As many as 10 new police and security officers will patrolNorthwestern’s Evanston Campus by this fall, universityadministrators said Wednesday.
The proposed university budget for academic year 2004-2005 callsfor three new police officers to join University Police. Three orfour new community officers — officers who are not certifiedpolice but still patrol campus — will provide additional security,according to Senior Vice President for Business and Finance EugeneSunshine.
Additionally one current UP officer will move from dispatchingto patrolling. Two officer vacancies in UP will be filled as well,bringing the total number of new police and security officerspatrolling the Evanston Campus to nine or 10 by the fall.
The increase in security personnel is due in large part to theincrease in crime against students during the past year, Sunshinesaid.
“It’s a substantial permanent increase to the Evanston policeforce,” Sunshine said.
The new personnel will cost NU about $400,000, administratorssaid. Next year’s budget also provides room to add more resourcesto law enforcement if another surge in attacks occurs, Sunshineadded.
Officer patrol shifts, for example, could be extended from eightto 12 hours, officers could be moved from daytime to nighttimeshifts or officers from the Chicago Campus could shift to theEvanston Campus, he said.
“If we got into a situation that we got into last fall, with thespike in assaults, we have lots of options,” he said.
An ongoing UP staffing study that could finish by the summermight call for even more new officers, said Chief Bruce Lewis ofUP.
Next year’s proposed university budget also calls for a 4percent increase in spending — from about $1.44 billion last yearto $1.5 billion for 2004-05, administrators said.
The size of the university’s budget usually increases everyyear, but this year’s jump in new spending is slightly smallercompared to past years, said Jim Elsass, associate vice presidentfor budget planning.
The increase is similar to those found at other universities, headded. It also marks a step forward for the university afteradministrators and deans were forced to cut spending across theboard last year.
One of the largest reasons behind the smaller-than-normalspending increase is the recent downturn in the economy,administrators said. Revenues from NU’s $3.7 billion endowment –which relies on market investments — fell by about $4 million, or2.8 percent, in 2003.
“We went through a period where the stock market was down, andour payout is geared by the performance of the stock market overseveral years,” Elsass said.
But NU did gain money from other sources. Gifts and grants tothe university jumped during the past fiscal year by $22.8 million– a 6.1 percent increase.
In addition to the money for increased patrols, the budget makesroom for a 5.4 increase in financial aid for undergraduate andgraduate students. The increase matches the 5.4 percent tuitionhike approved by NU’s Board of Trustees in February.
NU also will see about $6 million increase in research support,and additional funding for improvements to student services,including a case manager to assist more students at NU’s Counselingand Psychological Services.
The additional funding for a case manager at CAPS will ease theburden on staff members, who currently keep track of its ballooningcaseload.
“The CAPS program is very, very busy,” Elsass said. “So we’regoing to give support to that service to beef up the staff.”
About half of the $6 million slated for research support willcover recurring costs for new research personnel, Sunshine said.The other half of this spending involves costs for new databasesand systems needed to keep track of grants and projects.
The volume of research at NU has soared in recent years,Sunshine said. But research infrastructure — the personnel andsupport systems that track and manage research at NU — has notkept pace. This shortcoming has prompted recent federal governmentinvestigations into NU’s research practices.
As a result, the university has shored up a great deal of moneynext year to fill the gap between the NU’s research volume and itsinfrastructure.
“We have been very flat for many years in terms of our staff andsupport for our research grants,” Sunshine said. “In the meantime,the research amount has steadily increased — in many cases bydouble-digit amounts each year … Now, what we’re doing iscatch-up.”
Financial officials have completed the final details of thebudget, but it must be approved by NU’s Board of Trustees before itis implemented. Trustees will vote on the budget June 15.
