NIU Shooting Memorial: New Building

[amdskip]

DeKALB: Cole Hall to be demolished and replaced with Memorial Hall
Posted on 02/27 at 11:08 AM

DEKALB (AP)?Governor Rod Blagojevich?s office says the building that was the scene of this month?s shooting at Northern Illinois University will be demolished and replaced with a new classroom building.

A gunman fatally shot five students attending a lecture inside Cole Hall before turning a gun on himself on Valentine?s Day.

Blagojevich plans an afternoon news conference to announce funding that will allow NIU to demolish Cole Hall. A new state-of-the-art general classroom building will be built on the site and named Memorial Hall.

At least 16 others were wounded during the attack at the 25,000-student campus about an hour from Chicago.

Classes resumed at NIU this week.

Thoughts?

 

[OdiN]

Why?

Were they going to demolish it and replace it anyway? If they weren't, STUPID STUPID STUPID!!! If I was a taxpayer I'd be fucking pissed.

 

[amdskip]

It's not that old of a building so not it was not being replaced. Even though tragic, very stupid IMHO. We are rolling in the $$ over here in Illinois.

 

[waggy]

ok thats fricken stupid.


the building is in good shape. there was nothing wrong with it and this is a huge waste of money




from local paper


DeKALB - Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced Wednesday he plans to ask the state Legislature for a $40 million to build a new academic building to replace Cole Hall.


A classroom in Cole Hall at Northern Illinois University was the site of a Feb. 14 shooting. The funds would be used to build a new classroom building as well as a memorial after Cole Hall is demolished, the governor said.

Classes resumed at NIU on Monday for the first time since former student Steven Kazmierczak, 27, walked into a lecture hall in Cole Hall on Valentine's Day and opened fire, injuring 16 students and killing five before turning the gun on himself. University officials plan to keep the building closed for the rest of the semester.

Plans to demolish Cole Hall were announced Wednesday morning. A memorial to the victims of the shooting will be built on its site, officials said, and a new classroom building will be constructed somewhere nearby.

Final plans for the memorial and the location of the new building have not been decided, officials said, but the new building will be built in the same central area of campus.

Blagojevich was joined at the press conference in front of Cole Hall by NIU President John Peters, Student Association President Jarvis Purnell, state Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Clare, and state Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley.

Demolition could be as early as late spring, with construction slated to begin in June 2009, university spokeswoman Melanie Magara said Wednesday morning. If construction stays on schedule, students could occupy the new building in December 2010.





ugh what a waste.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: amdskip
It's not that old of a building so not it was not being replaced. Even though tragic, very stupid IMHO. We are rolling in the $$ over here in Illinois.

yeap. big one is the governer flying into chicago to do business every week and having huge signs put on on the tollway thankign himself for raising the toll cost.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Plans to demolish Cole Hall were announced Wednesday morning. A memorial to the victims of the shooting will be built on its site, officials said...

If they decided the memorial should just be a pile of rubble, you could kill two birds with one stone, and drastically reduce the costs associated with a new building. Knock the building down, put up a plaque and you're set.

 

[CptCrunch]

I applaud the building of a memorial building, however, why destroy a PERFECTLY GOOD building for this cause? Just stupid IMO

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

It seems to me that people are TRYING to ACT like these shootings are somehow having a huge effect on their lives.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
It seems to me that people are TRYING to ACT like these shootings are somehow having a huge effect on their lives.

In my experience that's pretty typical of college students.

 

[OdiN]

Yup...so this is stupid.

If they want a memorial - okay that's fine. Make a statue or fountain or something with a plaque dedicated to those who lost thier lives. Or dedicate something which was already planned. Tearing down a perfectly good building is just so retarded.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Yes, this is horrible, this idea.

 

[Savarak]

Most of you haven't really been to Cole Hall... it is quite an old building, the auditoriums where classes are held are musky and dreary... its all concrete and brick, and all the chairs are nothing to be desired. The only "nice" area is the decorative hallway in the middle. It has all the feeling of being in a bomb shelter.

