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NIU faculty urge transparency, warn cuts to graduate assistants and staff will harm research and teaching
Summary
Two faculty speakers at the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees committee meeting pressed university leaders for clearer budget details, asked that graduate assistant and instructor positions be spared and questioned a multi‑year contract with consulting firm EAB.
Dr. Mark Van Wienen, president of NIU’s United Faculty Alliance, and Professor Holly Jones told the university trustees’ finance committee on May 14 that the campus faces a roughly $15 million structural deficit and that the budget process lacks transparency.
They said administrators have not provided enough detail about how cuts will be implemented and urged trustees and university leaders to avoid cutting graduate assistantships, contingent instructors and front‑line staff who assist students. Van Wienen warned that some units have been told to prepare cuts of about 7.5 percent and…
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