NIU faculty members raised concern over a controversy surrounding their productivity at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

In a Dec. 26, 2003, Chicago Tribune article, James Kaplan, Illinois Board of Higher Education chairman, questioned the faculty productivity, saying that even though the state is in a budget crisis, it still should remain constant.

Kaplan also said a new committee would be formed to review faculty, including what kind of research projects they are performing and how much time they’re spending in the classroom.

Patricia Henry, NIU representative to the Faculty Advisory Council to the IBHE, said many faculty members were upset by the article.

“We heard this is not the view of the entire IBHE,” Henry said.

Foreign language professor Frances Jaeger said it is a misconception that professors only teach and aren’t productive when not teaching.

Jaeger said faculty also need to do tasks such as order materials, put items on library reserve and write recommendations for students.

“There are things we do to help [students’] education behind the scenes,” Jaeger said. “What if we stop doing that?”

With the budget decreasing, larger classes may be more common, even if the class is better suited for fewer students.

“The concern they have is with all the employees on productivity,” Henry said. “There is this push to have more students in class and more students per teacher, but we’re not able to keep the quality.”