As a graduate of NIU and a bedraggled taxpayer I'm disappointed (but not surprised) that our "esteemed" governor Blago would use the tragedy at NIU for political purposes. But of course it was a matter of time that he and Senator Turbin would start their usual public pronouncements to promote their own agendas. (Here's the Chicago Tribune story on it.)
Well the latest Blago thing is to raze Cole Hall (at a cost of $40 million we DO NOT HAVE) and essentially create another building in its place--but instead name it Memorial Hall. His brilliant idea is to sell bonds to accomplish this feat (like Illinois has a good credit rating--ya sure).
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Any shrink will tell you the worst way to deal with trauma is to try and ignore it. LEAVE THE BUILDING THERE. Make it a symbol of resilience and determination to show the world that we are strong and tough and will not let craziness and violence control us.
I watched the Chicago area news coverage on Blago's pronouncements yesterday. I have to commend the students they interviewed who echoed my sentiments and questioned how a state that couldn't pay it's existing bills and whose infrastructure was crumbling could afford this new building. Of course Blago deflected those questions (just like "I'm not Public Official A") and used the camera to promote himself. (NIU President Peters is equally at fault on this--here's his quote on the building: "I talked to a lot of people, and very early on I made the decision that we had to raze that, we had to demolish that building and replace it with something fitting, something fitting our needs and as a memorial," Peters said.)
We know he doesn't give a damn about the students and the campus. He's not funding our state universities properly (U OF Illinois in Champaign/Urbana is a perfect example--they REALLY dislike Blago) and NIU has always been on the short end of the stick financially.
Excellent quote by a student: Lemont Poinsette, a senior economics major from the South Side of Chicago, said destroying Cole Hall would do more to hurt the shooting victims. "It was a sad thing that happened in there, and the worst thing you could do is just tear it down," he said. "We'd erase what they stood for, what they were trying to do in that building."
Thank you Lemont for those words of wisdom. You're obviously smarter than President Peters and Governor Blago. Even the Northern Star (NIU's newspaper) questions the intent of Blago.
Great quote: "NIU has an immediate need in determining the future of Cole Hall, but NIU also has needs that have existed and seemingly been ignored in Springfield for years."
Nothing like tragedy to bring out the worst in our politicians. Shame on them.
