NCE’s gospel music has meaning beyond religion

In response to the article discussing Northwestern Community Ensemble’s status, we agree with the arguments of both NCE and Associated Student Government that there must be a balance between NCE operating as a student group and ASG enforcing its rules. However, we feel that the comment made by Executive Vice President Srikanth Reddy was both inappropriate and ignorant.

Gospel music has historical, cultural and religious relevance to the African-American experience. While there is nothing wrong with asking NCE to incorporate more cultural aspects, asking it to separate religion from gospel music is comparable to asking the Muslim-cultural Students Association to separate itself from Islam. Reddy’s sarcastic comment suggesting that NCE “should go to the chaplain’s office” for funding exhibited an intolerant attitude toward NCE as a student organization with strong cultural and religious ties.

Astara Barker

Speech senior

Stacie Woods

McCormick senior

Indiana’s basketball might be a circus, but it beats NU

I have to comment in response to Joe Ziomek’s Monday column portraying the atmosphere and the crowd of Indiana University’s Assembly Hall as a circus.

Having attended several college basketball games at (as Ziomek would put it) the “Big Top,” I can say that it is by far the best home crowd and atmosphere in the Big Ten and arguably in the country. As for “Gloomington, In.” and the rest of the Crossroads of America, they sure know a heck of a lot more about love and pride in school athletics than does Evanston. Comparing Assembly Hall to our “loudest 96 feet in the Big Ten” isn’t even funny. The biggest laugher in the Big Ten is our home crowd and beloved Welsh-Ryan Arena, where more visiting fans consistently attend games than Northwestern fans, even at a time when we have our second-best record in school history (about which I am not sure whether to be proud or sad). A recent ESPN.com article said Welsh-Ryan “isn’t exactly hostile” for opposing teams. At the Illinois-NU game, we were cheered right out of our own stadium.

I pity the basketball team, which probably feels as though every game is on the road. I wish we would have that circus on our home floor. It’s something I have always dreamed about – to actually get excited about our team and make the basketball games an event as football games have become. So, before we start mocking an opposing teams’ crowd, maybe we ought to find some way to improve our own.

As for me, I would not mind donning purple and white pinstripes if I had faith and pride in a crowd that could sell out more than one game a year.

Mark Gill

McCormick freshman

Weinberg’s teacher awards need student nominations

Recently around campus, many students have been complaining that they do not get their voices heard. Well, there is one outlet for student input that has gone largely ignored: the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Awards. Every year, a few outstanding teachers (either full-time faculty members or graduate students) are awarded with prestige and a prize by the college. This year, partly due to a faulty Web site, but largely due to student apathy, we are well short in the number of student letters that we need to nominate teachers to win these awards.

So, we implore you to have your voice heard on a subject that deserves a few minutes of your time. You can have a vast amount of input into which teachers win these awards.

To submit a nominating letter, please e-mail [email protected] and [email protected]. Include your name, year, e-mail address, the class you took with the teacher and a few paragraphs explaining the reasons for your nomination.

Aaron Neinstein

Weinberg junior

Colin Proksel

Weinberg junior