Renovation plans omit Wirtz House

By Amy Goldhagen

Although the Wirtz House is not included in the final plans for the Martin Luther King Jr. Commons renovation, no plans to relocate the Foreign Studies or the University Resources for Women have been made.

Eddie Williams, vice preisdent of Finance and Planning, said the relocation of the offices is “still up in the air,” although both programs were asked to submit reports assessing their specific needs. Neither of the programs have been given a response to these reports.

Willimas said demoliton, relocation and selling the House are being considered. However, if the house remains on campus it will most likely be unable to accomodate the offices because possible relocaton sites would not be centrally located.

Ines DeRomana of, International Studies Department, said her main concern is the office remain centrally located because of the large number of students that visit each day. DeRomana said in addition to being centrally located the Foriegn Studies office will need at least as much space as it has now, adding the program is already suffering from inadequate space.

DeRomana said if the house is relocated it will need major refurbishing if offces are to be located there. She said the house has many problems with the heating system and has not been painted for at least 10 years.

Sharon Howard, director of University Resources for Women, said they are also pressed for space. Howard said accessibility is very important to the Center and the house has a symbolic importance becuase it is the closest thing NIU has to a women’s center.

Howard said although she is not against moving the Resource Center, she is against demolishing the House. “I feel that as pressed as we are for space here at NIU, it would be hypocritical to have it demolished.” Howard said she would be in favor of raffling off the house and using the proceeds to help develop an actual women’s center at NIU.

Williams said the actual commons renovation cannot take place until the Holmes Student Center renovation is completed in December. “Our objective is to move as quickly as possible and get construction started right away in the spring. We’d like to have all the renovations complete by the fall of 1990,” said Williams.