NIU’s University Police are merely inconvenienced by the torn-up Wirtz Quadrangle, although the force’s usual parking lot is impassable to cars and students.

“It’s a minor inconvenience, but we’ll live through it,” said University Police Chief James Elliott.

Bulldozers have completely torn up the parking lot, and the entire area is fenced off to traffic between Wirtz Hall and the University Police Department.

Elliott said it would be difficult for students to walk to the police station because all the sidewalks are blocked off, but if students have a problem, the police can come to them.

“All the sidewalks are being taken out. Soon we’ll be sitting in the middle of a pile of dirt,” Elliott said.

Students are forced to pass through a narrow, fenced-off walkway instead of the former parking lot, unless they enter the muddy, potholed former parking lot from Lucinda Avenue.

Elliott said there is no other entrance to the building, so students should be careful walking through the construction zone.

“I feel they had all summer to do this construction. What are the blind students going to do?” said student Pam Hatten, 22.

Students in a hurry might be slowed down by the construction. “It pretty much sucks. You’ve got to walk all the way around the parking lot and it takes a few extra minutes,” said Tim Bloese, 23.

The project should be done by December, but “NIU is late in doing everything,” said Kate Huber, 22.