NIU's Cole Hall

[momto4]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/817087,2_1_AU28_NIUSHOOT_S1.article

NIU's Cole Hall to be demolished, replaced

February 28, 2008
By Michael Tarm The Associated Press

DEKALB -- The Northern Illinois University building where a gunman shot and killed five students in an auditorium lecture hall before committing suicide on the stage will be demolished and replaced, officials said Wednesday.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich said he will ask state lawmakers to approve $40 million in emergency funding that would allow NIU to demolish Cole Hall -- a massive classroom building at the center of the 25,000-student campus -- and replace it with a state-of-the-art general classroom building named Memorial Hall.

Students on campus seemed torn about the announcement.

"Some people can't stand to look at it, and others see it as a memorial as it is," 19-year-old freshman Cassie Dodd said of Cole Hall. "Personally, I think it should stay. It's a part of us now."

But 21-year-old junior Jessica Burnside disagreed.

"It's a trophy of a tragic, destructive event," she said. "Nobody wants to be reminded of it."

Loaded down with four guns, 27-year-old former graduate student Steven Kazmierczak burst into the auditorium on Valentine's Day and fired dozens of rounds into a geology class, killing five and injuring at least 16 people before turning the gun on himself.

At Virginia Tech, where gunman Seung-Hui Cho gunned down 32 people before killing himself, officials decided to turn the classroom space in Norris Hall into a peace center and interactive learning space. Laboratories, which couldn't be relocated for fear of damaging expensive equipment, remain in use.

Demolition on the 40-year-old Cole Hall could begin this spring, and construction on the new building is expected to begin next summer, NIU spokeswoman Melanie Magara told The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle. Students could use the new facility as early as December 2010.

[momto4]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/opinions/818410,2_4_AU29_EDIT_S1.article

NIU should wait on fate of Cole Hall

February 29, 2008

If we were students at Northern Illinois University, we wouldn't want to set foot in Cole Hall right now, either. It's difficult enough to walk by the building where five students were gunned down, let alone think about actually attending class within the walls of the now-infamous lecture hall.

But that doesn't mean the painful physical reminder of what Steven Kazmierczak did on the NIU campus must be erased altogether. As one student said about Cole Hall and the deadly Feb. 14 shooting, "It's a part of us now."

That's why we're reluctant to embrace the plan announced by NIU President John Peters and Gov. Rod Blagojevich to ask state legislators for $40 million to raze the building and replace it with a state-of-the-art Memorial Hall. With students having returned to class only days ago, the grieving process has really just begun. While we agree that Cole Hall should not be used again this semester, making a decision about its future while the wounds are still so fresh would be rash.

At a time when the state's finances are a mess, it seems irresponsible to spend tens of millions of dollars to replace a 40-year-old building. And as pointed out in a column Thursday by Northern Star Editor John Puterbaugh, a former Beacon News intern, NIU has been pushing for funding for a decade for a $19 million renovation of another campus building, but Springfield has been unable to deliver. But all of a sudden, the governor -- who was identified as "Public Official A" this week in court documents related to the Tony Rezko case -- thinks there's enough room in the budget for twice that amount to replace Cole Hall. It makes us question whether the governor is simply trying improve his image by riding into DeKalb as a savior.

To be fair, NIU initiated this idea. But some critics have even suggested it's inappropriate for the university to take advantage of public sympathy by pushing for a capital improvement in the wake of the tragedy.

For all these reasons, it's best to wait to determine the fate of Cole Hall. The decision will be a difficult one, and it has to be made after receiving input from the entire NIU community. It can't be tainted by suspicions about motives and politics while emotions run high.

This event is part of NIU now. How to best absorb that new reality is a decision best made after the campus has started healing.

[momto4]

What do you guys think about this? The Beacon has a phone in poll about this today. I don't see the phone numbers on the website so can't tell you what they are.

I think it would be a hasty waste of $40M in state funds to rush into tearing this building down. My 17-year-old is horrified that it's even being considered.

We are not heartless people. I don't think the people who were present in that room would want to ever again take a class there, but this does not mean that the building needs to be demolished.

[warriorpride]

momto4 said:

What do you guys think about this? The Beacon has a phone in poll about this today. I don't see the phone numbers on the website so can't tell you what they are.

I think it would be a hasty waste of $40M in state funds to rush into tearing this building down. My 17-year-old is horrified that it's even being considered.

We are not heartless people. I don't think the people who were present in that room would want to ever again take a class there, but this does not mean that the building needs to be demolished.

agreed

[momto4]

www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/opinions/818606,6_4_NA29_EDITORIAL_S1.article

It's way too early to decide to raze NIU's Cole Hall

February 29, 2008

THE ISSUE: Gov. Blagojevich is proposing to tear down and replace Cole Hall, site of the Feb. 14 shooting at NIU.

OUR VIEW: This decision needs to be made later, when logic can take the place of emotion.
Blagojevich also announced plans to seek $40 million in funding to replace the building.


Grandstanding is one of the things Gov. Rod Blagojevich does best.

And that ability was certainly in evidence when he showed up Wednesday at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and declared that Cole Hall was to be torn down and replaced with a new "state-of-the-art" facility to be called Memorial Hall.

Cole Hall was the site of the Feb. 14 murder of five students and the wounding of 15 other students and an instructor by a former graduate student who then shot himself.

Reaction has been mixed both among members of the Legislature, who will be asked to put up money the cash-strapped state doesn't have, and among NIU students and faculty.

Some embrace the idea, saying the memories will always be too painful for the building to be used.

Others want the students who died there memorialized in the context of the existing building.

The building itself was originally constructed in 1968, but had been on the back burner for eventual renovation or replacement.

Some see this as an example of the governor making a grandiose gesture he won't be able to follow up on and will walk away from.

As Rep. Jack Franks - termed by the Sun-Times as one of the governor's harshest critics - told the newspaper, "This seems like a classic Blagojevich deal to steal a headline, try to be a white knight, a savior, with no intention of ever following up."

Frankly, we think it is way too early and emotions are still running way too high for decisions to be made on how best to memorialize those who died on that tragic day.

In the short run, a temporary memorial would be appropriate as well as the continuation of counseling for students and NIU employees in dealing with the aftermath of the event.

As for deciding whether to replace Cole Hall, or perhaps put a permanent memorial of some sort in it, this is a decision best left to later - when the wounds have had more time to heal.

[JWH]

My gut feeling is this might add to motivate some other freak to do something similar. It adds to the overall impact of the event.

[gatormom]

jwh said:

My gut feeling is this might add to motivate some other freak to do something similar. It adds to the overall impact of the event.

That is something I never thought about. That is truly a scary thought.

I wonder what the students think about this. I think their reaction would be a good one to check. Is it important to them.

[gatormom]

I saw this LTE in the Daily Herald today. The writer made some good points.

Tearing down Cole Hall is a mistake.

I'm not trying to minimize the tragedy, but to tear down a perfectly good building is not the solution.

A memorial should be erected inside or outside the existing structure to honor those who died or where injured.

Did Virginia Tech tear down its classroom building after their tragedy? Did Springfield tear down the state building after the security officer was shot a few years ago? Did the University of Iowa tear down their building after a professor and students were killed in the early '90s? And what of Columbine High School in Colorado; is it still standing?

Renovate Cole as necessary to change the inside if need be. Memorialize it, but leave it stand.

It is the taxpayer and the student's tuition that will pay for a new building.

If the governor wants to spend $40 million, let him establish a memorial scholarship fund for those who died.

There is more that the university can do with that money than to destroy a usable classroom.

Jack Roderick

Batavia