Check out the DEI page on their NIU websites. If this is a selling point, I don’t know why. The page is given a top position on the website’s homepage equal in prominence to other tabs like admissions and academics.
I listened to two hours of the House Appropriations Higher Education Committee on Thursday morning. I tuned in halfway through their conversation with Chicago State University and then heard testimony from the president of Northern Illinois University, the director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the director of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and a couple of other organizations.
These committee hearings are for show.
Every year, the public universities come before the Appropriations Committee to give an overview of their institution, explain their budget request, and answer a few questions—the whole discussion lasts about 20 minutes per agency/university. Hard-hitting questions are rarely asked, and there is almost never a follow-up.
This year DEI and Student Support were the primary topics of conversation. The things the uber-educated presidents and directors said were shocking. The fact that even Republicans failed to push back with pertinent questions was also shocking. I cannot retell the entire two hours, so I am going to just pull out a few items:
From the NIU President:
43% of the students pay no tuition or fees. -So taxpayers are picking up the tab for this many students?
NIU is a pioneer in getting students access to college by eliminating standardized tests for admission and merit financial aid. So, no standards and no money for merit give the right incentives to high school kids?
They are excited because their Hispanic enrollment is 25% putting them on a path to become a designated Hispanic Serving Institution. Why is this important?
They have a high percentage of minority students. Is that because they have racially biased admissions?
They provide mental health and equitable access to success for students. What about ACADEMICS?
Their 6-year graduation rate has doubled since 2012 when it was 23%. (I guess that means it is at 46%.) What’s the four-year rate, or is that not normal anymore?
They are requesting $116 million this year, $10 million more than the Governor’s budget request.
They have $500 million in deferred maintenance and vacant buildings they want to tear down. Who let that mess pile up?
Instead of asking important follow-up questions when presented with the above, the committee wanted to know what percentage of their contracts were going to minority businesses. NIU was proud to say the BEP spend is now over 19%, closing in on the goal of 30%.
Next, a few notes from the Illinois Board of Higher Education
Three Goals – Equity, Sustainability, and Growth
Under Equity – bringing the Department of Human Services to meet with students and get them started on food stamps, free childcare, TANF, WIC, and housing support right away. So now going to college means getting on welfare?
Funding SEL and mental health programs to support students. Is college just a giant safe space now?
They have individualized plans for students to close the Equity Gap. How, how much, and why?
Priority is to conduct an 80-question Sexual Misconduct Survey with every student.
Under Growth, they see childcare and behavioral health as growth professions. Not engineering, business, or medicine?
ISAC Notes
ISAC is the first in the nation to roll out a Test Preparation program. This is like having an ACT tutor in high school to get a good score on a standardized test. The test prep program is to help students score better on exams.
The example the ISAC director used is that test prep classes will help teach students the basic skills and subject matter tests they need to pass in order to be certified to teach. This is literally admitting that after FOUR years at an Illinois university, the students are unprepared to pass these tests. Not a single State Representative on the committee pushed back on this. The obvious question is, What is going on academically that students can’t pass these tests after four years?
ISAC requested more for MAPP funding and then broke down by race who gets MAPP funding. It’s all race, all the time when you talk to people in higher education.
The most appalling thing, though, was hearing ISAC discuss another form of student loan bailout. In this case, ISAC said they supported HB5482, which would forgive education grants that become loans with interest when the student fails to complete the grant’s requirements.
Here’s the example the ISAC guy gave. Teaching students can receive a grant that requires them to go into teaching after getting their degree. The students know upfront that if they fail to go into teaching, the grant becomes a loan. The ISAC guy argued that it isn’t fair to have to pay back the grant as a loan if the students decided they didn’t like kids or didn’t pass the certification tests. So, ISAC wants the loan forgiven.
Fortunately, the bill is going nowhere right now. But the whole discussion tells all of us that these higher education types have no regard for personal responsibility OR taxpayers hard earned money.
While we are on the topic of higher education, Illinois is the first in the nation to propose legislation (SB 2606) allowing college students to take five mental health days per year. Similar legislation was passed for K-12 students and became effective in January 2022.
One more note, the proposed higher education budget is just over $5 billion. Illinois is very generous to higher education, although the university presidents and teacher unions will argue that isn’t true.
But this chart from SHEEO (State Higher Education Executive Officers Organization) shows Illinois is NUMBER 1 out of all states in state support per FTE (full-time equivalent) student.
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