NIU administration will be squaring off with other college and university administrators who are opposed to the building of the Hoffman Estates center at the Illinois Board of Higher Education meeting Dec. 4.

“People will speak on behalf of the project at the meeting Tuesday and people also will be speaking who are in opposition of the project,” said IBHE Deputy Director Ross Hodel.

NIU President John La Tourette will be at the meeting along with Faculty Advisory Committee member David Ripley, said J. Carroll Moody, University Council Executive Secretary.

“The IBHE is supporting the project,” said Tom Montiegel, vice president of Development and University Relations.

Montiegel said the IBHE has been informed about details concerning Hoffman Estates since the beginning.

“We’re not anticipating an adverse decision,” he said.

Montiegel also said La Tourette will be at the meeting with people from the business and education departments to speak on behalf of the project.

In addition to NIU officials, representatives from both Sears and the village of Hoffman Estates will be on hand, he said.

“We expect the (Hoffman Estates) mayor or the city manager to go to the meeting to speak,” Montiegel said.

Hodel said he did not know what action would be taken at the meeting after the board hears both sides of the project.

“It’s possible it (the action taken by the board) can go either way,” he said.

Hodel said he has not heard reactions from IBHE members about the action to be taken at the meeting.

Roosevelt University President Theodore Gross will be at the meeting along with Roosevelt Dean of Administration David Lansing to protest the use of higher education funds to build the Hoffman Estates center, said Constance Zonka, senior director of University Relations at Roosevelt.

“President Gross has been put on the agenda to speak (at the upcoming IBHE meeting),” she said.

Lansing is circulating a report to IBHE members stating “at a time of dwindling state resources, the issue of how to prevent expensive duplication of programs” should be addressed by the board.

Lansing is suggesting the expansion of universities should require prior approval from the IBHE.