DeKALB | Several departments within Information Technology Services will move to the newly purchased Monsanto property, it was highlighted at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

The Board of Trustees approved a $6 million purchase of the Monsanto property, located at Ill. Route 23 and Bethany Road, on Feb. 16. The contract specifies $4 million of the purchase goes toward the property itself, while an additional $2 million covers existing furnishings and equipment.

Faculty Senate President Paul Stoddard said most, but not all, of ITS will be moving to the Monsanto property.

“The switchboard, which employs mostly students, is not moving out there,” Stoddard said. “Document Services is staying where they are, out by the football field. The Helpdesk phones are moving, but the walk-in on-site Helpdesk will still be on the main campus.”

Also at the meeting, Stoddard spoke about the increase in spam that NIU e-mail users have been reporting.

“The university is rejecting three to five times as much spam as we were rejecting last year, Stoddard said”

Stoddard said a filter was in place earlier this school year that attempted to stop spam by blocking e-mails containing specific keywords. However, Stoddard said the filter would unintentionally block legitimate e-mails, so the filter was turned off.

“Spammers are getting more clever,” Stoddard said. “Instead of sending text files, they are sending image files that are images of the text they want you to read. There is no way the filters can see what is in those image files.”