NIU’s Student Involvement and Leadership Development office has canceled this year’s Northern Leadership Institute Day due to low attendance response.

Also contributing to the cancellation is that officials are in the midst of incorporating the NLI into the fall leadership curriculum, said Michelle Bringas, acting director of SILD.

The NLI, scheduled for March 22, began in 2000 and is an annual one-day event for leaders of student organizations and up-and-coming leaders from the general populous, said NLI Chairman R.J. Gravel.

“[The leaders] gather to learn how to become better leaders on campus and beyond the walls of NIU,” he said.

Students are nominated to take part in the annual event, Gravel said. Nomination requests are sent out and on average, the NLI receives upwards of 300 to 500 nominations. This year, NLI received 150 nominations, he said.

“Because of the budget that is spent on the event [more than $25,000 annually], it was determined that it would not be fiscally responsible to proceed with our lack of response,” he said.

Gravel attributes the lack of response to the restructuring of Student Affairs and the elimination of University Programming and Activities, where NLI served as its leadership division.

In years past, there was not a coordinated leadership program across campus, said Darnell Bradley, assistant director for leadership and volunteerism. Bradley was selected to co-chair the committee drafting the fall’s leadership curriculum.

Historically, the NLI has brought together student leaders and speakers, so it made sense to integrate it into the curriculum.

Bradley is emphasizing a comprehensive program with the new curriculum, including leadership classes, retreats and leadership training. In the future, Bradley hopes to integrate a civic engagement colloquium series and lecture series.

“My vision is for NIU’s leadership program to be one of the most recognized in the country in three years,” Bradley said.

NLI was the sole leadership programming group for NIU’s student population. This makes the impact of the cancellation very great, Gravel said. He hopes SA will “embrace the need for leadership programming,” but it is up to SA and the SILD to determine NLI’s future.

“It is an event that has always had wide reception and praise from all university officials and participants,” he said.