

The debate about Cole Hall’s future is likely to continue for some time given the passion and fervor shown by both sides. Genova said she simply wants more community input before a decision is made final.

“As an archaeology graduate student in the anthropology department, I understand the importance of monumental structures standing for future generations,” Genova said. “Even though I would like to see Cole Hall stand as a memorial in testament to the five lives tragically lost [in the shooting], I want the community to make this decision together.”

Section: News
Published: N/A

Braving blustery winds and freezing temperatures, over 100 students, faculty and members of the media gathered outside Cole Hall on Feb. 26 to hear Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveil his new plan for the building.

The governor outlined a plan that would involve the complete demolition of Cole Hall and the construction of a new building called Memorial Hall. The new hall would be about 40-percent larger than Cole Hall and would provide 10 classrooms, as well as three lecture halls and several media production computer labs.

Cole Hall has been closed since Feb. 14, when former NIU graduate student Steve Kazmierczak entered an auditorium in the building and opened fire on the assembled students with a shotgun and several handguns. He killed five students and injured at least 16 others before turning a gun on himself. Classes for the rest of the semester were moved from the building, and the university has been weighing options for the future of the building.

That option seems to have been chosen. According to NIU President John Peters, the decision was made very soon after the shooting. “Very early on I made the decision that we had to raze [Cole Hall]; we had to demolish the building and replace it with something fitting our needs and [serving] as a memorial,” Peters said.

Peters appealed to the governor’s office for help, and Blagojevich stated in a press release that he would introduce “emergency funding legislation” in order to obtain the funds. “It’s time to look to the future, and Memorial Hall is part of the future of this campus,” Blagojevich said at the press conference Wednesday.

The demolition plan, however, is not without its obstacles. No legislation has yet been introduced, according to an Associated Press report published Saturday that quoted State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore). The same report also quotes Burzynski as saying that what the project will entail would probably not be what “the governor envisioned.” Burzynski did tell the “Northern Star” in an interview that he hopes to have the legislation introduced by the end of this week, but it remains to be seen if the funding bill will pass the Illinois General Assembly.

The governor’s contentious relationship with Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), whom Blagojevich has feuded with several times since 2002, may end up delaying or even completely halting passage of the funding bill.

Despite the optimism of both President Peters and Gov. Blagojevich, the debate rages on campus as to whether or not the new plan is the best option for Cole Hall.
Two student groups entitled “Save Cole Hall” and “Preserve NIU’s Cole Hall” spawned on the popular social networking site Facebook almost immediately after the press conference, and quickly recruited hundreds of members.

Many postings on the groups condemned the project, with reasons focusing on funding issues, the logistics of moving the classes Cole held for at least several years and the fact that the decision was made so quickly.

One student pointed out that “tearing Cole Hall down is not as easy of a solution [as] people think it is,” while another posting argued that destroying the building was surrendering to the fear and “letting the shooter win,” instead of “moving forward and showing our spirit and resolve.”

Several students also pointed out the option that Virginia Tech employed after 33 students were killed in a shooting there last year. Norris Hall, the site of 31 of the 33 fatalities from that shooting, was reopened within three months of the incident. The second floor of the hall, where the attacks took place, was kept locked, but the remaining areas of the building went back into use.

Student debate on the plan was not limited to online tongue-lashings, either; Sherry Loos, a junior accountancy major, had “several” heated arguments on the controversial topic while on campus Friday.

“My question is what other vital project is this $40 million being taken from? Completely remodeling the inside of the building [would work], but to demolish the entire thing is not the solution,” said Loos. “There are a lot of better ways to honor the victims than tearing down Cole Hall.”

After the Virginia Tech tragedy last month, colleges across the nation have had to take a step back and look again at their security protocols and procedures.

Waubonsee, however, was already in the process of a security overhaul.

Insight recently sat down with David Quillen, Waubonsee Vice President of Campus Operations and Finance, and Public Safety Chief Joe Monstwillo, to discuss the safety of Waubonsee’s campus, as well as future plans to make the environment of Waubonsee even safer.

