*This is an archived post from March 6th, 2018
By: Corzair Watkins NIU’s enrollment rate has been showing constant decreases over many years. According to the Daily Chronicle from the Spring 2016 semester to Spring 2017 there has been a 5.5% decline which has been one of the largest drops in enrollment since 1980. With this evidence presented you have to question “What seems to be the problem at NIU?” This question could possibly be answered by the recent scandal NIU has recently dealt with involving former President of Northern Illinois University Doug Baker or even the violence presence in the DeKalb area. This past summer of 2017 Doug Baker was accused of mismanaging money of the university by giving 9 independent contractor employees salaries much more than what was needed. Out of those independent contractors Doug Baker has paid them 400,000 each for working a length of 15 to 18 months placing them as the 3rd and 4th highest paid employees at the university. It was also explained that more than $1 million have gone to these employees including travel expenses and on campus lodging for only just 5 employees. With this evidence presented Doug Baker soon resigned. This sparks so much animosity with the students because not only is it money missing students who can barely afford to attend NIU have to deal with the school’s Housing price increase. The leader of NIU at the time basically overfunded a select few employees that wasn’t deserved and at the moment we have Acting President Lisa Freeman trying to pick up on what has happened to a university fresh out of a scandal. Some may even argue that the constant shootings in DeKalb has had a negative impact on students enough to fear for their safety. According the FBI source Neighborhood Scout website , DeKalb, IL is only safer than just 9% of the cities. This stat would only further add fuel to the fire as to why students feel that Northern Illinois University isn’t the ideal location to receive their education.
0 Comments
*This is an archived post from November 27th, 2016 By: N'Jema McIntyre Eugene Massey Divisions Relations Administration Manager Employee relations and Labor relations With 20 years at Northern Illinois University, he’s just a small town boy from Sycamore, IL. Massey grew up in the area and wanted to return to familiar territory. He began his journey as a police officer, left to join the military, spent some time out of the country, then returned to the U.S. and to NIU in Human Resources and finally landed the position he’s in currently. Mr. Massey enjoys being on this side of campus because he gets to see the students. He is also academic advisor for the organization CRAVE for students from Christ Community Church. He received his undergraduate degree at NIU in the College of Business in Enterprise Management class of 1991, got his Master’s in Adult and Higher education in 2009. As a minority in a small community he didn’t feel there was any racial tension and really enjoyed his time living here, which is what brought him back. He agrees that diversity is an important aspect in academia. Massey participates in search committees for diversity in selections for directors and staff. He works with Roselyn Snell and hopes to help make NIU a viable university. He expressed that he is aware that enrollment is down at NIU, and is interested in finding out how we can get our numbers back up. He also agrees that we can look to other universities like University of Illinois - Urbana/Champagne to figure out how they’re enrollment is at a record high for their freshman class. He asserts we need to look into why our numbers are down and what we can offer students as an incentive for choosing our university over any other university. Mr. Massey works in Altgeld and looks forward to assisting the change process at NIU and the future of the community as well. *This is an archived post from November 3rd, 2016 By: Kennth Scott When it comes to the number of people falling victim to gun violence in Chicago, looking at the statistics on paper may have little to no effect on you at all. But Jill Tikkun, an NIU instructor, took a different approach to raise awareness on the Gun Violence in Chicago. On the morning of November 3 2016, she and her students took the Homicide total of each year since 2007, and laid a tombstone in rows and columns down Lucinda Ave for each individual killed. Jill’s first class laid as many tombstones as they could in an allotted amount of time starting at 10AM. The number of NIU students that volunteered to help grew throughout the day. Many people stopped and admired the work being displayed. The end count was 4,834 Tombstones total down Lucinda Ave. This isn't the end of Tikkun's work geared towards gun violence in Chicago she along with students will be hosting "In the Name of Justice." The first day will be an artist showcase featuring many of NIU's past and present talented students and then lastly she will be having an open forum to discuss how violence can impact a community. |
Have a story idea?
|