Minutes of the
Board of Trustees of
Northern Illinois University
December 10, 1999

It was moved by Trustee Siegel and seconded by Trustee Vella to approve the minutes of the September 17, 1999 meeting. The motion was approved.

During the Chair's Report under Item 9.d., Chair Moser said, I have one of the more pleasant tasks that fall to the Chair of the Board. A year ago the Board of Trustees instituted two very special awards — the Jim Edgar Award for Excellence in Higher Education, named for our former governor and intended to recognize individuals who have made a significant and lasting positive impact on higher education in Illinois. Also, the Mike O'Malley Award for Excellence in Higher Education, which was named for the Hoffman Estates mayor, Michael O'Malley, and intended to honor individuals who have contributed to making higher education more accessible to the public especially in the suburban areas. The Board will be asked to consider the nominations of two very strong and deserving individuals for these prestigious honors at this meeting, with presentations to be made at a later date, if approved.

This is my last year on the Foundation, he said, and this is a nice way to go out. I have never been at a Trustees meeting before, so this is very interesting to me. My purpose today is to give a Foundation report, but also to take the opportunity to talk just a little bit about its mission, its structure, its responsibilities, its accomplishments and the directions in which it is going. The Foundation was founded about 50 years ago. It was originally organized to secure and manage private gift support for Northern Illinois University; and, today, it acts as the entry point for gifts of all kinds — property, cash, etc. — coming into the university. Funds are accepted by the Foundation on behalf of the university and managed by the Foundation thereafter.

At present, total Foundation assets are approximately $24 million. These assets are managed professionally by the Common Fund, which is a not-for-profit corporation managing funds for educational institutions in the U.S., and Wayne Hummer Investments, which is a very well known regional firm in Chicago. The Foundation receives and manages all contributions made in any form. Contributions can be either restricted or unrestricted; but all funds, directly or indirectly, go to promote and support the educational mission of this university. That includes all departments and every activity of the university, such as contributions made to the Athletic Department, library, etc. The Foundation, by the way, is an extremely interesting point from which to witness the activities of this university, which are so diverse and carried on at such a high level. It is a fascinating thing to see, Mr. Castle said, and I have become aware over the years of the contributions this university makes through its students to the state of Illinois and, most immediately, to this economy.

To give you some idea of the fundraising efforts that are currently underway, just under 16,000 donors contributed about $5.4 million to the Foundation in fiscal 1998. In fiscal 1999, the number of donors moved up to nearly 18,000, who contributed just over $6.6 million. Current annual fund contributions, which are primarily generated by direct mail and by our Telefund efforts, Mr. Castle continued, are running 33 percent ahead of last year, and we are 24 percent ahead in the number of donors. The number of donors is really important because, going back not too many years, the Foundation and the university generally had a difficult time identifying its alumni and, particularly, identifying those who might be most helpful to the university. Those days are behind us now, and both the Alumni Association and the Foundation together are developing a list to make those contacts and bring more alumni back into the fold.

Day to day operations of the Foundation are managed by its president, Mallory Simpson. She in turn reports to Mike Malone, Vice President for Development. The Foundation board has traditional oversight responsibilities. Mallory and Mike are supported by two very experienced development professionals — Alberta Solfisberg, who came from Aurora University, and John Bass, who came from Benedictine recently and has expertise in the area of charitable gift annuities and similar planned giving activities. Mr. Bass introduced to the Foundation and to NIU the charitable gift annuity program, Mr. Castle said, the first major planned giving program we have embarked upon. The Board received a copy of a brochure on the Foundation's charitable gift annuities with a description of the program. The program was put together and approved in record time. Mr. Bass told me that he is booking the first charitable annuity, an $11,000 gift, just the start of some very good things that will be happening.

The Foundation Board of Directors has four working committees — development, leadership, grants and finance — as well as an executive committee. The committees are very active and meet regularly. Board members are elected for three-year staggered terms. When the Foundation started 50 years ago, the board tended to consist of local people, frequently alumni, but not always. The local flavor persisted until a few years ago when a concerted effort was made to expand the membership beyond this immediate area by reaching out to alumni wherever they might be. As a result, we now have board members from as far away as Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., as well as the Chicago, Naperville, Rockford and DeKalb-Sycamore areas.

