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News & Updates
A scholarship worth celebrating
Bradley University Police Chief David Baer has spent the last 35 years of his professional life protecting the University’s faculty, staff and students who depend on the Bradley police force for their safety.
Baer joined the force after graduating with a degree in criminal justice from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He intended to remain at the job for only two or three years. However, he enjoyed the challenges of his work and decided to stay. He played an integral role in helping pass legislation that allowed Illinois private universities to establish their own police departments. In fact, Bradley was the first private university in the state to have its own police department.
In the four decades Baer has been on campus, students’ hair and clothing styles changed, but the value of a Bradley education remained the same. Baer felt the need to do something to benefit the students, University and community. As a result, in 1994, Dave Baer, his wife Cheryl and his mother Naomi established and endowed a scholarship to help a student coming from disadvantaged circumstances. A second endowed scholarship was recently established for central Illinois public safety personnel and their families.
“My hope is to help someone who really desires to learn,” Baer said. “It’s encouraging to see a person grasping for knowledge, striving for something more, and I’d like to keep that ambition alive.”
Baer values college education, and he also values education for the Bradley police force. Bradley officers receive the same training as city police officers and they have full law enforcement powers on campus. Each officer attends a 12-week police training academy at either the State Police Academy in Springfield or the Police Training Institute in Champaign. Officers at Bradley are confronted with a variety of issues when dealing with students, faculty and staff, campus visitors and community members. Officers face many new challenges today than they did years ago. Technological advances, changes in criminal law, gender relationships, drugs and alcohol issues are just a few of the societal changes taking place.
“Officers should always strive to use good judgment and fairness when interacting with the public,” Baer said. “It is during this contact that the integrity and character of the officer will be demonstrated by ethics and professionalism.”
Through the years, Baer has enjoyed watching students change as they mature and celebrate the milestones in their lives.
“Each student experiences two celebrations during their college career,” Baer said. “One celebration is when they arrive at the University fresh out of high school, on their own for the first time in their life. The second celebration is on graduation day when the smile on their faces shows they’re ready to take on the world. That’s what Bradley University prepares them for.”