Bradley University’s new president says he’s ready to address the challenges the Peoria institution needs to meet.

Bradley’s Board of Trustees announced its decision to hire James Shadid on March 14. The U.S. district judge, Bradley alumnus and native Peorian said he brings “Bradley DNA” to the position.

When Shadid saw the position at Bradley open up, he saw an opportunity. “I felt that I could fit that role in relationship building and connecting dots and connecting relationships with donors and alums, connecting relationships around the community,” he said. “I also felt that I had an institutional knowledge of this university.”

Shadid’s Bradley involvement already had expanded beyond his 1979 graduation — he taught law classes on the campus as adjunct faculty. Shadid also spent 10 years on the board of trustees, two of them as chairman.

Launching pad

He said it’s also, at least partially, an emotional decision: Shadid is passionate about Bradley.

“It launched me, I believe, into the life that I’ve been fortunate enough to have,” he said. “So, I’m very interested in doing everything in my power to meet the expectations that people have for me.”

Shadid acknowledged he doesn’t have a background in higher education. He has never been full-time faculty, a provost or president at a university.

“But I will say, I’m not trying to be president of any other university. I was trying to be the president of Bradley University,” he said. “I believe the relationships I have on campus, understanding all of the issues on and off campus, I think will serve me well in this role.”

Shadid assumes the role of Bradley president during a challenging time for both the university and the broader landscape of higher education.

Building a mountain

One of those challenges is enrollment. Experts have long predicted a “demographic cliff,” a declining birth rate started during the Great Recession in the back half of 2007 that hasn’t recovered. The fall of 2025 has been cited by demographers as the arrival of a drop-off in applicants graduating high school.

Shadid pushes back a bit against the concept of a cliff, pointing out that nationwide enrollment rose last fall, even overtaking pre-pandemic levels. However, that doesn’t mean he thinks enrollment efforts at Bradley can’t improve.

“I intend for us to build on what attracts students. I think students want good programs. They want faculty and student relationships, which we have, but they also want an attractiveness,” Shadid said. “They want modern residential halls. They want good food, right? They want to know they’re safe.”

There also are some things Shadid said parents of students want from a college — primarily safety and the ability of their children to find a job with their degree. He said the college can identify and build on all of these things. But the institution also needs to be better about “telling the stories” of what it already offers.

“Our political science programs are, if you compare to other schools in Illinois, are second only to the University of Chicago, ahead of Northwestern and University of Illinois,” said Shadid. “Our engineering program is second only to University of Illinois, ahead of all the other schools, including the Illinois Institute of Technology.”

Shadid described this emphasis on BU’s existing programs as carving out the lanes the university wants to own and creating the “right roadmap” for the school. “We make this place an attractive place for young people to come to, we’ll be fine with enrollment,” he said.

Brass tacks, cutbacks

Another priority Shadid outlined in his hiring announcement is “stabilizing the financial condition” of Bradley. The university had a “bad year” that resulted in $13 million in cuts in late 2023. Ultimately, cuts terminated 38 faculty jobs, with an additional 23 cut through attrition. Fifteen programs were phased out and another five demoted from majors in a change that saw on-campus student protests.

Former president Stephen Standifird resigned in May 2024, less than six months after finalizing the controversial academic cuts. If students are concerned about those cuts and the university doesn’t offer their major, they probably won’t come, said Shadid, but he thinks the school still offers plenty of options.

“Having said that, as we grow this university, as we grow new program offerings, as we tell our story and people really understand who we are and what we have to offer, I do believe that students will be interested in this place,” he said.

He said university leaders “need to effectively communicate to the campus why we’re doing what we’re doing, how we’re better off because we do it, and what we look like when we come out from it, and how it supports the mission of the university.”

Enrollment also is key to Shadid’s plans for financial stability.

“Frankly, I guess one of the benefits of being under capacity, it won’t cost us any more when we find another

200 students,” he said. “So we have room to grow without incurring costs. So we need to build a robust enrollment strategy. We need to get more students on this campus and that will go a long ways towards solving any fiscal issues.”

Climate change

The challenges to higher education expand beyond the Bradley campus.

The Trump administration began dramatic cutbacks to U.S. Department of Education [DOE] services in March. Additionally, dozens of colleges are under federal investigation for their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion [DEI] programs or their alleged failure to combat antisemitism the administration claims was present in pro-Palestine campus protests.

Shadid said Bradley has a strong endowment and isn’t concerned about losing grant funding. Bradley, as a private university, is not as dependent on federal funding as a public institution like Illinois State University and the University of Illinois.

“All of those [DOE] headlines, those are going to play out. Well, however they play out, they’re going to play out. They’re out of our control,” Shadid said. “They’re out of our hands. We’ll be aware of them, but we’ve got to stay focused on what we’re doing.”

On the topic of DEI programs, Shadid said Bradley will follow the law, but he won’t “make any apologies for wanting students that are qualified from everywhere, in every walk of life.” According to Bradley’s website, the university has an Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with some staff specifically dedicated to the office.

“I’m fully invested in this place. This place has been a major part of my life. It is responsible for me being, in part, who I am and the things I’ve been able to achieve. I’m very appreciative and … it’s had a profound effect,” he said. “I intend to tell that story, too.”

Shadid officially starts April 1.

— This story published in partnership with WCBU, Peoria Public Radio.