The Foundation will be adding another director and recently received a commitment from Gary Watson, who will join the board next year. Gary is a good example of what we are trying to do to develop the board, Mr. Castle said. Gary Watson graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1967 and is currently president of the Newspaper Division of the Gannett Company, Inc. The Newspaper Division publishes 74 newspapers, including USA Today and USA Weekend, in the United States as well as overseas. Gannett is the largest domestic media company in the U.S. Gary, who now lives in Washington, is originally from Rockford and continues to be very active there. He has been on the board of AMCORE for many years and was previously publisher of the Rockford-Star. He is a great addition to the Foundation board, Mr. Castle said, and there are others like him coming on. Men and women like Gary can be extremely helpful to us, both regionally and nationally.

The Foundation is a separate, 501-C not-for-profit legal entity. The Foundation and the university work closely together and rely on each other for services and support. The university contracts with the Foundation for particular services. The Foundation is responsible to the Illinois General Assembly through the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission, which monitors all university foundations in the state. The Foundation is audited annually by the Illinois Auditor General, acting on behalf of the Legislative Audit Commission. The Foundation is charged by the Legislative Audit Commission not to engage in activities which will directly or indirectly result in the expenditure of general fund tax dollars. The Foundation is always cognizant of the General Assembly's view that the Foundation not be used to do things through the backdoor that the General Assembly would not let the university do. We have participated in the acquisition of land for the university, and we have helped with buildings. WNIU now is housed in a very modern facility, which we played a strong role in obtaining for them. We have been very instrumental in the development of innovative academic programs at all levels. We work very closely with the President's Office, the deans and the various departments when we receive money that is committed to them. We work very closely with the Board of Trustees, and we are very cognizant of our need to act responsibly towards your objectives as well as the objectives of the president of the university, the faculty and the students.

As chairman of the Development Committee, Mr. Castle said, I cannot leave without making a solicitation. The Foundation board members are all contributors to the Foundation at a minimum level of $1,000 and above. We have implemented that successfully and invite the Board of Trustees to join us. On a personal note, Mr. Castle said, I have worked in development for a number of years with a lot of people in different capacities. Specifically, I have chaired committees in development for Philips Andover in Massachusetts, for Princeton University and for the Marwin Foundation in Chicago. I have been involved with various museums in Chicago. Most recently, I have become involved in development at the Chicago Historical Society. The development staff we have at Northern today, with Mallory, Mike, Alberta and John, and the people who support them, in my experience, is truly major league. Northern has come light years with its development program in three years; and you can look to this program in the future for very strong financial support. I thank you for the opportunity to be here today to make this report, Mr. Castle concluded.

John, you are a good friend of the university, Chair Moser said, and we all want to thank you for your hard work and dedication over the many years.

I would like to publicly thank John for all the years of support to the university, President La Tourette said. I think he is an outstanding citizen of DeKalb, and I know he takes his responsibilities in making this a better community and a better university very seriously.

Presidential Search
The university's consultant from Korn/Ferry, Bill Funk, recently made a statement that NIU is unique in that he has never seen a 22-member presidential search committee or seen so many working well together. It is a challenge, Trustee Boey said, but it is a great committee.

Trustee Boey went on to say that the 22-member committee includes fellow Trustee Manny Sanchez and co-chair Jim Norris. No one really understood what it meant to start a search process for an NIU president because we have not had to do that for so long, he said. For the last three months, the committee has spent an inordinate amount of time on the search. We now know what it means to mount this kind of search. Time is needed, not just for committee meetings, but to go into a special office to read all the candidate materials because it cannot be removed from that office. There is also the nondisclosure responsibility and the late meetings. The last meeting, on December 8, ended at 11:00 p.m. It is a complex process, and I cannot say enough about the commitment to that process by our membership.

Because the quality of the candidates has been tremendous, and because six new applications came in at the last meeting, Trustee Boey said, we felt we had to call one more meeting before taking the next step. So, the committee will meet again on Wednesday, December 15. After that meeting, we will have a list that we will contact and ask for permission to do reference checks, background checks and look at other information. The committee members will be involved in the reference calling, background checks, etc. From that group will come a list of candidates that will be invited to a neutral site in Chicago for face-to-face interviews in January. From that session will come the short list of candidates that the committee will present to the Board of Trustees for their interviews and selection. Presumably, Trustee Boey said, the Board will invite the short list candidates to the campus in order to meet them and allow the campus to meet them. Do not forget, Trustee Boey said, we are looking at the candidates, but they are also looking at us. The search committee is on schedule and hopes to present its candidate list to the Board, in the first quarter of 2000.

