DeKALB | NIU President John Peters expressed concern Wednesday at the University Council’s first meeting of the semester.

He discussed the secretary of the department of education, Margaret Spellings and the Commission on the Future of Higher Education report with the council.

Peters said the reports could lead to standardization of public universities.

“What I wouldn’t want to see happen in higher education is where you have kind of a ‘no-child-left-behind’ goes to college,” Peters said. “I think that it is still the great strength of the American higher education system in its variety and diversity of higher institutions and the ability of each institution to develop its own measures of success in accountability.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education’s official press release on the subject, “[The commission] is charged with developing a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education that will meet the needs of America’s diverse population.”

Drafts of the report can be found on the department’s Web site at www.ed.gov.

Dan Stone is a Faculty Senate/University Council beat reporter for the Northern Star.