Pass: Legislators pass state budget and fund NIU

After nearly three years without a full state appropriation, it was an unexpected breath of fresh air when state legislators passed a budget Thursday.

Though NIU is being funded at 10 percent less than the last full appropriation in Fiscal Year 2015, this budget will allow officials to finally start digging NIU out of the $65 million hole that was dug while functioning without state appropriations.

One can only hope that this glimmer of lawmaker productivity is the beginning to a path toward the state’s complete repair.

Fail: Costly review results in three-page report

Although it was relieving to see the Board of Trustees release former President Doug Baker’s review despite his resignation, the size of the report was a massive disappointment.

Greenwood/Asher & Associates, the third-party firm hired to assist in the evaluation, was contractually bound to be compensated no more than $30,000, and the firm was selected following demand for the entire NIU community’s involvement in the reviewal process.

After all this spending and campus outcry, it would have been nice to see the report exceed a measly three pages.