Executive Committee
There was no report from the Executive Committee.

Academic Affairs and Student Affairs
Chair Boey gave the report for the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee, which met on November 11 following a morning meeting of the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee. More and more, because of synergies involved in some common items, Chair Boey said, the two committees are holding their meetings on the same date in order to allow the members to come together on common issues. During the November 11 meeting, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee took action on a request for a new research and public service center to be called the Center for Child Welfare and Education. The proposed center will provide training for students preparing to be teachers and for teachers in dealing with students in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). These children often have been neglected or abused and have unique needs that schools must know how to address. The center is funded by grants from DCFS. The Committee endorsed the proposal and recommends that the Board approve it today. The Committee also received an update on the progress of the Mattis case, which is connected to the SURS Early Retirement Option and controversies about the calculation of benefits. The university has provided counseling to a large number of faculty and staff affected by the changes in that ERO option. There is still no court decision on exactly how the new formulas will work for calculating retirement benefits and how they are to be applied. The Committee also heard an explanation of the new results report required of all universities annually by the IBHE. The university's plans to address each of the six goals of the Illinois Commitment in the coming year or two were included in the meeting materials. We now have a good grasp on this major new accountability initiative, Chair Boey said, and are impressed with the thoroughness of the university's response. Finally, the Committee heard a report from the athletic director and the faculty chair of a self-study committee that is readying the university for an NCAA Division I athletic certification visit. It seemed clear from the presentation that intercollegiate athletics programs at the Division I level are scrutinized as carefully as are academic programs and other units. We can be very confident of the quality of our program and its conformity to national standards. 

Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee
The Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee met on November 11, the same day the Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee met. Chair Sanchez said he agreed that there are synergies between the two committees. He hoped that practice would continue. The Finance Committee received university reports on capital projects and various financial reports, such as the annual report on cash and investments, periodic summary report of transactions in excess of $100,000, update of Fiscal Year 2001 budget request and report on tuition and fee waivers for Fiscal Year 1999. Action items approved by the committee at the November meeting included Fiscal Year 2000 tuition rates and the investment and cash management policy. Each of these and other items addressed by the Finance, Facilities and Operations Committee are included in the President's Report for Board of Trustees approval at this meeting.

Legislation, Audit and External Affairs Committee
The Legislation, Audit and External Affairs Committee met preceding this Board of Trustees meeting. Issues discussed included Public Act No. 91-0627, which dealt with procurement reform, Chair Siegel reported, and I gave a special thank you to Senator Rauschenberger, Speaker Madigan and Representative Shoenberg for helping put that procurement reform through. This amendment to the Illinois Procurement Act will make it a little easier for Northern Illinois University to deal with instructional contracts in its BIS program. Also discussed was the Mattis case and its current status, the combination of NIU efforts to inform and counsel employees regarding new developments in the ERO program resulting from the Mattis decision, and passage of that legislation. The Committee also discussed the IBHE budget, which was received on Wednesday, and which appears to penalize NIU because we have had an increase in enrollment and, therefore, an increase in our income fund, Chair Siegel said. We have now had a decrease in our general revenue appropriation to give us a five percent overall increase. That is an item that needs to be addressed. Also discussed was the teacher certification program. If a university does not comply with the certification requirements of the Higher Education Amendments of 1998, it could be fined up to $25,000. The Legislation Committee will hold a meeting sometime before the April 7, 2000 deadline to check on the status of that matter. The Higher Education Reporting Relief Act issue was also reviewed. NIU ended up taking the lead in a joint task force created with the IRS. Chair Siegel offered special thanks to Kathy Swanson and Kathe Shinham for Northern's involvement in this reporting issue. We also went over the gender equity waivers in intercollegiate athletics, he said, and it appears that the university was on the correct side of the Title IX gender equity waivers issue by increasing opportunities for women and not reducing men's opportunities in intercollegiate athletics. The Committee learned that federal legislation would have assessed punitive damages against those institutions whose student financial aid systems were not Y2K compliant by December 20. It was reported that NIU had made the Department of Education's "Honor Roll." Chair Siegel gave a special thank you to the Financial Aid Office and to Walter Czerniak and John Tuecke in Computing for all the hard work they put in to make sure NIU was in compliance. It is clear to me that as we have increased our efforts in the legislation and government affairs area that we have gotten back multiple returns, Chair Siegel concluded, and I hope we can expand on those efforts next year.

