NIU Athletics Director Sean Frazier admits there are many challenges to the recent way college athletics have evolved but says he remains committed to keeping sports and pursuit of a degree in balance for their students.  Frazier referred to the pay allowed for college athletes as the biggest change followed by the open transfer portal and conference realignments.  This includes NIU’s switch to the Mountain West Conference for football and the Horizon League for 14 other sports (while wrestling and gymnastics remain with the Mid-American Conference because they are not offered in the Horizon League).

 

Frazier says he has a good feel for the checks and balances needed under the new rules for college sports since he serves as president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics Association.  He admits that the traditional four-year development of an athlete is just not happening because of the financial gain the pay and portal options permit.  Frazier suggested that future regulation is needed in the student athlete agent system along with limits on number of portal transfers allowed.

 

Frazier gave some specific examples on how the new rules for college athlete pay and transfer work.  He said payments to star athletes beyond scholarships can go up to the millions of dollars.  This results in frequent use of the transfer portal to get the best deal according to Frazier, but not necessarily the best sports opportunity or education.  Frazier noted the return of football star player Cam Thompson to NIU after originally leaving for Mississippi State but finding a lack of playing time at his new school was not to his liking. 

 

Frazier says his own job now reflects the more commercial aspects of college sports.  He explained that this is reflected in NIU’s move to the Mountain West Conference for football where television revenue sharing is greatly enhanced over their previous alliance with the Mid-American Conference (MAC), easily making up for any difference in travel costs.   At the same time, Frazier says he still holds goals of high scholastic standing and community volunteerism as key parts of the culture of NIU athletics.

The Director of DeKalb County Court Services, Michael Venditti, was this week’s guest speaker for Rotary and explained how they help with information and monitoring for the judicial system.  Court Services is a state mandated function to aid the courts in the areas of probation, restitution, and pretrial analysis for those arrested and sentenced for crimes.  Venditti said he has been with Court Services for 22 years and has seen their focus move from a monitoring role to become one of intervention and behavioral change to reduce recidivism.

 

Venditti gave details about each of the main aspects of their court service work.  He said the probation function is divided into adult and juvenile responsibilities but both deal with avoiding incarceration.  He said the adult probation work utilizes proven assessment tools that not only achieve compliance but also help the person make significant lifestyle changes to avoid future criminal incidents.  An example of such changes is use of a text system for court appearance reminders like those used by doctors and dentists to overcome poor organizational skills.  For youths, Vendetti said they have a restorative goal that includes working with the family unit to change habits and vulnerabilities.  He called this a case planning process to achieve “adultness.”   The restitution part of the Court Services workload includes overseeing court sentences like community service.  Venditti said 100 to 200 cases a year involve three thousand to five-thousand hours of work per month for government or non-profit entities.  When it comes to initial pretrial work, Venditti said their task is to recommend whether someone is jailed or released pending their trial.  He said this involves extensive reviews of the persons past social and criminal history as well as their potential flight risk.  Venditti noted that all of this information is needed by the court within 48 hours of a person’s arrest.

 

Venditti cited several progressive programs designed to help bring positive behavior changes to those arrested.  One involves a partnership with Northern Illinois University where PhD students help with adult probation assessments.  Another is their Early Risk Assessment Project (ERAP) which gives first-time juvenile offenders the chance to resolve criminal behaviors outside the court system.  Successful completion means a case can be closed without criminal charges being filed.  Venditti said where normal juvenile judicial proceedings still lead to a recidivism rate of 25 to 32%, the recidivism rate for ERAP has reached a low of 2%.