NIU’s Rockford expansion was thrown into limbo Tuesday as Gov. Jim Edgar froze all construction projects for review.

One state senator said the freeze was to make sure projects were funded on merit and not for political reasons.

Money for the extension was frozen until Edgar’s staff reviews the project, said Mia Jazo, Capitol Development Board spokesman. Jazo said she didn’t know how long the funds would be frozen.

But Sen. Patrick Welch, D-Peru, said “it’s going to be at least three months.

“I think the main reason we’re seeing this review is in effect a criticism of the Thompson years to see if there was in fact clout used to get any of these projects done,” Welch said. “I don’t see how you could interpret it any other way for those projects using bond revenue funds.”

The announcement caught everyone off guard, including NIU and Board of Regents officials.

Ken Beasely, assistant to NIU President John La Tourette, said that NIU has hope for the project.

“We would hope that the project is reviewed, and the merit of ours is recognized and we can proceed,” Beasely said.

“This is all very new and we haven’t had a chance to decide on what steps we might do,” said Cheryl Peck, assistant to Regency Chancellor Roderick Groves.

However, Peck said the Regency’s Phil Adams, associate vice chancellor for external relations, was told the money was only being reviewed and not frozen.

Edgar’s office froze all projects being considered for further review “to see what to do—what we can’t afford,” Jazo said.

Projects are being reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Emergency projects will probably go ahead, like run-down buildings, while projects under construction will continue as scheduled, Jazo said.

NIU’s Rockford extension is new and is considered a non-emergency project, she added.

“A lot of people in NIU and Rockford want to see it (the extension) get going, but at the same time he (Edgar) said he wanted to review all capitol projects,” said Edgar spokesman Gary Mack.

Mack said all commitments will be honored.

If the project doesn’t survive the freeze, Jazo said the funds would probably still be earmarked for the extension but will be held until Edgar releases the money.

The extension’s $500,000 price tag is about the average cost for a project, Jazo said.

Although NIU’s extension is not considered a huge financial burden—some frozen projects are as much as $57 million—it is still a substantial amount of money, she said.

However, merit, and not money, will be the key factors during the review, Jazo said.

One reason for the freeze is to free-up money during this fiscal year and to ease money allocations next year. Money for projects approved and then delayed during this fiscal year will likely be rolled over to the next, Welch said.

Jazo said the state will “definitely see a slow-down” in construction.

“Governor Edgar has a lot of cost-cutting initiatives,” Jazo said.