Vice President for University Relations Alan Cubbage and Ald. Art Newman (1st) exchanged on-air jabs Wednesday on PBS’ “Chicago Tonight” over town-gown relations and administrators’ decision to fill in one-fifth of the Lagoon.

“The fact that nobody was consulted is typical of the way Northwestern does business,” Newman said. “NU wants total control over their development … They want total control, total secrecy.”

NU students and faculty provide input on many university issues, Cubbage said, but the Board of Trustees makes long-term decisions.

The Lagoon is on NU’s private property, exempting it from scrutiny by Evanston and the Lake Michigan Federation, Cubbage said.

But Newman said students and Evanston residents near the Lakefill had a right to take part in the construction discussion.

“The $27,000 that every student pays is a visa to that property,” he said.

Newman said NU’s secrecy helps justify why it must obtain Evanston’s permission before altering its property west of Sheridan.

But Evanston’s obstacles to NU expansion are part of the reason the university had to look elsewhere for sources of growth, Cubbage said.

The university is restricted because “the main functional buildings of the campus can’t be built on Sheridan Road because of zoning,” he said.

“Chicago Tonight” had wanted to discuss the Lagoon issue for weeks, said Mike Lowe, the Newton Minow fellow at WTTW Channel 11, but NU administrators worried the issue was too local.

Lowe, a Medill graduate student, said the station was very interested in the Lagoon issue. “Certainly it seems to have galvanized the campus.”