Teacher certification is handled through the Academic Affairs division of the university under Provost Lynne Waldeland's direction. Chair Boey stated that he and Trustee Siegel had briefly discussed the teacher certification issue before the meeting, and suggested that they coordinate any in-depth hearings on the subject between the LAEA and AASAP Committees.

Illinois Board of Higher Education 
President La Tourette stated that the IBHE met in October, and both Trustee Boey and Trustee Siegel attended to address any questions that might have been raised about the approval of NIU's convocation center. That proposal was approved by the IBHE, and bonds have been issued to begin the project. We were very fortunate that the bonds were issued on the day before the Federal Reserve raised the interest and discount rate, the President said, so the university bond rate is at 5.88 percent. Construction should commence sometime this spring.

As already mentioned by Trustee Siegel, at the Legislation Committee meeting there was a discussion about the Income Fund and the way it is treated by the Board of Higher Education. The President said he would share with the Board two personal letters he sent to the Keith Sanders, Executive Director of the Board of Higher Education, about this issue. It appears that the Board of Higher Education is still trying to blend the Income Fund into General Revenue support from the state as they did before the Income Fund legislation was passed. Some schools are now adjusting their Income Fund allocations downward for some technical reason, or they are trying to catch up with an enrollment decline they have had in the past, or they are in a current enrollment decline. Those schools tended to receive higher General Revenue support in this set of recommendations. Because NIU is in a good position, having finally worked off an enrollment decline from several years ago, President La Tourette said, we are carrying over a million dollars as a result of the improved enrollment that Trustee Siegel mentioned. We seem to have been penalized by receiving a lower General Revenue increase because we are in good shape with our Income Fund. So, the question is whether or not there are any incentives for managing your Income Fund well. Rather than being penalized, it seems that one should receive a reward of some sort for an enrollment increase or at least be treated neutrally. The Board of Higher Education has to be challenged on what the boundaries are for university control of its Income Fund given the Income Fund legislation passed a few years ago. Moreover, what does it mean if institutions are bailed out, in a sense, because their enrollment goes down and their Income Fund goes down. We handled a very large decline in our Income Fund when our enrollment declined several years ago. We didn't ask for any help from the IBHE. We managed to control that on our own. And now we're reaping the benefits of our enrollments coming back up again, and we're generating more income than we anticipated. It seems the IBHE is saying that if an institution is managing its income fund well, that means it has more income, therefore, they can give it less state support. I think this issue has to be raised at the highest level, President La Tourette said, and as you will see from the two letters, I have been very pointed in my remarks to Dr. Sanders about this position.

University Civil Service Merit Board
There was no report from the Civil Service Merit Board.

Trustee Siegel made a motion to approve the following six items as a single action item:

Agenda Item 8.a.(1) – Division of Continuing Education Educational Services

Agenda Item 8.a.(2) – Fiscal Year 2001 Tuition Recommendations

Agenda Item 8.a.(3) – Investment and Cash Management Policy

Agenda Item 8.a.(4) – Request for a New Research and Public Service Center

Agenda Item 9.a. – Executive Session Minutes Release

Agenda Item 9.c. – Collective Bargaining Agreement

Agenda Item 8.a.(5) – Request by the City of DeKalb for New Easements and a Revision to a Current Lease Agreement
This request from the City of DeKalb was for new easements and the revision of a current lease agreement to address the problem it is currently facing with improvements to its water system. In order to address the concerns of the City as well as those of the university, President La Tourette said, the recommendation reads as follows: In furtherance of the public interests of the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University and with due consideration for the public interest of the City of DeKalb, the university requests (1) authority to negotiate terms and conditions of an intergovernmental agreement with the City of DeKalb concerning a lease amendment, water rate stipulations and water line easements, and (2) delegation of authority to the President to execute such intergovernmental agreement after approval of the Chair of the Board of Trustees and the Chair of the Board's committee on Finance, Facilities and Operations. Chair Siegel asked that the motion be amended in part (2) to read that the President seek approval from either the Board of Trustees or the Executive Committee. Chair Siegel moved the motion as amended, seconded by Trustee Boey. The motion was approved.

