The Martin Luther King statue, which has brought some mystery to NIU, is still inching toward completion.

You have to understand the history of this (statue) goes on for years,” Student Association President Huda Scheidelman said.

“I think it’s very unfortunate that the university spent the money on a project that’s taken so long,” said Demetricus Carlvin, Black Student Union president.

Since last Wednesday’s referendum failed to gain enough support for a $2 increase of student fees, the SA will look at other options to help pay for the statue.

Scheidelman said she is considering a refundable fee as an alternative to the student fee and that the SA will look at outside contributions.

She declined further comment about financing the statue until the issue could be discussed with SA executive board members and Eddie Williams, vice president for finance and planning.

The BSU originally proposed the idea for a statue of King in 1984. The likeness was supposed to have been completed in 1987, but because of delays, the deadline was extended.

On Feb. 6 1989, the statue was reported smashed and the artist, Ernest Davidson, took “three to four months to repair” it, Williams said.

As Davidson worked on the statue, members of the SA and the administration traveled to his Arkansas studio to view the progress. Those who went brought back photographs of it before it was broken.

“No one had seen it when it was broken,” Carlvin said. “It was like a big hush-hush thing.”

“It wasn’t a secret,” Williams said. The damage to the statue was not publicized to keep people from being overly concerned, he said.

“The big issue was the statue was to be a representative piece that the institution could be proud of and commemorative of the achievements to King,” he said. “We want a good piece of art.”

Williams said the delays were caused by Davidson trying to capture the likeness of King wanted by students and the administration.

“The fact that it was damaged was not a factor in our determination of it as a piece of art,” Williams said.

At the time of the accident, former SA President Paula Radtke said it was “good” the statue broke because Davidson had switched to a smaller scale of the statue, resulting in a poor rendition of King’s likeness.

Last October, eight months after the statue was broken, two SA members and one administrator traveled to Arkansas to view the statue.

Plans were dropped and the university took “exactly a $7,000 loss,” SA Treasurer Bruce Williams said.

Eddie Williams said the amount of money the university lost on the statue was “all wrong.”

“There’s no big sham,” Eddie Williams said. “There’s no big number of dollars being shuffled. We’re trying to do something nice for the campus.”

Scheidelman said the statue “is not what the university or students hoped to have portrayed for Martin Luther King.”

Scheidelman said she will meet later this week with SA Vice President Steve Coloia and Bruce Williams to discuss funding of the statue.

Methods for funding and the amount to be spent on the statue have to be determined before a new artist can be picked, Scheidelman said.

A committee of university administrators, students and faculty will be formed this semester to search for an artist.

“At this point we really have to know where the funding is going to come from before we get a committee meeting,” Scheidelman said.

She said she submitted a proposal for the committee to NIU President John La Tourette in November but is still waiting for approval.

Once funding for the statue is established, the committee to search for a new artist will be formed and plans for the Martin Luther King statue will continue.