If a safety issue were to develop on one of Waubonsee’s campuses that was similar to the Virginia Tech shooting, Waubonsee’s response would be somewhat different than how Virginia Tech reacted.

“Our first response is something that was really neglected at Virginia Tech, and that is to notify as many people as possible as to the location and type of incident that is occurring,” Monstwillo explained.

He added that Waubonsee has been working on a variety of community notification strategies since before the VT tragedy. “Community notification is kind of a work in progress right now,” he said.

Quillen elaborated on that, saying that there are currently several communication devices in place, including emergency call boxes. “We do have some things that are in place, [but] we are looking at enhancing those…as we expand into other projects, we’re looking at modernizing, as well as expanding, the number of [call boxes],” he confirmed.

Quillen also stated that there would be “no limit” as to what would be done to keep students safe in the event of a security issue.

He explained that although responses would be “scenario specific,” most options would “be on the table.” These could include closing the campus, locking down buildings and many other related actions.

In that vein, both Monstwillo and Quillen encouraged anyone confronted with an emergency situation on campus to be proactive.

“I think it’s important for the members of the WCC community to understand that they are all empowered to [call 911 in the event of an emergency.] They don’t have to contact us and filter an emergency through the public safety department or through any other entity. We expect that if an emergency would develop, that time being of the essence, we would anticipate students to take the initiative to make that call,” Monstwillo said.

He went on to say that he gives the students enough credit to understand when a situation is emergent and when it warrants a 911 response.

Calling 911 does not sidestep the WCC Public Safety Department, either; the 911 dispatch center can tie directly into the radios of Public Safety personnel and dispatch them to the scene of the incident immediately.

“Everyone here is a stakeholder in the safety of the community. People should make responsible decisions based upon that,” Monstwillo added.

One situation that was brought to the forefront after the Virginia Tech shootings was the fact that Waubonsee police officers are currently not allowed by campus regulations to carry any sort of firearms.

Quillen explained that although he has only been at Waubonsee for roughly 14 months, nearly every meeting he has had with the President and the Board of Trustees has involved some sort of discussion on revamping the campus security protocols.

“[We] have been working to analyze some component, not strictly about armed or not armed, but a comprehensive review of the public safety function here,” he explained, “Is it appropriately staffed? Is it appropriately equipped? Is it the appropriate size?”

Quillen pointed out that it’s “not a one size fits all conclusion,” because Waubonsee’s Sugar Grove campus is a different environment than the Aurora campus, and the administration is also still working on the future of the Plano campus, as well as the current model of security in place at the Copley campus. “[Discussion regarding public safety officers carrying weapons] has been in process, and that will be a component piece for the Board of Trustees to consider,” he said, “The public safety department can effectively do the majority of their job without [weapons,] but they cannot effectively do all of the things they are potentially called upon without them.”

It is important for the community to understand that the security of the campus is something that is very “fluid and adaptable,” as Monstwillo explained.

“I don’t think you’d call it a science; it’s almost an art,” he stated, “One of the important aspects of security is remaining aware of and constantly assessing the number and variety of threats that are part of the environment.”

He continued, “For us to say that a certain course of action is correct today may be inappropriate a month from now or six months from now, or certain decisions that were made years ago regarding the public safety function here at the college may or may not still be appropriate for today’s environment, because you have to consider all the factors that have changed within that timeframe. Security is one of those areas where there are seldom hard fast answers that are chiseled in granite and will always be correct.”

While changes may be made to the overall security policy, Monstwillo stated that they will not be made as “knee jerk responses” to the Virginia Tech slayings.

Rather, any changes will most likely be part of the ongoing improvement process in the area of campus security.

“The Virginia Tech incident did very little to change the way we do business, because the bottom line is it is something we do behind the scenes every day and it’s something that we think about every day,” Monstwillo continued, “After eight years of Federal service, [where] scenario planning was an important part, those ‘what ifs; are always at the back of my mind whether I’m here or not here.”

