NIU professors are up in arms after being called lazy and overpaid in a report given to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

“Improving Quality, Cost Effectiveness and Accountability in the 1990s,” a report made by 23 Illinois leaders, claims faculty do not teach enough, retention rates are too low and there is wasteful program duplication.

But NIU’s University Council does not know where the IBHE got their information.

“Is it hearsay or what,” said J. Carroll Moody, University Council executive secretary. “That’s the problem with it.”

“As the key institution that’s supposed to represent all of higher education, it gives a negative view to ‘cure the ills’ of higher education,” he said.

Moody sent the IBHE a letter Monday protesting the report because it “sends a bad message,” he said. However, Moody did not know when or if the IBHE would respond.

Part of the letter states “it is particularly disappointing to see the overwhelming emphasis in the report on undergraduate education” which neglects statements about research and graduate education.

The letter is a faculty-based view and not only his opinion, Moody said.

The report’s claims about teachers are “untrue about the overwhelming majority,” he said. Moody said he received more phone calls from faculty concerning the report than any other incident stemming from either the IBHE or the Board of Regents.

“They (the professors) are quite incensed,” Moody said. “They teach, they advise students and they conduct research, which reflects in what they teach,” he said.

The 27-page report also criticizes administrative overhead costs, bad program availability, little college preparation for employers, the rising cost of education and a lack of efficiency.

Each university needs to review its goals and objectives to strengthen education, the report stated. Schools also need to make annual reports to students, faculty, parents, prospective students and state officials.

Moody said high tuition costs are the state’s fault. “There is a lessened support,” he said. “There is no acknowledgement that in the ‘80s, state support in Illinois fell to the bottom.”

Another problem is there is no recognition of other faculty activites, Moody said. “For most, their whole life is teaching and scholarship,” he said. “They work nights and weekends.”