Faculty and staff parking issues were a major point of discussion at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

Many staff members have reported a lack of adequate parking space this semester. A solution rests in the hands of the University Police, Faculty Senate Chair Paul Stoddard said.

Construction of the Chiller plant behind the Campus Life Building eliminated a great number of parking spots this semester.

In regard to which parking passes are legal in specific lots, there was discussion of rearranging them to make for more staff parking, Stoddard said. However, over the summer, responsibility for that was shifted from Associate Vice President of Finance and Facilities Robert Albanese to the Department of Public Safety, he said.

Staff members are still waiting on a resolution to the parking shortage.

“[The UP] have a different philosophy on problem solving,” Stoddard said. “Public Safety is aware of the problem and that faculty aren’t happy. Their response was that they would monitor the situation. There’s no word on how long until they make a decision, if they do.”

Stoddard expressed concern over how long it could potentially take to reach a resolution on the issue.

“My own fear is that we’ll have 18 months of construction [of the Chiller plant] and that it will take them 17 months to reach a decision,” he said. “It’s a little frustrating.”

SKIP ETHICS TRAINING? YOU’LL PAY

University employees who fail to complete ethics training may pay a heavy price.

Individuals found to have willfully failed to complete the exam could be fined $5,000 by the state, said Deborah Haliczer, director of employee relations at Human Resources Services.

“If you’re getting a paycheck [from NIU] – even if you’re on sabbatical in some exotic location – you have to do ethics training,” Haliczer said. She cited a recent example of a university employee who was in Antarctica and still had to complete the training by the deadline.

There are about 8,500 individuals at NIU required to complete ethics training this year, and their completion of the exam is monitored daily, Haliczer said.

Those needing to complete the training best not procrastinate, Haliczer said.

“Last year some faculty and students who waited until the last day encountered problems” and weren’t able to complete their certification, she said.

The deadline to complete ethics training is Nov. 14.