I believe theres also an archeology/anthropology storage in the basement under all the classrooms, not sure what they will do about that though..

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Originally posted by: Savarak
Most of you haven't really been to Cole Hall... it is quite an old building, the auditoriums where classes are held are musky and dreary... its all concrete and brick, and all the chairs are nothing to be desired. The only "nice" area is the decorative hallway in the middle. It has all the feeling of being in a bomb shelter.

I believe theres also an archeology/anthropology storage in the basement under all the classrooms, not sure what they will do about that though..

Yeah, that describes most college classrooms, at least in IL. Take a tour of Western. Cole Hall is NICE compared to some of those buildings.

There's no reason to tear down a perfectly good building just because something tragic happened. They didn't demolish Columbine and rebuild it. They didn't demolish the buildings at Virginia Tech and rebuild it to honor the students. Waste of money, resources, and time.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Savarak
Most of you haven't really been to Cole Hall... it is quite an old building, the auditoriums where classes are held are musky and dreary... its all concrete and brick, and all the chairs are nothing to be desired. The only "nice" area is the decorative hallway in the middle. It has all the feeling of being in a bomb shelter.

I believe theres also an archeology/anthropology storage in the basement under all the classrooms, not sure what they will do about that though..

I have been to cole hall. sure it was old but not so old it could nto be used. There was nothing wrong with it.

Hell NIU has plenty of crappy buildings. To tear this down is a waste of money.

 

[waggy]

little more information on cole hall.



Cole Hall is a formidable presence on the Northern Illinois University campus, a lecture hall that everyone knows. It's a large building with two main classrooms that, together, can hold more than 1,000 students. It was named for the famed anthropologist Fay-Cooper Cole, best known for his research in the early 1900s on the Philippine island of Mindanao and in Indonesia. It's youthful by college campus standards -- built in 1968. It has been remodeled in recent years to be accessible for the handicapped.




so it was built in 1968 wich is not that old but they also spent a bunch of money last year to remodel it.

this is insane.

 

[TallBill]

Ugh, Rod is an idiot. I can't wait to finish school and get out of Illinois. Those classrooms are kind of important, where the fuck will they hold those classes?

Oh, and I totally agree about the drama. I bet people who were in another store next to the lane bryant where 5 women were murdered are not being dramatic about it. We're not tearing down the department store to rebuild it either. Unless you were actually in the classroom, you werren't there!

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: TallBill
Ugh, Rod is an idiot. I can't wait to finish school and get out of Illinois. Those classrooms are kind of important, where the fuck will they hold those classes?

Oh, and I totally agree about the drama. I bet people who were in another store next to the lane bryant where 5 women were murdered are not being dramatic about it. We're not tearing down the department store to rebuild it either. Unless you were actually in the classroom, you werren't there!

yeap.

also They now have a slogan or whatever. it's "together, foreword, together" its plastered all over town. EVERY business has it on the sign and people have pins of it.

i went to NIU for my fresh year in the early 90's, i ahve talked with people that have gone to NIU and they talk as if they were there doing the time. UH NO you were there over 10 years ago!

 

[misle]

From Suntimes.com
"Blagojevich, using Cole Hall as a backdrop, enthusiastically announced plans Wednesday to seek $40 million in state money for the project."

What a waste.

Gee, from now on, let's destroy and rebuild any building where something tragic has occurred!

 

[sdifox]

you need a government body called the Ministry of Tragedy Renewal.

 

[waggy]

ohh. the backlash against the new building and tearing it down is getting hot. EVERY local paper and even chicago ones are blasting it. i have not meet anyone that agrees this is a good idea.


seems though it was not Blagojeich that came up with the idea. It was NIU who brought the idea to teh governer who jumped all over it. Ubh reports are comeing out they wanted a new building and are useing this as a way to get it.