The external beautification of the Holmes Student Center is just a facelift for what the administration hopes to be a complete body overhaul.

Plans for the renovation of several areas inside the student center are being finalized and implemented, beginning with a $500,000 replacement of fire alarm and smoke detector systems.

The systems have an expected completion date as early as July of 1991, but NIU Project Manager Conrad Miller clearly expressed the importance of beginning soon.

“There is a need for the new systems because people are staying overnight, and we need a reliable way to alert them,” Miller said, adding, “I’m glad to see it coming forth.”

Miller said the interior restructuring of the student center will be conducted during regular periods of student activity.

Another major operation will be the remodeling of the food service facilities. “I’ve been here for 25 years, and except for the Roy Rogers franchise control of the Pow Wow, I can’t recall any remodeling since the student center was built,” Miller said.

Miller listed bookstore renovations and improvements in the Duke Ellington Ballroom’s acoustic and amplification systems as other upcoming projects.