NIU Needs Answers

It’s weird. Today when walking to classes I had a hard time believing something so tragic ever happened here. Security has been minimized, the counselors are out of classrooms, the dogs aren’t walking around campus . Yes; It’s a good thing that some form of ‘normalcy’ is coming back, but the one thing that continues to puzzle me is the debate over Cole Hall.

Looking at it, you would never think something so horrific occurred inside. It looks deserted and untouched. When President Peters asked me what I thought should be done to it, I told him I simply just didn’t know. Part of me feels as if it’d be best to just tear it down. I, for one, know I could never sit in that lecture hall ever again.
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By Michael and Andy

Should we get rid of a otherwise perfectly useful building while others nearby continue to be horrifically out of date?

Now, we know that the plan is to raze Cole Hall and build a new classroom building, Memorial Hall. This raises more questions than it provides answers. Come now, “just because we’re bereaved, doesn’t mean we’re saps.”

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Here are a couple of outlets and resources for students still looking for support and understanding.

Tonight there will be a memorial sponsored by the business fraternity Pi Sigma Epsilon in the form of an hour of silence from 9 p.m. until 10 p.m.

The Christian group CRU on campus has created a memorial Web site called www.niutogetherforward.com dedicated to the victims and to helping people grieve. They are bringing in a guest speaker tonight from Virginia Tech from 7:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. in the Capitol Room in Holmes Student Center. Virginia Tech ‘07 Alumni Dan Newman will be speaking about hope and healing.

There have been several tribute videos made. They vary from professional quality to amateurs expressing themselves. The NTC made a decent one.
The student body at Virginia Tech has been incredible at giving NIU support. This uTube video from Virginia tech gave me goosebumps.
Its been good to see the student journalists here at NIU stepping up.

If the turnout for tonight’s memorial is anything like last week’s moment of silence. The scene will be overwhelming and inspirational.

On Thursday Governor Blagojevich pledged to ask the state legislature for $40 million in funding to tear down Cole Hall and put up a new lecture building called Memorial Hall. The building could be done as early as December 2010 according to Melanie Magara, NIU university spokeswoman.
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On Sunday February 24, NIU reunited 10 days after a shocking event.

It was hard to know what to expect other than raw emotion.
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Most of us know about the Memorial Service at NIUs Convocation Center tonight at 7 p.m. There is much information about said service available here. Many of us might not know one of America’s more wretched and deplorable groups plans to descend on DeKalb tonight as well.

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