northern illinois university is a public university in dekalb, illinois. the university has about 25,313 students. it was founded in 1895. the current president of the university is john g. peters. on february 14, 2008, a gunman named steven kazmierczak shot and killed 6 people (including himself) as well as injured 21 people on the university campus which made it the fourth-deadliest university shooting in united states history.