The Holmes Student Center space investigation has been revived with the formation of a new committee and the hiring of a consultant to explore the possibilities of acquiring more space for student organizations.

Barbara Henley, acting-vice president for student affairs, said the new space study work group and the consultant will meet for two days in February to consider the suggestions made last spring by the student center space study committee.

The four proposals under consideration include the relocation of offices to Gilbert Hall, renovating space inside the student center, a student center addition or the construction of a new student life building.

Henley said the seven-member study group and consultant will meet for two hours on Feb. 7 with representatives from different student organizations. The group will hold an open forum on the proposals during a meeting from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

On Feb. 8, representatives from the Sasaki and Associates, a Massachusetts-based consulting firm, will tour parts of the student center and Gilbert Hall.

Henley said Sasaki will organize their findings into a report to be submitted to NIU President John La Tourette.

Although the group will help provide Sasaki with a clearer picture of the space demands, Henley said none of the four options will be ruled out until the consultant’s final recommendation.

“My goal is to end up with a recommendation which will increase space on this campus so that we can better serve the students,” Henley said.

Student Association President Huda Scheidelman said the new group’s efforts should be the last step in the space study before actual changes are made.

Scheidelman said the group’s smaller size will allow it to work more efficiently than the previous 15-member space study committee headed by Jon Dalton, former vice president for student affairs.

Scheidelman said the size of Dalton’s committee resulted in an atmosphere which was “more conducive to debate than finding a new solution.”

Although most of NIU’s nearly 120 student organizations have not been pressed for space, Scheidelman said other offices, such as the Campus Activities Board, have asked for more room.

While the SA has not taken a stand on any of the proposals, Scheidelman said she hopes unused space in the student center will not be overlooked.

One possibility is a study area in the student center basement near the University Legal Counsel offices, that is rarely used, Scheidelman said.

“We want to go about this in the most economic way possible,” Scheidelman said, adding Gilbert residents opposed an earlier plan for the hall’s closing.

In addition, Scheidelman said earlier that Dalton’s proposal for a new student life building would have required a $10 student fee increase.

Scheidelman said she was uncomfortable at first with the idea of hiring an outside consultant unfamiliar with the campus, but added Sasaki and Associates have worked at NIU before.

Henley said the group hired a consultant based on a recommendation by Dalton’s committee, adding no student fees will be used to pay Sasaki’s $10,000 fee.

Sasaki and Associates helped produce the Master Plan, NIU’s long-range schedule of building and landscape improvements, which includes the Faraday II expansion.