According to Quillen, the college takes these security concerns very seriously. “It’s a serious circumstance, and the college takes it seriously,” he said, “As always after events like this across the country, the reassessment [and] continuous improvement thought process goes into it. One [area] I definitely feel we can do better in is communication.”

Under the direction of Maria Boundas Bakalis, the Waubonsee theater department performed Broadway, an entertaining story set in a 1930s nightclub, on April 12, 13 and 14.

Drama began to unfold when feuding crime lords (played by Will Wilson and Cameron Meuller) paid a visit to the club at the same time, sparking a less than friendly confrontation. The remainder of the play revolved around the cover up of said confrontation, especially when police detective Dan McCorn (Clint Carlton) showed up. The other major plot twist involved the love triangle between nightclub manager Roy Lane (Michael Hochstetler), crime boss Steve Crandall (Wilson) and cabaret dancer Billie Moore (Christa Foster).

On top of all the conflict between the characters, the nightclub was still a nightclub, and Lane, Moore and the other dancers were constantly flitting back and forth to perform numbers in a wide variety of costumes (props to the designers for the variety and to the actors for changing their outfits so quickly).

With regard to the acting, the award for one of the best performances of the night definitely goes to Michael Hochstetler and Will Wilson. The duo played the parts of nightclub manager and crime boss, respectively, and had a number of excellent scenes together. Both characters were trying to woo the same woman, and they were at odds for much of the play.

The performance of these two was especially interesting to watch, as they played a far different type of role in the fall 2006 play, Break a Leg, when they were insufferable comic hounds who had a one-liner response to everything.

Another highlight of the play was the spectacular set. Led by Sean Ream, the set construction crew built an amazing set that included two sets of stairs, an office, a bar, and very period-appropriate paint scheme. My hat is off to all those that put in hours of work on the set, because it turned out very nice and added a great feeling to the entire play.

While Broadway was nowhere near the laugh-fest that last semester’s Break a Leg was, there were a few laugh out loud moments and a number of smirk-inducing lines, including one said by the exasperated club owner, Nick Verdis (played by Ream), who exclaimed at one point that it “was a free country-almost.”

Broadway succeeded in the drama department, however, and aside from a few dragging moments here and there, the play was well acted, exciting, and
definitely another top-notch performance by the Waubonsee
theater department.

Section: Features
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

Editor In Chief Ian Essling takes Insight readers on a behind-the-scenes look at Insight and the rumors that abound about the paper. Find out what’s fact, what’s fiction, and what is the deep dark secret behind Von Ohlen 230.

Another semester is upon us, and another round of tall tales are again floating through the halls of Waubonsee. The tides of the rumor mill are cyclical, it appears.

Regardless of their origins, I am here to dispel the mist and mystery around as many of them as I can in the space I have.

Some of these are pretty simple, but others are quite involved. I hope that you will hang with me through them all, and that you can finish this article with a better understanding of where Insight comes from and where it’s going.

Have a question about Insight that I missed? I’d love to hear about it and include it in the next issue: insight@waubonsee.edu.

Fiction:
The Opinion of A Writer is
Synonymous With That of the
Paper As A Whole

I felt that this deserved a top-slot in my list because it is probably one of the most hotly contested and least understood aspects of the paper.
It is a common misconception that by printing something, we are endorsing it. That is simply not the case. As stated on our opinion pages, the editorials are the opinions of the writers and should not be taken as the opinion of the Insight staff as a whole.

Fiction:
Waubonsee Administration Controls What Insight Publishes

In reality, Insight student editors are the ONLY people who decide what material is published in the newspaper. There’s not an administrative body on campus that has oversight over this publication. The student editors are the people making the decisions about what gets printed; after all, it IS a student newspaper.
Personally, I think that there are some people in the Waubonsee administration who wish they could control what we publish, but thankfully, freedom of speech remains intact. Sometimes I think that some difficulties Insight faces stem from this situation (such as being stuffed into a utility closet for over a year), but of course, that’s just speculation on my part.

