Representatives from NIU’s administration were conspicuously absent at Wednesday’s open hearing on the effectiveness of Illinois’ higher education governing boards.

“There is difficulty in getting true evidence when you can’t get administrators to talk before the panel,” said panel member James Stancil, a student representative from Chicago State University. No NIU administrators spoke at a similar meeting in Chicago on Tuesday, Stancil said.

Stancil said he expected NIU President John La Tourette to testify for at least 10 minutes, or twice the previously announced five-minute limit for testimonies.

Stancil questioned the possible fear of administrators losing their jobs as a result of testifying because some panel members represented Illinois’ four governing systems and one represented the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

The hearing was the result of Senate Resolution 460, which calls for a study and evaluation of higher education governing boards.

The following people from NIU testified:

James Banovetz, director of public administration,

Biology Professor C. Jack Bennett,

Gordon Dorn, art professor and president of the NIU chapter of the American Association of University Professors,

Communication Studies Professor Charles Larson,

Regency Professor William Monat,

Student Association President Huda Scheidelman

Terrence Sheen, vice president of the NIU Alumni Association,

Leonard Strickman, College of Law dean, and

Sen. Patrick Welch, D-Peru.

Those testifying criticized the structure of state governing boards and agreed NIU should be represented by its own advocates. Welch said the Illinois legislature fears a domino effect; if one school leaves its governing board, others might follow.

Banovetz gave a forceful plea for structural changes he suggests to rapidly address problems. Monat, during his testimony, referred to writing a paper advocating a separate governing board for NIU, but he did not explicitly support that plan in his speech.

Strickman said a decentralized governing system would best suit Illinois’ needs. “The Board of Regents is regionally diffused. Dissimilar institutions are grouped together,” he said.

The Regents govern NIU, Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield.