A donor has stepped forward to save Northeastern Illinois University from having to foot the bill for former Obama adviser Valerie Jarett to speak at the school’s commencement. The school’s dire financial situation had made the choice into an outrage.
Despite budget impasses, cuts to class schedules and union protests, the school approved Jarrett’s $30,000 honorarium. The school’s board of trustees made the decision a day after the school’s interim president declared a “state of emergency” amid the 22-month budget impasse.
Audio obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times reveals many board members were outraged by the decision and sought to use the donation to offer a student scholarship instead.
“We could certainly try to negotiate that, but the contract has been negotiated and signed,” a board member is heard on the recording saying. The same board member later argued that not allowing Jarrett or other high-profile speakers to come to address the university would send a message to first-generation minority students that their commencement is somewhat “lesser” — while saying that would be a “classist and elitist argument.”
The school will award Jarett an honorary degree at the university’s commencement, May 8.
