Freeman named first female NIU president
Northern Illinois University has elevated its acting president into the permanent role, marking the first time the school has installed a female leader in its 119-year history.
Trustees formally named Lisa C. Freeman NIU’s newest president in a vote Thursday morning. Freeman had served as interim president since July 2017. She now takes over a university where enrollment has steadily declined and that has been bruised by a series of controversies.
“It is a great honor to be the first woman president,” Freeman said in an interview. “But I will be happiest when being a woman president isn’t noteworthy. While I’m the first woman president of NIU, I expect not to be the last.”
Freeman took over as interim amid a tumultuous change of leadership for the DeKalb-based campus
Her predecessor, Doug Baker, resigned in June 2017 following the release of a blistering state ethics watchdog report alleging financial mismanagement by him and some of his staff. Freeman worked as the executive vice president and provost for four years before being tapped to replace Baker, but the state report did not implicate her in any wrongdoing.
NIU’s board of trustees moved quickly over the summer to make Freeman president despite initially expressing aninterest inconducting a broader search for a new leader.
A committee of faculty, staff and board members started meeting in January to develop a profile for the ideal president and plan the search.
But in July, trustees announced that NIU would not pursue a national search at all. Instead, saying that Freeman fit the bill of the committee’s wish list, the board offered up the interim president as the sole candidate for the job and embarked on a series of listening sessions in the community to solicit feedback.
Part of this strategy, officials said, was to save time and money.
Freeman’s four- year contract pays her a $450,000 base salary with the potential for a $25,000 performance-based bonus each fiscal year. The contract also gives the board the option to pay her another $25,000 in deferred compensation for every year she completes as president.
Freeman said Thursday she would donate any bonus money to the NIU Foundation.
Not all faculty leaders were sold on selecting Freeman in this way, according to a transcript of the board meeting obtained by the Tribune. Michael Haji- Sheikh, an engineering professor, said he thought board members were not being truthful about how they looked for a new president. He also said that not subjecting Freeman to the competition of a search could undermine her.
“So the faculty, when something goes wrong, will say, ‘Well, they never went through a search,’” Haji- Sheikh said.
Other professors agreed with the board that NIU had a known entity in Freeman and was making a wise choice.
“You roll the dice and you might find someone better than her, but you might not,” said Scot Schraufnagel, a political science professor. “We kind of want to hang on to her because she’s doing a great job.”
Her appointment gained support among students as well.
“I think
Lisa is one of the best, if not the best, president we could have at this university at this point,” said Tristan Martin, a senior and speaker of the student senate.
In a scenario familiar to NIU, Freeman must try to bring stability after a tumultuous time at the university.
Northern Illinois was already embroiled in a series of scandals when Baker was hired in 2013, including accusations that university police had mishandled an allegation of sexual assault by an officer. Baker promised a course-correct when he accepted the position.
But in May 2017, the state Office of the Executive Inspector General released a report concluding the university spent more than $1 million in taxpayer funds and ignored competitive bidding laws to improperly hire five employees and pay for their travel and lodging expenses. All this took place during Baker’s tenure, the statewatchdog said.
Baker denied the allegations but resigned two weeks after the report’s release.
Freeman has pledged to recommit the university to transparency and shared governance. To help address the spending problems under Baker, Freeman made public a running quarterly log of any reimbursements she sought for travel and hospitality costs.