Chambana Sun

An audit by the office of the Illinois Auditor General found several compliance and documentation errors by Northern Illinois University (NIU), it cited a repeated lack of oversight in some of its procedures.

In the 2020 audit, the Auditor General found that NIU did not document the required information technology risk assessments relating to the personal financial aid information of its students. The audit recommended that the university perform and document the proper risk assessments to ensure proper safeguards would be in place to protect students’ information, a recommendation that the school accepted.

The audit also found that the school didn’t exercise adequate internal controls over its contracts, noting that several weren’t approved before the services had already been provided, while others contained obligation documents or certification agreements that weren’t filed in the proper amount of time.

In addition, the audit found that the university hadn’t properly ensured the completion of I-9 forms by newly hired employees.The Auditor General recommended more safeguards be put in place to make sure the forms would be fully completed in the future.

In comments to university president Lisa Freeman at a hearing April 27 held by the Legislative Audit Commission, Sen. Chapin Rose (R-Champaign) pointed out that while Freeman was not personally responsible for the lapses, he noted that either “nobody is paying attention” or “nobody cares.”

Rose also noted that some of the findings in the audit had been repeated multiple times, dating back as far as 2005.

“The reason you have an audit isn’t to place blame or point fingers unless there is some actual criminal illegality, but it’s to make things better,” Rose said. “When I see these repeat audit findings, the takeaway is whatever institution or state agency that is in front of us isn’t learning from its past mistakes and isn’t getting better.” 

Rose asked Freeman to make a list of any findings in the audit that she felt don’t “serve the public good” so they aren’t brought up again, before cautioning that repeated mistakes will continue to be pointed out by the state.

“Give us a list of the findings that don’t serve the common good and don’t put on that list that certain employees should be treated differently than other employees for the purpose of not turning in time sheets,” Rose said. “That’s what accountability is all about.”