Hands clenched around hand-made signs. Small conversations tittered with anticipatory outrage. There hadn’t been this many students in the Clara Sperling Skyroom in months.

Thursday’s meeting with provost candidate John Dunn definitely wasn’t the same atmosphere as the last candidate forum with students, which drew 10 people.

Dunn entered the room with a noticeable hush, surrounded by more than 60 students, most looking for President John Peters. He wasn’t in town, but Dunn accepted the audience and their diversity-dominated questions as most slowly realized Peters wouldn’t show.

The protesters sought to confront the president on concerns about minority representation and treatment on campus. Dunn hadn’t spent a significant amount of time at NIU since graduating with a master’s degree in 1969.

But Dunn nonetheless said he enjoyed the high turnout at the hour-long forum, no matter what the initial intentions.

“The campus today, and I say this with pride, is a very rich environment,” he said, smiling.

Questioning of the second provost candidate, the current University of Utah College of Health dean, focused on what he has done and will do to promote

diversity and acceptance on campus. Topics from faculty diversity to campus safety were addressed, with most questions impassioned, but polite.

“My vision of this university is to make sure that you know this is your university,” Dunn said.

Dunn detailed his background in diversity, including active participation with an ethnic minority visitors’ board at Oregon State University. But the audience continually routed talk back to NIU. Dunn said if he becomes provost, he would consider reexamining the NIU mission statement to better reflect attention already placed on diversity resources.

The candidate described his theory of open communication with students, but realized he would never be able to meet with all of them face-to-face.

“I walk,” he said. “I walk and talk to students. I may have a suit and tie on and may not be that interesting. But I want to know what’s going on.”

Part of that would include a night walk to examine potential safety problems, Dunn said. Such a plan would identify the real trouble spots while increasing efforts to find problem-solving resources.

Today is the last day of interviews for Dunn, highlighted by a faculty forum at 1:30 p.m. in the Skyroom. The next candidate to arrive on campus will be Patricia Hanna, the University of Utah College of Humanities dean, on Sunday.

Although some students in the audience were unclear about the main duties of a provost, which include overseeing all academic departments, Dunn thanked the students for taking an active role.

“You know, when I was here, I didn’t know who the president was,” he said.