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Courtesy | Northern Star
Niquella Hardwick Mugshot
Recently arrested NIU employee has history of similar offenses
Last updated on 11/11/2009 at 10:16 p.m.
How NIU screens potential employees differs depending on the position applicants are seeking.
Steve Cunningham, vice president of human resources, said background checks are done on security-sensitive positions, which are defined as having contact with minors, controlled substances, weapons, and hazardous materials, and having access to the residence halls, among other things.
Cunningham could not comment as to whether Niquella Hardwick was given a background check prior to her employment at NIU.
Hardwick, a graduate assistant in the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development, was arrested twice on Nov. 4 by both the DeKalb Police and the University Police for harassment-related charges. As of press time, she is being held at the DeKalb County Jail on $40,000 bond.
PAST HISTORY
This is not the first time, however, Hardwick has been arrested for such charges.
The Northern Star has found that Hardwick was sentenced to 24 months in prison by a United States District Court in Detroit for “a sustained pattern of harassment against numerous victims in the fall of 2005 that involved numerous obscene, harassing and no-answer telephone calls and text messages,” according to an FBI press release from March 14, 2007.
The release details that Hardwick made these calls and messages to Detroit from Texas, where she was employed as a school teacher at Simms Elementary School in La Marque. According to the plea agreement, Hardwick was also responsible for “additional instances of telephone harassment against numerous victims, as well as for other illegal conduct, including identity theft, credit card fraud, computer intrusion and unlawful access to stored communications (e-mail messages) against yet additional victims.”
Hardwick was arrested in April 2006, and pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2006. One of the victims, in an address to the court, described Hardwick as lacking remorse and, “even after she was arrested the first time, she continued to harass people as soon as she was released.”
During her sentencing, Judge Sean F. Cox said to Hardwick, “I have had stalking cases as a state court judge, and never ever seen anything like this. The hell you put the victims through cannot be justified; the violation of their privacy cannot be justified. Your harassment wasn’t just criminal, it was incredible.”
DeKALB ARREST
According to the UP blotter of Nov. 4, a complainant contacted the department after telling Hardwick to stop calling him on Sept. 24. After being told to stop by both the police and the individual, Hardwick allegedly kept doing so via telephone and Facebook. Hardwick, 30, of Rochelle, was arrested for harassment via telephone and other criminal charges. She posted bond and was released.
The Northern Star contacted the UP for the details of Hardwick’s alleged harassment of the complainant. As of press time, that request was not met.
Lt. Gary Spangler said Thursday that, following her arrest by the UP, she went to the DeKalb residence of the complainant and sat on the couch. Spangler added that when Hardwick was released on bond, part of her bond agreement was to not have contact with the complainant.
Hardwick was eventually physically removed from the residence after the complainant repeatedly asked her to leave, Spangler said. She was located by Rochelle Police and brought back to the DeKalb Police Department. She is charged with criminal trespass to residence, a Class 4 Felony.
SCREENING
Angela Dreessen, director of Student Involvement and Leadership Development, could not comment on Hardwick’s character or behavior as she worked as a graduate assistant in her office because it is now a personnel issue.
As a graduate assistant, Dreessen said Hardwick’s work and duties were “administrative in nature” in that she worked with one of the leadership programs the office offers.
Dreessen also could not comment if she knew Hardwick had received a background check, or if she knew of Hardwick’s history beforehand.
Both Dreessen and Cunningham said there is a process in place for reviewing employees with criminal infractions.
“Each situation is unique. It depends on the nature of the charges,” Cunningham said. “What the university does with the police, generally, is to undertake a review of the nature of the charges in relation to the essential functions of the position as well as the campus security issues and their relation to security-sensitive issues.”
These security-sensitive issues also play a factor into whether background checks are done on a particular student for a particular position. For example, a graduate assistant working with children will be subjected to a background check, while a graduate assistant in the political science department may not be subject to one, Cunningham said.
ON THE WEB
Search engine results reveal a news article about Hardwick’s arrest by the FBI in Texas. Her own Web site, www.niqhardwick.com, also appears. The own Web site markets herself as a youth speaker and a positive role model to youth. The Web site mentions her arrest, stating “after serving 21 months in prison, Niquella now wants to reach out to young women brought up under similar circumstances.”
According to an essay called “Unconsciously Shattered” posted on her Web site, Hardwick said she suffers from Fatherless Women Syndrome. Some of the symptoms include the feeling of being unlovable and unworthy, the fear of abandonment, the desire to seek healing through sexual relationships and the expression of rage, anger and depression.
Hardwick states in one of her press releases that her lack of a father during her youth led to her 2006 arrest.
Two press releases are also available on her site, one announcing her as a youth speaker, while the other stating she will speak to at-risk teens at the East Bay Conservation Corps Corpsmemeber Academy in Oakland, Calif. on May 23, 2008. It is the last press release posted on her site.
Cunningham said hiring departments can do Internet searches for employees, but background checks are the method of choice.
“Hiring departments may conduct Internet searches,” Cunningham said. “However, such information is unofficial, varies widely in source and context and should not be utilized independently as a basis to make an employment determination.”
