A proposal to construct a Student Life Center which would house a number of NIU student organizations is still in the drafting stages.

Jon Dalton, NIU vice president for student affairs, said a proposal is being developed to construct a center that would house student organizations that NIU does not have enough space for. Dalton said not all of the 150 campus organizations have enough room to operate properly.

Dalton said NIU is in “bad shape” in terms of serving student organizations. He said the largest problem NIU has had is finding space for the Career Planning and Placement Center and the Counseling and Student Development Center.

Dalton said the placement center has had to conduct its services in the hallway on the second floor of Swen Parson Hall. He said conducting activities in the hallway is “inappropriate” and there is too much student traffic for the service to operate.

The counseling center in Swen Parson Hall has space problems as well, Dalton said. “It is very crowded and students feel the facility should be larger and have a little more privacy,” he said.

The Student Association and the Campus Activities Board currently are located in the Holmes Student Center, but there is not enough space for the number of student organizations that need the space, Dalton said.

There is no definite plan for the funding of the center but the “facilities would have to be built out of university funds or some sort of student fees,” Dalton said. Some funding sources might come from external businesses that use NIU’s facilities, he said.

SA President Paula Radtke said she is against the construction of a Student Life Center. She said, “We already have a Student Life Center, it’s the (Holmes) Student Center.”

In order to construct and maintain the building, a bond revenue would have to be developed, Radtke said. Students would have to pay for the life center whether they use it or not, she said.

When the HSC has problems in any area student fees are raised to accommodate them, Radtke said. “The students are the true supporters” of the student center, she said.

Radtke said there have been problems in the past where student organizations have been “pushed out” of the HSC to provide space for more conference centers. She said there is a state law that prohibits universities from constructing new conference space but not a student building. The HSC would be turned into a conference center and students would still have to support both buildings, Radtke said.

Dalton said, “Right now it (the proposal) is in the talking stage,” and NIU is trying to make people aware of the problem and the proposed solutions.

“If we are lucky enough to be able to develop it (the center), it should be located in close proximity to student traffic,” Dalton said.