You’ll recall that Ron Walters was a consultant hired by NIU President Doug Baker to help plan and launch his Bold Futures initiative. Walters acted like an independent contractor and got paid like one (e.g., getting reimbursed for his commute to/from work) but Baker had actually hired him as an NIU “affiliate” employee. This is one reason why the Illinois Auditor General is investigating NIU.
The latest that citizen watchdogs can bring to light is an email from Walters to a friend in July 2013. The weird punctuation and misspelling are his.
I was well received, although Doug has already gotten some flack for hiring his buddy right off the bat to come in under some lucrative consulting contract that wasn’t put out for bid. Has been warned that -this is Illinois politics – and it will come out under someone’s freedom of information act request within a few weeks. That hasn’t stopped him from bringing me in and cutting me lose, but he does have to be a bit cautious. So I’ve brought your name up and think it could happen a little further down the road, but he doesn’t have an appetite for bringing on another at this early point.
Walters also commented that the whole of NIU’s operations had to be “turned upside down and rebuilt.”
While you absorb this, I’ll head to the City Barbs Facebook Group to post the full email.
***Update***: Here’s a shortcut to the email, and one to the group posting.