NIU President John La Tourette said an Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) staff description of NIU’s mission “puts more emphasis on undergraduate education.”

The description, which appears in an Oct. 6 IBHE report, states, “NIU’s highest priority is the provision of high quality undergraduate education.”

A mission statement is important because it determines what a university should do in terms of academic programs, research and public service.

La Tourette said the description, if approved by the IBHE, would only slightly change NIU’s mission. La Tourette said NIU’s actual mission statement hasn’t changed much since 1976.

The new “description” is apparently a far cry from an earlier mission description which was faxed to La Tourette Sept. 14.

At the Sept. 17 Board of Regents meeting, La Tourette described that fax as “butchering” NIU’s mission statement.

La Tourette said the Sept. 14 description is now “dead” and to his knowledge is no longer being considered by the IBHE staff.

Even though the Sept. 14 description is apparently “dead,” La Tourette refused to release the information saying it was “privileged information.”

The said the Sept. 14 fax was part of discussions concerning NIU’s mission which were taking place between himself and the IBHE staff.

The IBHE staff’s present description is a result of those discussions, he said.

The present “description” is much more in line with NIU’s current mission statement.

The revamping of the mission is part of the IBHE’s

controversial PQP process. PQP aims at streamlining state public higher education through program elimination and consolidation.

Acting NIU Provost J. Carroll Moody said the new statement “doesn’t change a whole lot.”

“It says doctoral programs are less central to our mission, but it acknowledges the doctoral programs we have and doesn’t completely rule out the possibility of new doctoral programs,” Moody said.

“The description does give NIU a stronger, more specific mission concerning NIU’s region,” Moody said.

The report states, “NIU’s mission is to serve the educational needs of its region including Rockford and the north and western Chicago suburbs.

“To do so, the university should offer strong undergraduate programs and graduate and professional instruction, research and public service that focus on regional needs.”

Moody added that NIU’s region is one of the most populous and dynamic regions of the state.