Complaining to Waubonsee, the Career Services Center or the scholarship foundation committee (all of which have been done this past year) is really not going to have much of an effect on us.

Even complaining to your teacher is not going to do it. Believe me, I know there are some sympathetic ears on campus for those that want to rag on the paper.

I can even provide you a list if that’s the route you want to take, but honestly, why not just come to the source? If someone wants to voice their opinion about something we printed, they need to come directly to us.

Unfortunately, I have heard a number of stories of people sending information to Waubonsee itself that was intended for the newspaper, equally unfortunate is the fact that Waubonsee does not usually pass this sort of misdirected communication on to us.

For example, one of our editors recently heard a student trash the paper for not printing a letter to the editor that she delivered…to the admissions and records desk.

Fiction:
Faculty Advisors Have Prior Review of Articles

For years, people called Insight “Gary’s paper” because of how dedicated Gary Clark, our faculty advisor, is to the paper, People just assumed that he was in charge of it.

In all honestly, if this paper really was “Gary’s paper,” it would not be a student newspaper anymore, it would be a faculty newspaper.

That is why the Insight staff is grateful for the freedom we are allowed. Our advisors never read our opinion pieces before they are published. Insight editors make the determination as to what opinion pieces we print.

Our advisors will sometimes help with proofreading of non-controversial news or features pieces, but our opinion section is a haven of free speech.

Fiction:
Insight Does Not Publish
Articles We Receive If The Editors Disagree With The Topic

The views of the “editors” of the paper vary across a wide spectrum.
An article that one editor agrees with, another may disagree with, and vice versa. therefore, this misconception makes no sense at all.

Rest assured that denying publishing rights to articles that I disagree with is not an action I engage in, nor is it something I allow my editors to do.
Any unbiased glance at our opinion section from a few months worth of papers pretty much proves that point.

As an Editor In Chief, my goal is to build a quality newspaper.

Throwing out articles does not move us closer to that goal, so why would we do it ? After all, we can’t print a bunch of blank pages.

The vast majority of articles make it past the preliminary phases of editing without a problem and are then subject to the whims of timeliness, space, and layout.
In all honesty, those are the attributes that have the largest effect on whether or not an opinion is printed, not the view expressed.

Now, that’s not to say that every opinion piece that we receive is printed; that would be inaccurate and misleading, and the whole intention of this article is to clear up all the inaccurate and misleading things others are saying about this organization.

I can count on my hands the number of opinion articles Insight has not printed in the past three years for reasons other than time and space constraint. There are only seven or so of them, out of a total pool of hundreds of submitted articles.

Fiction:
Insight Is Conservative (Or Liberal, or Socialist, or [insert ideology here])

Insight itself is none of these things; Insight is an organization, not a person. Granted, it is the sum of those involved, but it’s not a one person or cabal-style dictatorship, despite what some would have you believe.

The fact that our opinion pages have recently appeared to be slanted to the conservative side is only a testament to one thing: conservative writers are penning pieces and submitting them, while liberals are not. It is that simple of an equation.

If no one writes the other side of an argument, then the opinion section might appear biased. Ironically, Insight has a history of being liberal; in all the years that I’ve been at Waubonsee (both as a reader and a staff member), Insight has normally only had a token conservative or two on staff, with the entire editorial council falling left of center.

Strangely, no one complained about THAT situation, but as soon as we have some conservative voices, you would think that the sky is falling with how serious of a “problem” some people consider it.

It is wrong for Insight as an organization to deny freedom of speech to a writer simply because no one is writing against the first writer’s opinion. That, ladies and gentlemen, is censorship.

The only reason that Insight’s opinion section can be considered ‘conservative’ or ‘liberal’ is because the ‘other’ side is simply is not writing articles or letters to the editor.

