DeKALB | The graduate schools and the Division of Research and Graduate Studies at NIU have almost eliminated their financial deficit.

“About four years ago, when [Dr. Rathindra Bose, Vice President of Research & Grad Studies] arrived, we had about $4.5 million deficit,” said C.T. Lin, chair of the resource space and budget committee. “In 2007, the deficit has been almost eliminated.”

The Faculty Senate discussed concern over how the deficit developed and what steps will be taken to prevent the deficit from reoccurring.

Since the deficit has decreased, Lin said graduate schools have been able to almost completely bring back graduate students’ travel. Also, Lin said the graduate schools were able to fund 40 research and artistry grants last year.

The Faculty Senate voted unanimously to invite Bose to a future meeting to answer questions about the origin of the deficit and how the deficit was resolved.

In addition, the Faculty Senate voted to recommend a Personal Response System (PRS) to ITS.

“We recommended to ITS that they focus their support on the eInstruction system,” Daniel Kempton, chair of Academic Affairs said.

Kempton said the PRS system uses remote clicker systems that can be used for functions such as taking a quiz in class and providing the teacher with immediate results.

“From the political perspective, it was fairly clear, all of the groups we consulted favor eInstruction,” Kempton said.

Senate members also voted on a strategy to handle raises for faculty members.

The recommendation will advise that the money used to provide raises should be divided 50 percent evenly distributed by percentage across the board and 50 percent dedicated to merit, Paul Stoddard, executive secretary of University Council said.

After a heated debate offering many solutions and mixed opinions the Faculty Senate composed a possible solution.

The recommendation passed 23 to 5, with one member abstaining. The recommendation will be passed on to Provost Ray Alden and will be subject to further review.