NMU ISN’T PLAYING it up–in fact, his name isn’t even mentioned in the press release–but one of the casualties in the university’s just-released realignment program is Steve Neiheisel, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services.
You might remember Neiheisel for the part he played in the Cheryl Reed-North Wind-FOIA controversy that roiled the campus last year. Neiheisel was on the North Wind Board that eventually ousted Reed from her job as faculty adviser to the newspaper.
In fact, there were allegations that he lobbied for Reed’s ouster and applied pressure on the newspaper to stop what some university officials considered to be irresponsible journalism.
After Reed was rejected in her efforts to continue as faculty adviser, she sued Neiheisel and other Board members in federal court to get her job back. The case was eventually dropped.
Reed has since left the university. Managing Editor Michael Williams, who was closely associated with Reed and joined in her lawsuit, was turned down for the Editor-in Chief’s job by the Board. He, too, eventually left the newspaper, though he remains at NMU.
And now Neiheisel is gone, although a university official says his termination has nothing to do with last year’s controversy. It’s just part of a comprehensive strategic realignment–his position was eliminated. The official says Neiheisel is now “negotiating” with the university. Not exactly sure what that means.
Neiheisel arrived here only two years ago from the University of Idaho.
Sure seems like his termination was abrupt–midyear?–but we’re told that’s how it goes sometimes with university policy and politics.
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