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Monday, November 3, 2014
Northern Star Campus Life Building, Room 130 545 Lucinda Ave. DeKalb, Ill., 60115 Web: www.NorthernStar.info Fax: 815-753-0708
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Athletes shouldn’t be able to register for classes before others Nov. 3, 2014
Nov. 5, 2014
Editorial Board Editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Editorial Board; columns reflect the opinion of the author alone.
Campus Editor: Jackie Nevarez Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9643 City Editor: Rachel Scaman Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9644 Day Editor: Keith Hernandez Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9637 Sports Editor: Frank Gogola Sports@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9637 Scene Editor: Kevin Bartelt Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-5606 Perspective Editor: Carl Nadig Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-9637
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Letter to the Editor
Artists deserve apology
Andrew Houlne Alumnus
Editor in Chief & Publisher: Kelly Bauer Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-0105
Photo Editor: Ryan Ocasio Editor@NorthernStar.info 815-753-1602
Perspective
Jose Valencia | Northern Star
Dividing VP role will increase productivity Northern Star Editorial Board
NIU is taking an important step in cutting the costs of administrative positions by disassembling the job of retiring vice president Bill Nicklas. As vice president of Operations and Community Relations, Nicklas oversaw the NIU Police Department, human resources and community relations and acted as a liaison to the Board of Trustees, among other things. These responsibilities will now be divided among at least five employees who work at NIU or who will be hired, NIU President Doug Baker announced in a Thursday Baker Report. NIU is making the right call in using Nicklas’ departure to revamp the university’s structure and cut expenses, especially in light of Baker’s Faculty Senate announcement that NIU will cut administrative positions and increase recruitment and retention to help with finances. Disassembling the vice
president of Operations and Community Relations role should save NIU money, as Nicklas made about $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2014, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Cutting costs wherever possible is necessary since NIU is working on a tight Fiscal Year 2015 budget that put expenses at $425 million and revenue at $426 million. Beyond saving money, the division of Nicklas’ job should improve efficiency. Nicklas was an adept vice president who was able to manage his responsibilities because of his background as city manager of DeKalb and Sycamore, but his replacements will be able to focus more closely on individual goals and problems through the strategy of dividing and conquering. NIU will also move responsibilities to divisions more suited to the jobs, like having Communiversity Initiatives Director Jennifer Groce, who will take over Nicklas’ community
Read more
Read how the vice president of Operations and Community Relations role is being divided: bit. ly/1rPWPFE. relations responsibilities, report to Anne Kaplan in the Division of Outreach, Engagement and Regional Development. There, Groce will focus on “community/ university issues, continue to support high-priority communiversity initiatives that contribute to a vital campus community and thriving neighborhoods and work with local stakeholders to foster the development of the DeKalb community,” according to the Baker Report. The university must continue to look for ways to cut costs among its administration as it seeks to save money and improve the student experience, but its changes in the wake of Nicklas’ departure should help.
Nicklas a model for NIU admin
Northern Star Editorial Board
Administrators should aim to have qualities similar to Bill Nicklas, former vice president of Operations and Community Relations: commitment to the student body and support for the community. Nicklas went above and beyond what was expected for an administrator and set a precedent. After the university terminated Don Grady, former NIU police chief, in February 2013, Nicklas’ role as vice president for Institutional Planning and Sustainability expanded to director of
Public Safety. Throughout this process, Nicklas ensured the best quality of conduct from the NIU Police Department in the wake of multiple scandals and kept the student body informed by attending every Student Association Senate meeting — as was common for him throughout three years at NIU, according to an Oct. 27 Northern Star article — and taking the time to speak to Northern Star reporters. “From the minute I arrived on campus in October of 2011, the most refreshing and lively part of my day is working with students,”
Nicklas said in a July 15, 2013, Northern Star article. “I’m struck by the seriousness they have. It creates an energy that is remarkable.” Nicklas’s commitment to transparency did not end with the student body. The ushering in of NIU Police Chief Tom Phillips in August 2013 led to a better relationship between the DeKalb Police Department and campus police. The Editorial Board recognizes what made Nicklas a good administrator and encourages current and future administrators to have the same influential qualities for students.
On Wednesday evening, there was a reception held at the president’s office in Altgeld Hall to showcase the artwork of undergraduate students. An opportunity like this can be a boost to a student’s burgeoning art career and a way to build confidence in his or her developing skills; however, this was not the case for some artists. There were at least four artists who had work selected for display and discovered their work was not available at the reception. It was explained that the available space on the walls of the president’s office was not adequate to hold all of the selected artwork and some items were displayed in the provost’s office. This was reasonable and would have been a non-issue, except the office was locked, preventing attendees from viewing those items. This seemed to be a sign of bad planning, but a locked door should’ve been easily remedied. What I fail to understand is why the event program didn’t have the names of the students or descriptions of their work that was in the locked office — imagine the embarrassment those students felt when their family and friends couldn’t find evidence they were part of the reception. Art students work long hours creating their work and spend an enormous amount of money on supplies. Those selected to have their work displayed used their own funds to create the work. In the case of prints and photos, funding for the paper, the printing and the frame to hold the work are provided by the student and can add up to hundreds of dollars for each piece. Student artists count on events like this for exposure, and, more importantly, the reception provided an opportunity to recoup the expense of the time and materials by offering their work for sale to those attending the event.
Read Online | bit.ly/10hyUZj
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