Northern Illinois University - Norther Yearbook (DeKalb, IL)

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students Entertainment is part of the life of today's college student. It can be as carefree as a concert during lVlay Fete or Homecoming or as serious as a speech by Jesse Jackson or William Kunsler. Friday afternoon parties . . . Friday night parties. . .all nighters . . .all day Saturday parties . . .all Saturday night parties. . . form part of a college student's life--the leisurely part. A part of life that's just as important as that part of his life that's filled with studying and learning. Greeks . . . frats and sororities . . . all vying for brothers and sisters with like interests and spirits. A life that could be dying today but is still a very much alive scene on lXllU's campus. An ever-rising tuition has students wondering when inflation will be curbed. A price freeze keeps them OVG wondering. lt could be another strike for or against Richard lVl. Nixon. Every student on this campus, over age 18, may now exercise his or her opinion on political, social and economic problems in national and state elections, the national being only months away. Politics on the local scene are just as important. Stu- dent government keeps alive the questions: What is wrong? Who gets this much money? Who doesn't. E2 o Life today breeds many hostilities, and so too does college life. Hostilities which can be relieved by throwing a rock, cheering a team, participating in a sport. All this is part of the college scene. All must be encountered and conquered so that we may endure a lifetime . . . make a better place in society, a place which will help mankind to better itself. rest

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learn today' Associated with drugs are the long hairs . . . the freaks. Dressed in as unconforming a way as possible, they too walk the campus in search of themselves. Today's student can walk around NlU's campus and encounter yet more additions to this concrete world. Music and psychology-math buildings are on the rise. Building to house more places of learning--and learn- ing is what we are really here to do. Better in our minds . . . better lives . . . employment . . .opportu- nities. We open our books, underline our lessons. We spend fruitless hours in the Swen Parson Library finding books to help us write earth-shattering papers. Exams seek to measure the effectiveness of our studying. This adds to the tensions and anxieties of getting a higher education. Field trips, included in the learning schedule, help us better understand the world around us. Teachers con- vey their knowledge, their experiences, to their yet untried, less experienced students. This big university offers small-college intimacy through today's living-learning program, very much a part of a big university's plan for tomorrow. lVlore students will get the benefit of studies offered in a smaller environment--one which offers identity. The environment . . . concern of all students. Air pollution . . .water pollution . . . noise. . .smoke . . . filth. Pollution that clouds man's future on this planet and clouds students' minds about the feelings of his fellow man. Ecology . . . too few trees. Students plant more, fight arboretum destructions, and then throw out leaflets, leading to almost greater pollution problems . TJ.

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tu at clues the future hultl Your alma mater . . . what will you encounter when you attend NlU's 1984 Homecoming? Or will it be a Peacecoming? What will the world and life be like during the Orwellian era beginning in the year 1984? Will Big Brother be watching? Projected NlU enrollment . . . 35,000 . . . 40,000 . . . 100,000? Who can tell? The crystal ball can tell us that Northern will be a graduate university with undergraduate populations comprised of juniors and seniors. This is due to Phase lll and other state master plans. Junior college students from the Chicago area and around the state will flood Northern. Major concentration at this school will be physical sciences and education. Long lines will probably endure the 12-year time span to test the patience of the students of 1984. Computers. . . computers . . . IBM . . .Control Data.. . They are the masterminds. They will spit out tests, give lectures, plan courses and filter various student files, records and other assorted data. All this with a flick of a button, a whirl of a spool and the feeding of a punched card. Yes, students will remain a number. That is their identity. lVlaybe students will no longer have a name, forgetting them due to lack of use. Just a digital identity. Hey 365-66-6783! How are you? Teachers will become mere television images spewing their lectures and critiques from their offices. Televisions will beam those lectures to students seated ,in their dorm rooms listening and taking notes in front of their multi-media resource center. The center is even capable of producing a daily newspaper, a best seller, or a reference book. Grading-1984 style. Tables may be turned, students may be grading teachers in addition to teachers conventionally and traditionally grading the student. Self evaluation and pass-fail, plus-minus will probably outlast our present a, b, c, d, f system.