For the second year in row, NIU has suffered the veto power of Gov. James Thompson. Last year, he slashed $53 million from higher education which resulted in a 4 percent cut for NIU and a $150 mid-year tuition increase.

This year, the governor struck down an appropriations bill that would have meant an additional $1.2 million for the purchase of the former Wurlitzer Piano Company headquarters on Gurler Road.

NIU wanted to obtain the property for a research park and lease space there for a yearly rate of about $6 per square foot. This could have meant jobs for NIU students, working for the park’s tenants.

It might also have brought the engineering school to DeKalb. Now, it seems engineering will have to remain in Sycamore.

The deadline for purchase of Wurlitzer was Thursday and now NIU officials say the opportunity to buy the land is gone because it will probably be sold to someone else before the university has a chance to raise funds to buy it.

The governor’s press aids cited the state’s “fiscal condition” as the reason for the veto. However, Wurlitzer was not an expensive investment.

The real estate company that owned Wurlitzer offered it to NIU for $400,000. The property is assessed for tax purposes at $500,000 or one-third its $1.3 million market value. A chance to buy land at less than one-third its value had to be passed up because the governor said no.

The $1.2 million from the state would have gone toward purchase and development of the land along with about $380,000 in private funds already pledged for the project.

NIU President John LaTourette said the veto “may be one step backward” in NIU’s attempt to become the anchor of the Interstate 88 research and development corridor.

Although the corridor has been moving west towards DeKalb at a steady rate of about a mile each year. Chances are that a research park would have accelerated that movement considerably.

The university will continue its effort to become the anchor of the research corridor. But thanks to Gov. Thompson, NIU’s task is going to get tougher. It seems progress will continue to move at a snail’s pace.