IF YOU WANT TO CALL THE TUNE, PAY THE PIPER. The editorial board of the Northern Star publishes a signed open letter to the governor.

We're falling short on money for faculty salaries, thusly encouraging professors to leave for higher-paying jobs. We lack the funding for much-needed construction on and around campus.

An example of this comes with the Stevens Building, where theater and anthropology classes are held. Garbage cans are used to catch leaking water, and oftentimes overflow. Garbage bags form roofs above computers to protect them from being damaged by water entering through moldy, dripping ceilings. There is a computer lab in an ex-janitorial closet, where pipes are exposed and tarps must be used to create a door. We don't have the money to fix any of this.

According to NIU's 2005-2006 Data Book, state appropriations to NIU covered 80.3 percent of the operating costs for 1976. Only 19.7 percent came from the university income fund. Student fees, tuition, that type of thing. This number makes 2006 figures jump off the page: The book states that for 2006, state appropriations covered 51.4 percent of NIU's operating costs, leaving 48.6 percent to be covered by NIU. Mr. Blagojevich, how have we come so far from 80.3 percent?

To maintain the level of operations currently in place at our school, students will be confronted with higher tuition costs.

Although a state subsidy for tuition is likely to be a regressive transfer, the editorial writers correctly note that at current levels, a student has a difficult time working his or her way through college with a full-time summer job and a part-time job during the academic year.

The editors also note that potential students look beyond the front porch.

Mr. Blagojevich, we're a state university. Our reputation reflects upon the state. This institution can boast of distinguished alumni until faces turn blue, but when prospective students come for visits, it won't matter how many success stories orientation leaders gush out. They see buildings with leaky ceilings, dilapidated resources and classrooms small enough to pass for residence hall rooms, and they beeline for the door.

At the moment our enrollment managers are able to balance applications with capacity, but I am not aware of any efforts to quantify the effect of deferred maintenance on outbound transfers.