NIU President John La Tourette threatened to nix a Rockford graduate studies center if city officials continue to lobby the state for a downtown site.

Reports surfaced out of the city late last week that Mayor Charles Box was meeting with a downtown business group which plans to persuade Gov. Jim Edgar to locate the center downtown.

“They do not understand the educational mission Northern has for Rockford,” La Tourette said.

La Tourette, who intends for the center to sit on the city’s eastern outskirts, said he shouldn’t have to convince anyone a second time.

“Unless we have a (viable) site … we cannot go forward with this center,” he said. For NIU, downtown isn’t the answer. “The primary recipients don’t live or work near downtown.”

“I am really disturbed to have to go through all this again,” La Tourette said. “If this continues much longer, they (downtown supporters) will scuttle the project.”

Rockford officials were unavailable for comment.

Local projects, such as Faraday II, the health center and re-roofing, cannot be ignored for the sake of a political battle for Rockford educational turf, he said.

Also, with the controversy reborn, La Tourette reiterated NIU’s assertions that the graduate studies center would not compete with Rockford’s current educational setup.

The center would not offer general equivalency degrees for high school dropouts nor would it offer the technical classes of a community college or the wide undergraduate menu of a liberal arts college—all of which are available in the northern city.

However, La Tourette said NIU can offer technical advice to the other schools.

The center has been in the planning stages for more than two years and overcame a series of political obstacles in January when start-up money was released by former Gov. James Thompson.

The funds, however, were frozen last month as the state tries to watch its budget.