PETITION ON NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT POLICIES

The Provost of NEIU, Richard Helldobler, has justified his policy of freezing selected course enrollments early in the registration process by claiming that “only” about 45% of our students work and that we consequently don’t need to offer a wide range of courses at a wide array of times. This “enrollment strategy” strikes at the very heart of the university, forcing our core constituency of mature, working, non-traditional students to go elsewhere. NINETY ONE PERCENT of students currently enrolled cannot afford to live in the proposed dorms which will be built by using eminent domain to force out our neighbors and family businesses on Bryn Mawr. Enrollment has gone down by 5% since the administration implemented this strategy.
This course-freeze policy has also disrupted teaching assignments already agreed to by scores of full- and part-time Instructors and placed undue financial hardship on their families. Because of the Affordable Care Act, the university is now threatening some employees with termination if they work over a certain number of hours that would require that NEIU cover healthcare costs that the administration claims it cannot afford. Meanwhile, NEIU President Hahs earns about $330,000 in addition to car and housing perks; the average top administrator salaries is $185,000, and NEIU has added 16 new administrators since 2002.
We, the undersigned, petition the Provost, the President of NEIU and the Board of Trustees to end enrollment strategies that hurt teachers and students, and to keep courses open until December 29, 2014, enabling working students to find the classes they need at the times they need and providing full- and part-time Instructors with greater job security.