Junior theatre major Julian Serna said it is a “bummer” that he has to cross campus to attend his theatre classes.

“I’ve had classes at McMurry Hall, then right after that at Graham Hall, so I have to hightail it across campus,” Serna said.

Serna and anthropology, theatre and dance students have been temporarily relocated until construction is finished on the Stevens Building, which housed those departments before it closed for reconstruction almost one year ago.

“It causes a sense of separation,” said junior acting major Kris Downing. “I used to always go to the Stevens Building and it was always happy and lively. People were studying, and rehearsing and going over lines and things like that, whereas now, we have to choose places where that could be a distraction for other students. We just need a home.”

Joe King, acting director of Media and Public Relations, said the Illinois-funded construction of the Stevens Building, which halted on June 30, is completely dependent on the state budget.

“Technically the money exists; it just has to be approved every year,” King said. “Historically, that probably would have been an automatic for projects this far down the line. It is such a strange atmosphere down at Springfield right now. No one is willing to say that anything is a sure thing, and no one is worried that it is going to go away. It’s a little bit of limbo.”

Construction progress

The construction on Stevens Building, which began on Sept. 23, is currently 40 percent complete. The building was set to be complete in time for the fall 2016 semester and has a few months to remain idle before the completion date would need to be extended, said Allan Phillips, vice president of Administration and Finance.

Keeping the Stevens Building maintained throughout winter may cost NIU up to $50,000, Phillips said.

“Our more near-term concern is to protect the work that has been done,” Phillips said.

Maintenance will include enclosing certain areas of the construction site and providing heating, Phillips said.

Illinois Jobs Now

The budget has not made much progress, although lawmakers and state employees have agreed to negotiate in good faith with no lockouts or strikes, said Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley).

“The problem there is that when we passed the [Illinois Jobs Now] bill in 2009, there was money dedicated to paying off the annual principal and interest,” Pritchard said.

Illinois Jobs Now is a program that has invested $31 billion into the construction, upgrade and maintenance of facilities across the state. Two-thirds of the funds were to be made from increased taxes on Secretary of State services and the implementation of video gambling terminals, according to the state of Illinois’ website.

The Video Gaming Act took two years to get approved and still goes unrecognized by some communities, so the revenue is not enough to service the bonds, Pritchard said.

“Last year we took about $300 million from our general revenue budget to make those bond payments, and in the 2016 time period there just wasn’t an appetite to do that again,” Pritchard said. “So that is one of the reasons the [Illinois Jobs Now] bill has not been appropriated.”

Editor-in-Chief Keith Hernandez contributed to this report.