Something that I’ve noticed over the past few years is that often, the most vocal opponents of the paper and our writers are usually the last ones to pick up a pen and respond in kind.

It is much easier for a student to insult a faceless writer, or for a teacher to give a speech to an entire class about the ‘terrible things’ that exist in the pages of the paper, than it is for them to stand up and put their opinion in print. It takes guts to put your name on your opinion and put it out there for the world to see. Some people have those guts, and some do not.

Fiction:
Letters to the Editor are edited

A number of “letter to the editor” debates have circled around Insight over the past few years; they edit too much, they don’t edit enough, they try to make people look stupid, those sorts of things.

Once and for all, I am clearing this up. For the record, we do not ever edit letters to the editor for anything other than profanity. If someone who writes in to us does not take the time to grammar check his or her own piece, then so be it.

Fiction:
Editors Change Opinion Articles Significantly

Our heavy-duty editing only applies to non-opinion articles. At Insight, we make every effort to preserve the writer’s message in opinion articles. We will edit these articles for spelling, grammar, clarity, brevity and other similar factors, but we never make edits that undermine or change the meaning of the author’s work.

Fiction:
Insight Asked to be Moved to Von Ohlen 230 (or, a variant: Insight was offered a “better” office this semester and declined it)

We were moved out of our old office, Von Ohlen 100, before the spring 2006 semester, and we were moved completely against our will.

Honestly, no one in their right mind would ask to be moved or agree with a move from such an awesome location (complete with windows and a chalkboard) to a room that has served as a storage closet for something like the last ten years.

Now, with regard to the “new office” for this semester. We were in discussions with our dean, Cindy Fisher, and the dean of social sciences, Jill Wold, to find us a new office. Unfortunately for us, the location that was presented to us was Weigel 107, an old, dirty and defunct science laboratory in a lower traffic building on the wrong side of campus for an English-discipline group.

Obviously, that location makes so sense at all, and we were somewhat upset that it was even considered and shown to us. It is already an adventure to find our current office, and Weigel 107 is even further off the beaten path.

No one would suggest that an active science club that recruited 90% of its members from science classes relocate its permanent office to Von Ohlen or Bodie, and by the same token, having an English group in an old science building made no sense.
Putting the newspaper into Weigel 107 would have been devastating to this publication.

Hopefully, the staff that takes over in fall 2007 will have a better location. With the opening of the Academic and Professional Center, there will be a lot of empty space in Bodie and Von Ohlen; keep your fingers crossed.

Fiction:
Insight Staff Members Are Paid

Years ago, a proposal was put forward to get the Insight editors paid, and it was summarily dismissed. Thus, this myth is cut and dried: we do not get paid, at all, ever.

Logically, since most other college paper staffs ARE paid, many people just assume that this is true here as well. However, as I have learned from dealing with some members of Waubonsee administration, logic is not something you can count on.
I personally think that my editors SHOULD be paid, because many of the staffers on this paper put in as many (if not more) hours than a full-time job, but for now, it’s not a happening thing.

Fact:
Insight Pays for Printing Costs From Its Own Budget

This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the most important in this list. You see, on top of writing the stories and laying out the paper, the staff of Insight also has to raise thousands of dollars to pay for printing costs.

Occasionally, we are able to get some funding from Student Senate to use for special purchases, but our day-to-day spending comes from our own hard earned money.
That’s why it’s rough on us when people throw away our papers for no reason. When an art student uses the paper to catch paint, they are crumpling up our money.
When maintenance takes it upon themselves to “clean out” our paper rack because the papers are “old,” they are tossing away hard earned money.

Fact:
Insight Is Always Accepting New Members

Insight always, always accepts new writers and columnists. The only positions that we do not have perpetual open slots in are editorial positions. So, if you are interested in writing, don’t think that you have to wait for an “opening.” Join up today!