Chair Moser asked the Board members if anyone had any questions on or wanted to discuss any of the information items numbered 8.b.(1) through 8.b.(6). No one had any questions on these items.

Agenda Item 8.c.(1) — Honorary Degree
This is the recommendation directly from President La Tourette to the Board that an honorary degree be awarded to J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who is also a Northern Illinois University alumnus. The honorary degree would be a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). This degree was recommended following the campus process for such degrees being recommended by faculty and other members of the university. Such a recommendation goes through the university committee chaired by the Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Jerrold Zar, then to the university President and the Faculty Senate. All of these various approval levels were cleared through consultation. President La Tourette said that several months ago the Board had indicated it would be receptive to such a degree if it met all university procedural requirements. Because we must have public action on awarding the degree prior to commencement on Sunday, the President said, Board approval is requested. Trustee Boey moved to approve the awarding of an honorary degree to J. Dennis Hastert. Trustee Sanchez asked the record to show that all of the Trustees seconded that motion. The motion was approved.

Regardless of your politics or how you feel about Mr. Hastert, President La Tourette commented, he is an excellent representative of the university and is testimony to the fact that someone from a humble background in the Midwest can attend a public university and rise to the level of the third ranking person in the United States.

Agenda Item 9.c. – Collective Bargaining
Trustee Vella asked for more information on the collective bargaining agreement between the university and the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council representing police telecommunicators at the DeKalb campus.

President La Tourette explained that each June, the Board sets up a series of guidelines for the administration of salary increases for all employees; but when agreements have been negotiated for employees represented by a collective bargaining agreement, they are brought back to the Board for approval. Legal Counsel Ken Davidson offered the further explanation that there was a division between the commissioned officers and the telecommunication workers in that unit. There was a split in the jurisdiction between the Educational Labor Relations Board and the State Labor Relations Board. The commissioned officers are now under the jurisdiction of the State Labor Relations Board, and the telecommunicators are now under the jurisdiction of the Educational Labor Relations Board. President La Tourette said he would have Associate Vice President Cunningham contact Trustee Vella to give her further details of the contract.

Agenda Item 9.d. – Board of Trustees Awards
I have the distinct pleasure, Chair Moser stated, of bringing forward the nominations of two very special individuals for the Board of Trustees' Jim Edgar and Mike O'Malley Awards.

Chair Moser said he would be hard pressed to find a more deserving nominee for the Jim Edgar Award for Excellence in Higher Education than Dr. Norman Jenkins, retiring president of Kishwaukee College in nearby Malta. Dr. Jenkins has served that institution for 32 years, serving 22 years as president. He is widely identified as the driving force that created a college from a cornfield making Kishwaukee College a vital and robust institution. It was noted that he turned that same intense focus toward developing a strong and enduring friendship with Northern Illinois University. A familiar and respected man in his community as well as in Illinois postsecondary education, Dr. Jenkins has created a profound and lasting, positive impact on higher education. I am extremely honored to present his name to the Board for consideration as the recipient of the 1999-2000 Jim Edgar Award for Excellence in Higher Education, Chair Moser said. He then asked for a motion to accept Dr. Jenkins' nomination. Trustee Boey so moved, seconded by Trustee Sanchez. The motion was approved.

The candidate proposed for the Mike O'Malley Award was Naperville Mayor George Pradel. Mayor Pradel was an early and enthusiastic supporter of our plans to build a regional site in Naperville, Chair Moser said, and was extremely helpful in guiding us through the intricacies of zoning and approval processes necessary to make that site a reality. More than a strong administrative ally, Mayor Pradel has even more personal connections to NIU. As the mayor recently noted in announcements related to the facility: "With Northern's arrival, higher education will be more accessible, and the facility that is going to be built is first class. Northern has had a great influence on the city and on my life. My son is a graduate of Northern." This type of personal connection to the institution has proven extremely valuable as we expand to provide needed educational services to the western suburban region. I take great pleasure in presenting Mayor George Pradel for consideration as the recipient of the 1999-2000 Mike O'Malley Award for Excellence in Higher Education, Chair Moser said. He than asked for a motion to accept Mayor Pradel's nomination. Trustee Siegel so moved, seconded by Student Trustee Davis. The motion was approved.

Chair Moser announced that the formal award presentations would be made at the first Board meeting in 2000.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon M. Mimms
Recording Secretary