NIU Board Never Met Over Cole Hall Plan Updated X1

Add comment March 4th, 2008

The Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees never had a meeting concerning the controversial plan to raze Cole Hall and replace it with another facility.

So said Barbara Giorgi Vella, a trustee from Rockford, in a phone conversation on Tuesday. However, she said NIU President John Peters made clear that the $40 million rebuilding plan was his priority, and she wanted to help.

“We didn’t have any meetings about this,” she said. “He just said off the cuff, ‘Gee it’s going to be hard to replace this building, and some of the kids are uncomfortable coming back. It’s going to be a problem and we need more space.’ That’s how, I guess, it came about.”

She added, “At some point the governor was saying, ‘What can the state do to help NIU get through this crisis.’ So that’s how it started. I don’t too much else to be honest with you.”

Did she like the plan?

“I didn’t have any opinion at the time, in other words against or for,” she said. “I just wanted to do what was most efficient and best for the students, really. I didn’t have any agenda either way.”

Yesterday, Sen. Brad Burzynski, R-Clare, threw cold water on the $40 million plan, saying it’s “off the table.” Giorgi Vella, daughter of the legendary late Rep. “Zeke” Giorgi from Rockford, said it appeared the plan became mired in political considerations.

“Unfortunately, it’s become tied up in all sorts of other things,” she said. “I can’t even venture to comment. I am not political. I just gather that all kinds of things have come to pass and bear.”

UPDATE 1

Joan Laurino, an aide in NIU’s external affairs office, just called and said Peters and Kathryn Buettner, the university’s VP of external affairs, have no comment on Burzynski’s remarks.

I’m still waiting to hear whether Peters remains committed to the $40 million rebuilding plan.