The dispute between Roosevelt University and NIU about the Hoffman Estates campus might be resolved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

IBHE Chairman Arthur Quern called a meeting last week between Roosevelt University President Theodore Gross and NIU President John La Tourette to discuss the dispute about the proposed campus. Board of Regents Chancellor Roderick Groves was also present at the meeting.

The meeting was called “to discuss the need for higher education (facilities) in the northwest suburbs,” Groves said. Groves said the meeting was not intended to be an action meeting.

Quern said he was attempting to see if there is a basis for resolving some of the issues brought up by the Hoffman Estates campus. “Not much progress was made,” he said.

David Lansing, dean of Roosevelt University administration, said “initially there was no common ground at the meeting.”

After the meeting, however, Lansing said Gross, La Tourette and Regents representatives are trying to reach an agreement “that everyone can live with.”

Lansing said Roosevelt University is concerned that the Hoffman Estates campus will become the 13th state campus. “We need to assure each other of honorable intentions,” he said.

“Quern called the meeting to assure Roosevelt that the campus will be a limited educational center,” Lansing said.

Roosevelt University is a member of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities along with 30 other colleges and universities in Illinois, Lansing said.

The Federation is hoping the legislature will delay the final approval of the campus until an IBHE committee will report on campus expansion in the fall.