NIU President To Resign Over Fiscal Mismanagement Report

DEKALB, IL — The president of Northern Illinois will step down at the end of June after claims of financial mismanagement from a recent state watchdog report. Doug Baker announced his resignation at the university's board of trustees meeting Thursday, but he denied the report's allegations, which accuse him and other school offficials of bypassing state bidding requirements to hire consultants who earned excessive rates and benefits, the report added.

During Thursday's trustees meeting, Baker, who has been president since 2013, denounced the report by the Governor's Office of Executive Inspector General, calling it a "significant distraction" that led to his resignation, the report stated. Anonymous tips to the inspector general's officer sparked the investigation into Baker and NIU's hiring practices, which began in 2014, the report added. The university has had the inspector general's findings for almost a year, but they weren't released publicly until the end of May, according to the report.

"Given the challenges we face and the hard work ahead, I simply couldn't stand by and let this situation continue to fester," Baker, who will step down June 30, said in a statement Thursday explaining decision.

The probe's findings revealed that NIU allegedly hired nine contract employees from 2013 to 2015 and paid them in excess of $20,000 without publicly calling for bids, a violation of state law, the Tribune reports. According to the investigation, officials skirted the law by allegedly misclassifying the positions, the report stated. Two of the contractors earned more than $40,000 for work that lasted around a year and a half, salaries that made them one of the highest paid employees behind only Baker and the head football coach, the report added.

"Ultimately, President Baker is responsible for mismanaging NIU's resources," the inspector general's report stated.

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