DeKALB — NIU President Lisa Freeman addressed the University Council regarding her engagement with Illinois General Assembly legislators for equitable funding and speech protection on Wednesday.
Freeman testified before the Higher Education Appropriations Committee of the General Assembly on Tuesday, asking for legislative support regarding NIU’s capital projects.
“We testified quite a bit yesterday about construction delays related to our building projects and we had suggestions for how we could get legislative support to help those things move faster,” Freeman said to the council.
She also spoke with Illinois State Senator Graciela Guzmán, sponsor of Senate Bill 2202, which aims to protect university students from discipline for speech expressed off campus or on social media if it is protected by the First Amendment.
Additionally, the bill protects university faculty from punishment resulting from expressing an opinion about a particular topic so long as it is within the scope of their course.
Freeman also spoke with General Assembly legislators of the Higher Education Appropriations Committee March 25 for NIU’s Advocacy Day.
“We were able to make connections for our students to have internships. We were able to explain details of various bills,” Freeman said.
The following day, the Illinois General Assembly voted 12-4 to advance House Bill 1581 to its third reading in the Illinois House of Representatives, though the date is unspecified as of yet.
“There was testimony in opposition by the University of Illinois and then testimony in support by university leaders, faculty, staff and students representing pretty much all the other universities and advocacy groups,” Freeman said.
House Bill 1581, or the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act, would consider the operating expenses for Illinois public universities and equitably allocate funding based on the Illinois Board of Education’s (IBHE) Equitable Public University Funding formula.
In 2021, the state assembly created the Illinois Commission on Equitable Public University Funding Act to address systemic disparities in college access and affordability.
The formula determines a university’s funding need and factors that affect whether or not it can run adequately, such as program cost, school size or average student family income.
According to the state of Illinois, NIU is only 56% adequately funded.
The next University Council meeting will take place at 3 p.m. on April 29 in Altgeld Hall, Room 315.
