President Sharon Hahs did something that was unprecedented at NEIU; she conducted an open forum with students to hear about their concerns and shed some light on certain issues.
On March 4, President Hahs hosted a student Town Hall meeting in Alumni Hall. She opened by telling the audience she was “tickled to have a forum for students.” She called the meeting “experiment 102,” in reference to the recent teachers’ Town Hall meeting (Jan. 11) that was deemed “experiment 101.”
Hahs started with some opening statements before turning the attention over to the audience for questions. She said the main reason for holding the meeting was to create a dialogue between the administration and the students in order to strengthen further communication. She also said she wants to know what’s on students’ minds.
The meeting was informal, and Hahs said she welcomed any questions or comments, as long as they were presented according to the university’s values, i.e. integrity, diversity and community.
She got straight to the point by telling the audience that she has hired a consulting firm in order to assist with planning and budget for the fiscal year 2009. Hahs also said she is currently working on putting together a strategic planning committee, and that a mass email would be sent out shortly to all students with information about it.
Hahs leveled with the audience and informed them that when the university sent the budget to the Illinois Board of Higher Education for fiscal year 2009, the governor recommended level one, which is no budget increase. In fact, it is a slight decrease in budget. After that was out of the way, the forum opened up for questions.
One of the first questions asked in the meeting was, “Did we raise tuition too much?” Hahs responded quickly. “Let’s tackle that. In some ways, yes,” she conceded. But, she backed up her response by informing the audience that she is hoping to generate money from tuition increases in order to pay salary increases for employees, and also to pay for increasing utility bills.
Hahs was then questioned about the possibility of a teachers’ strike when the contract between the University Professionals of Illinois (UPI) and the university runs out. The contract is four years long, and this is its final year. A student asked how Hahs expects to prevent a teachers’ strike. She responded by saying, “Most teachers want a reasonable process.” She assured the audience that both her administration and the UPI are preparing for negotiations.
A student from the Campus Anti-War Network asked Hahs a question regarding the lack of recruiters on campus this semester, and if it was a result of the Network’s efforts to keep them away from the university. She said that she does not know why there are less recruiters on campus now, and that there is no direct effect between the efforts of the Network and the lack of recruiters.
Vice President of Student Affairs Melvin Terrell then stood to further address the question, and said that the university needs the Army, Navy and Marines in order to maintain financial aid, and must let them on campus to recruit at any time.
SGA Senator Mark Banks asked Hahs about the recent reduction in resources, like computers, that are available to students on campus. He said that while we need more computers in the computer labs, the number of computers has been reduced.
Hahs said that this recent reduction is a reaction to student complaints about the limited access of computers. Apparently, there have been complaints about the fact that a number of students use the computers in the computer labs for recreation more than schoolwork. To counter this, the university reduced the numbers of computers available to all the students.
Another student, Eric Lopez, asked one of the last questions in the meeting, which regarded the amount of general education classes open for current registration. Hahs said that she is working on decreasing sections for classes in some other, less important areas in order to increase the amount of sections open in the most pertinent areas.