NIU Provost Kendall Baker met with two university constituents Wednesday and Thursday to discuss a rough draft on his paper on academic priorities for NIU.

On Wednesday, Baker discussed the second draft of the paper with the Faculty Assembly. “I have visted with different faculty committees, and this process generated a number of reactions, criticisms and changes. This revision is a statement which tries to incorporate some of the changes,” Baker said.

Baker said a section addressing faculty morale was added to the paper. He said the section represents the integration of three goals, including the achievement of competitive salaries, the improvement of the institution’s facilities, and the improvement of faculty involvement in university governance.

In addition, Baker said the academic priorities presented in the paper were not ranked in any order. “What the paper is trying to suggest is that there is an interrelationship between various goals and activities which we want to do,” he said.

Assembly members and Baker discussed the possibilty of NIU being the second University of Illinois. “I do not think the direction we are aspiring is to be a clone of the U of I. There are an awful lot of great things about U of I, but NIU should be NIU. We should concentrate on the quality of programming and the capability of the faculty,” he said.

Assembly member Sherman Stanage, who also is a philosophy professor, said, “It seems to me there either is or will be prioritizing. At some point, will the faculty be allowed to vote on these issues?”

Baker said, “This is not a voting document. It is a guide for the allocation of resources. I will be talking with the deans and the academic planning committee.”

On Thursday, Council on Instruction members asked Baker if the university plans to increase funds for lower division, general education courses that teach problems of intergroup and intergender relationships.

Baker said, “We need to provide our students with the knowledge and the expertise to deal with our changing society.” He said a cultural diversity program was developed at Bowling Green University in Ohio, where he previously worked as the dean of liberal arts and sciences.

In addition, the university required a course in cultural diversity in order to obtain a degree. “I see this as an educational priority … this is the direction in which we need to move,” Baker said.

The council also asked Baker if interdisciplinary education would be improved on campus. “We are all committed to the ideal, but the structure of a university makes it difficult to achieve.” He also said NIU does not have the resources to improve these programs.

Baker said NIU should not develop new programs if funds are not available. “We should quit waiting for the money to come some time. We should not do it if we don’t have the resources,” Baker said.