| Published: N/A |
| Date: March 2008 |
| Section: News |
| Comments: |
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By: Ian Essling
Braving blustery winds and freezing temperatures, over 100 students, faculty and members of the media gathered outside Cole Hall on Feb. 26 to hear Gov. Rod Blagojevich unveil his new plan for the building.
The governor outlined a plan that would involve the complete demolition of Cole Hall and the construction of a new building called Memorial Hall. The new hall would be about 40-percent larger than Cole Hall and would provide 10 classrooms, as well as three lecture halls and several media production computer labs.
Cole Hall has been closed since Feb. 14, when former NIU graduate student Steve Kazmierczak entered an auditorium in the building and opened fire on the assembled students with a shotgun and several handguns. He killed five students and injured at least 16 others before turning a gun on himself. Classes for the rest of the semester were moved from the building, and the university has been weighing options for the future of the building.
That option seems to have been chosen. According to NIU President John Peters, the decision was made very soon after the shooting. "Very early on I made the decision that we had to raze [Cole Hall]; we had to demolish the building and replace it with something fitting our needs and [serving] as a memorial," Peters said.
Peters appealed to the governor's office for help, and Blagojevich stated in a press release that he would introduce "emergency funding legislation" in order to obtain the funds. "It's time to look to the future, and Memorial Hall is part of the future of this campus," Blagojevich said at the press conference Wednesday.
The demolition plan, however, is not without its obstacles. No legislation has yet been introduced, according to an Associated Press report published Saturday that quoted State Senator Brad Burzynski (R-Sycamore). The same report also quotes Burzynski as saying that what the project will entail would probably not be what "the governor envisioned." Burzynski did tell the "Northern Star" in an interview that he hopes to have the legislation introduced by the end of this week, but it remains to be seen if the funding bill will pass the Illinois General Assembly.
The governor's contentious relationship with Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago), whom Blagojevich has feuded with several times since 2002, may end up delaying or even completely halting passage of the funding bill.
Despite the optimism of both President Peters and Gov. Blagojevich, the debate rages on campus as to whether or not the new plan is the best option for Cole Hall.
Two student groups entitled "Save Cole Hall" and "Preserve NIU's Cole Hall" spawned on the popular social networking site Facebook almost immediately after the press conference, and quickly recruited hundreds of members.
Many postings on the groups condemned the project, with reasons focusing on funding issues, the logistics of moving the classes Cole held for at least several years and the fact that the decision was made so quickly.
One student pointed out that "tearing Cole Hall down is not as easy of a solution [as] people think it is," while another posting argued that destroying the building was surrendering to the fear and "letting the shooter win," instead of "moving forward and showing our spirit and resolve."
Several students also pointed out the option that Virginia Tech employed after 33 students were killed in a shooting there last year. Norris Hall, the site of 31 of the 33 fatalities from that shooting, was reopened within three months of the incident. The second floor of the hall, where the attacks took place, was kept locked, but the remaining areas of the building went back into use.
Student debate on the plan was not limited to online tongue-lashings, either; Sherry Loos, a junior accountancy major, had "several" heated arguments on the controversial topic while on campus Friday.
"My question is what other vital project is this $40 million being taken from? Completely remodeling the inside of the building [would work], but to demolish the entire thing is not the solution," said Loos. "There are a lot of better ways to honor the victims than tearing down Cole Hall." |
