Feb 28 2008
Whoa… Blago
Yesterday Gov. Blagojevich floated the idea of demolishing Cole Hall (the site of a tragic shooting at Northern Illinois University - NIU) and rebuilding a new one in it’s place to the tune of $40 million. Here I’d like to echo the Daily Herald editorial, “Don’t rush to raze NIU’s Cole Hall.”
Cole Hall isn’t a new building, discussions of renovation preceded the shooting. So this idea isn’t completely reactionary. But, if NIU wants to replace Cole Hall, the university should eat the bill. They can sell more bonds and shuffle the bond revenue costs into the traditional “student fees” category.
We don’t need our pandering Governor to erect a direct money funnel from Springfield up to NIU.
One response so far
Powered by FireStats
As per this posting, as an alumnus of NIU that had 4 classes in Cole Hall, and having a brother who had class in Cole Hall right after the shooting, I can say that Cole Hall was cited for repair when I attended there 8 years ago. And, it was still in need of repair currently. In the broader context, the Governor needed a positive headline. Therefore, this was the opportunity for him to do that.