DeKalb Times

Either Northern Illinois University (NIU) is denying Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests or the Office of the Executive Inspector General (OEIG) lied about the existence of invoices from an affiliate employee, the Edgar County Watchdogs (ECW) contend.

An OEIG report recently said NIU President Douglas Baker had mismanaged the university through improper hiring practices and listed the hiring of William Pfeiffer as an instance of the affiliate employee classification being misused.

The report noted that Pfeiffer originally worked with the university under a consulting contract with a $20,000 procurement limit on his services. When his invoices exceeded that amount, he was also hired as an affiliate employee so that he could receive payments, the ECW said.

Northern Illiniois University President Doug Baker | niu.edu

The ECW sent FOIA requests to NIU for all of Pfeiffer’s contracts, invoices and personnel records, among other documents. NIU sent back a set of documents that did not include a personnel action form (PAF) or invoice for June, the ECW said. 

A follow-up request with the school’s FOIA office yielded the PAF, but NIU also said Pfeiffer was a salaried employee and so “no time sheets, time logs, etc. were required,” according to a portion of the response posted on the ECW's Illinois Leaks website.

This appears contradict the OEIG report, which identifies the existence of three invoices.

On Thursday, June 14 Baker announced his resignation from NIU effective June 30.