At a University Council meeting Wednesday, NIU President John Peters reflected on the flood and December threat incidents that occurred during the fall semester.

“We came through it in fairly decent shape,” Peters said. “In both instances I think we handled it fairly well because we were prepared. There is a lot that went in to that.”

NIU’s Emergency Operations Plan, which was first drafted 18 months ago, played a large role in how effectively the university handled both incidents, Peters said. The EOP is modeled after the National Incident Management System, which provides a national standard that came out of 9/11.

“You can have the best planning in the world, but things happen that you didn’t anticipate,” Peters said. “If you don’t plan, you’re in real trouble.”

The EOP is a living document that must be continually worked on, Peters said. Compared to other universities, NIU’s EOP has a substantially more developed EOP, he said.

“It was a heck of a semester,” Peters said. “I’m very proud of everybody.”

Also, UC discussed strategic planning updates – including the Campus Climate surveys.

The Campus Climate survey will give students, faculty and staff the opportunity to share feelings and discuss likes and dislikes about student life at NIU, Provost Ray Alden said.

Three different surveys will be issued to undergraduates, graduates, faculty and staff, Alden said. Also, the survey is not statistical and is open to all of the university community.

Additionally, a larger, employee-based survey will be issued in the fall, Peters said, and the strategic planning process as a whole is progressing toward completion. Alden hopes the process will be done by the end of the semester.

About 300 concept papers were submitted for consideration in the strategic planning process, Alden said. The amount of participation was a little overwhelming, but gratifying.

Updates on the progress of strategic planning can be found on the NIU Web site.