Fact:
You Don’t Have to Be A Journalism Major to Write for Insight

This misconception is one of those little things that isn’t malicious, but just the result of Insight not doing the best that we can to make sure students are aware of these things.

Anyone, in any discipline, is eligible to write for Insight. For example, right now our editorial council is made up of the following majors: a business, two journalisms, an aerospace engineering, a sociology and an undecided.
And that’s just the editors! Our general staff exhibits even more variety in majors.

Fact:
Insight Has Been Around Forty Years (In Some Form Or Another)

We have a plaque that sits on the desk in our office that shows all the Editor In Chiefs of the paper between 1967 and 1994 (the last year it was updated). We keep this around to remind us that we are but a ripple in the pond of this organization.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of hundreds of student editors and writers, faculty advisors who care about their students, and the loyal readers, Insight has prospered for forty years. It is my sincere hope that it is around for another forty and forty beyond that.

I hope that I have given you a glimpse at what Insight is all about, and a new appreciation for what we do.

You see, we are students, just like many of you. On top of our homework and jobs, we also build a newspaper.

By no means have I addressed all the issues that have been brought up about Insight. If you have a question about Insight that I didn’t cover, please, feel free to email us and we will do our best to answer it.

Section: News
Published: Waubonsee Insight, March 2007 Issue

Northern Illinois University Professor David Sinason has a tremendous amount of experience to draw on when it comes to speaking on ethics. After all, with 35 publications to his name, Sinason is not a lightweight in the field of accountancy and business.

Hosted by the Waubonsee Business Club, Sinason gave a presentation on business ethics to an audience filled with business and accounting students, as well as numerous other guests who were interested in the subject. The presentation ran the gamut from employee behavior, executive policies, unethical clients and company regulations, to personal ethical decisions and moral values.

According to Sinason, “You really only own two things in your life: your education, and your values. Once you learn something, it’s yours, [and] if you draw the line, and stick to it, no one can take your values from you. But you can still lose it.” That is where morals and ethics comes into play, which is what the majority of the presentation centered around.

One of the major tenants of his presentation was what Sinason described as the “top-down” theory of company ethics, which states that employees are only as ethical as their employers.

“The tone at the top is the most important,” Sinason explained, since ethics cascade down through a company or organization. As he stated, if the president is doing something unethical, it just makes it that much easier for someone else to break moral boundaries and justify it. If the management of a company is not obeying ethical standards, then rank and file employees will see no reason to do so.
One example he used was about employee parking. “If [a manager] tells an employee they have to park far away from a building in an ‘employee parking’ area, but they park right next to the building, how long will it be before the employees start emulating the manager and parking right up close?”

He went on to elaborate that this mantra is appropriate in many different settings both in and out of the workplace. The president of a company or college needs to give a positive ethical example to everyone working beneath them, and the same holds true for student-led organizations as well.

An important distinction he made was the scope of an ethical problem. Just because an ethical violation is small doesn’t mean it should be ignored or forgiven easily.
According to Sinason, “Behind every small ethical program is a larger ethical problem waiting to happen.” Ethical problems will only grow, and if an employee or manager’s unethical behavior is not handled at a low level, it can quickly escalate into a large-scale problem.

Sinason said that it is very important to get ethical policies on paper. He said that often, companies have “informal policies,” which he says will lead to “informal results.”

“Talk is cheap; you have to get it in writing; put your code of ethics or code of conduct in the break room where people will see it every day,” he explained. “Repetition is the mother of significance.”

Employees who are deluged with company ethics on a non-stop basis will be less likely to commit unethical acts. Of course, while creating and posting company policies are important, the executives of the company have to “practice what they preach,” or risk influencing their employees to follow in their footsteps.
During his presentation, Sinason also emphasized the importance of getting involved in student clubs and activities. “There is an awful lot of experiences that are not in the classroom,” he said, “Corporations are looking for leadership and involvement, not just a good GPA.”

Sinason’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Illinois, a bachelor’s and master’s degree in business administration from North Florida University, and a Ph.D in accountancy from Florida State.

