DeKALB | Hundreds of state employees will receive a packet in response to allegedly failing the Illinois ethics exam.

“The state feels that if you take the test too quickly you must have cheated, which apparently must be unethical,” Paul Stoddard, president of the Faculty Senate, said.

NIU President John Peters said 10 percent of employees across the state failed to pass the state exam, even though most answered all the questions correctly.

Peters said the discrepancy occurs when the employee finishes the test in less than 10 minutes.

Deborah Haliczer, director of the Employee Wellness and Assistance Program, said Peters received a list of 677 NIU employees who received the packet. Haliczer said close to 600 packets have already been sent out, which, if they haven’t already been received, should arrive on Thursday.

The packet, entitled “Ethics Orientation for Noncompliant Employees of the Agencies of the Illinois Governor,” includes a form to be filled out and submitted to the state.

“Unless you fail to submit [the] form, nothing goes into your personnel file and no negative repercussions will happen,” Stoddard said.

Financial concerns addressed at University Council

Peters spoke to University Council on Wednesday about the financial direction of the Illinois state government, and its role in determining if NIU will obtain a capital bill for building construction and renovation.

Peters said NIU has not received a capital bill from the state in four years, with the only exceptions of aid coming in small amounts. NIU has still been able to construct several new buildings without the aid of state funds through private funding and auxiliary income.

“When the capital bill does come, it will be quite large,” Peters said.

However, the state has other credible building projects that NIU must compete with to receive funding from state revenue.

“Revenue [for the state] is coming in,” Peters said. “It’s not coming in at the rate [the state] thought, but it’s still an increase.”

Peters mentioned several of NIU’s building priorities, specifically renovations on the Stevens Building. Though the state has an abundance of projects to fund, Peters said he still hopes to receive a capital bill from the state.

Provost Ray Alden also gave an update on the Strategic Planning Task Force at the meeting.

“We’re surprisingly on the time line that we established early on,” Alden said. “I would see the months of February, March and April being extremely busy [for the Task Force]. By May we want to have this pretty much ready to go.”

Alden said that attendance at task force meetings has been very high. One-hundred-ten people were invited to the most recent meeting, 108 of which showed up.