In the warmly lit Duke Ellington Ballroom at the Holmes Student Center, NIU faculty, staff, students and other members of the community dined, talked and mingled with President John Peters and his wife Barbara on Tuesday afternoon.

Peters held his annual luncheon for the campus staff, something he and his wife have done for the past four years.

“Barbara and I were trying to think of things to get the community together,” Peters said.

The first luncheon brought nearly 1,000 people, Peters said, which was more than the 500 people they had expected.

Now, four years later, 2,000 members of the NIU community ate food provided by the Blackhawk Cafeteria and were entertained by Huskies cheerleaders singing the university fight song.

Ellen Andersen, director of special events in the president’s office, said she put the celebration together and organizes events for the president.

“Honestly, we don’t get the opportunity to gather the campus together,” Andersen said.

Originally, they had planned for 1,700 people to attend. Karen Villano, Holmes Student Center food services director, estimated there were 2,000 people.

Peters said he was particularly interested that many departments invited to the luncheon invited retirees from their departments.

“You can feel the spirit here,” Peters said.

Although students were invited, Peters said only a few attended, which made sense because most were studying for finals.