Dan Gibbons, Assistant Professor of Accounting at Waubonsee, attended the program and thought that it was “terrific.”

“He [Sinason] is a great presenter; I’ve never seen him do a bad job,” he added.Gibbons also explained why ethics are extremely important for accounting and business majors. “When you get into your career, you will face ethical dilemmas. With a good foundation [in ethics], it makes it easier to make the right choice.”
According to Gibbons, accountancy majors have ever more reasons to focus on ethics, because the newest CPA (Certified Public Accountant) exams have an ethics portion in the test.

A lot of major news outlets do a “year in review” type of feature, but often these features either pick irrelevant stories for their lists, or they lack focus.
Why rehash what has already been said? Instead, I am focusing on Waubonsee and only Waubonsee; what follows are my picks for the top news stories of the Waubonsee fall 2006 semester. Instead of fluttering around the national and local news scene, I have zeroed in on specific events that occurred on campus. Some items present on (or missing from) this list may surprise you; without further posturing or prognosticating, I present to you my picks for the top Waubonsee news stories of the year.

10) Stoplight Constructed at South Entrance
After three years of planning, approving and building, a much-requested stoplight at Waubonsee’s south entrance was finally enabled by late November. Full details available on page 3.

9) Insight Breaks Records, Continues Growth
Building on a successful spring 2006 semester, Insight broke a number of records this fall, including producing a twenty-four page paper for two months straight, both of which are larger than any issue of Insight in history.
In addition, Insight expanded from just two full-time staff members at the start of the fall semester to over twenty-five by finals week.

Snow Closes Area Schools, but Waubonsee Stays Open
The first big snowstorm of the winter led to nearly eight inches of snow on the ground in the area, but Waubonsee administration, claiming that at 4:30 in the morning the snow was just “slush,” did not close its doors and instead attempted to hold classes.

Many teachers either were not able to make it to campus or they sent students home as soon as they arrived.

7) Waubonsee Announces Plan for Athletic Hall of Fame
Coinciding with Waubonsee’s 40th Anniversary, a Chief’s Hall of Fame will be established. The first group of inductees will be honored at the May 4, 2007 Athletic Banquet, and will cover athletes from the first decade of the college’s existence, 1966 to 1976.

6) New Kiln Created by Students, Instructor
Waubonsee students, working with Ceramics Instructor Doug Jeppesen and ceramics expert Simon Levin, created a rare Anagama pottery kiln on WCC’s Sugar Grove Campus.

The kiln can reach temperatures higher than 2400 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Jeppesen, who also mentioned that Waubonsee is the only community college in the state with such a kiln.

5) Science Building Opens
On Aug. 25, Waubonsee kicked off their 40th Anniversary Celebration with the opening and dedication of the new Science Building.

The nearly 47,000 square foot building contains a number of high-tech labs and devices, including camera systems for anatomy labs and a seismograph.

4) New Registration System Online
Along with a new package that offers many more registration and course planning options, Waubonsee also moved away from using student’s social security numbers by implementing “X numbers,” new nine-digit ID numbers issued to students.

3) Parking Runs Out
For the first week of classes this semester, Waubonsee students had an adventurous time finding a parking space, as contractors failed to finish a new parking lot on the west side of campus in time.

Blame was thrown around as to who exactly was at fault. Students voiced displeasure at the administration, which in turn pointed at the contractors.
Regardless of fault, as a result of the massive construction taking place on campus, enough parking spots had been taken away that students and faculty ended up parking on every available square foot of land on campus.

This included medians, shoulders, and a hill.

2) WCC Students Win IDOT Video Contest
Students won the 2006 Illinois Department of Transportation college video challenge with a video entitled “Reasons.”

The 30-second public service announcement featured various Waubonsee students and was an anti-drunk driving ad. The PSA aired on local network and cable channels around Halloween.

More details on this student accomplishment are available in our November 2006 issue.

1) Student Senate President Passes Away After Car Accident
Unfortunately, the most important story on my list is also the most tragic.
Jennifer Wesson, a student at Waubonsee and student senate President, was killed in a car accident Thanksgiving weekend.

Other features about Wesson in this issue include a news story on the front page, and a tribute on the back page.

Jennifer touched many people in her time here at Waubonsee, and she will be missed by them for more than her title of President.

Coinciding with the opening of spring 2007 class registration, Waubonsee has unveiled a brand new online registration system and brand new student identification numbers.

Waubonsee issued the new “X numbers” a few weeks before spring registration opened in November. The new ID numbers will replace the current Social Security number identification system. Students have long been lobbying for student IDs to be used instead of Social Security numbers, and the nine-digit “X number” is the Waubonsee response.

The new registration system allows much more flexibility than the old registration process. Students can now register for classes simultaneously instead of putting in one course number at a time, and the system also allows students to view midterm and final grades, student information, and a copy of the course catalog.

The interactive course catalog lets students search for classes based on section, class name and credit hours, and also provides detailed descriptions and prerequisites for all classes.

Students often voiced security as a reason to abandon the use of Social Security numbers; on top of the new student numbers, security in the new system is further enhanced by students’ creating a PIN number and a “secret question” that they can use to recover their account information if it is lost.

As regular readers will notice, Insight sports a different look at the top of our front page this month.

The Waubonsee Chief logo, which, as we reported in September, was removed as Waubonsee Community College’s logo, has also been retired from the Insight masthead.

Insight continued to use the Chief logo through the first two issues of this semester, until a suitable alternative logo could be created. After going through a dozen different designs, Insight editors chose the current logo, which features a medieval shield crossed with a pen and quill.

The new logo was created by Samuel Essling, a graphic designer who has also worked on the Insight website, developing the new site design placed online this semester.

We welcome any feedback on our new look; please email us at insight@waubonsee.edu.

With embattled Republicans facing issues ranging from scandal and corruption to charges of mishandling the Iraq war, the Democratic party took full advantage of rampant anti-Bush and anti-Republican sentiment among voters, and gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate for the first time in twelve years.

Democrats briefly held the Senate between 2001 and 2002 when Jim Jeffords (I-Vt) switched his party affiliation from the GOP to independent.

All but a few House races were decided within two days of the elections, and when the smoke cleared, Democrats had gained 28 seats in the House, enough to take the majority.

Several key Senate races also fell in the Democrats’ favor.

Early in the evening, Democrat Bob Casey, Pennsylvania State Treasurer, defeated incumbent firebrand Rick Santorum (R-Pa), a strong proponent of the Iraq war.

Jim Talent (R-Mo) was also knocked out of his seat, in a tight race with Democrat Claire McCaskill. The Missouri race attracted national attention after a campaign ad featuring Michael J. Fox aired supporting McCaskill. The ad was called into question by some conservatives who accused Fox of making his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms seem worse than they were. Fox has denied these allegations.

Vote counts went late into the night, but in the end, McCaskill pulled out a 49-47 percent victory over the incumbent Republican.

Montana incumbent Conrad Burns (R-Mt) also lost his seat to Democrat Jon Tester, by a margin of around 3000 votes. Libertarian Stan Jones picked up around 10,000 votes, leading some to speculate that his presence in the race had a significant effect on the outcome. Tester was declared the winner the day after the election, solidifying the Democrat’s bid for the Senate majority.

The most controversial and pivotal race turned out to be Virginia. George Allen (R-Va) was trying to hold off the attack of James Webb, a former Navy secretary who served during the Ronald Reagan administration. Virginia law called for an automatic recount when Webb won by only 7000 votes, but by Thursday afternoon Allen had conceded the seat.

Of the four main power players in the Senate race, only Tennessee was held by the GOP, where Bob Corker (R-Tn) staved off the challenge of Harold Ford 51-48 percent.