President John Peters said in Wednesday’s University Council meeting that the total cost to renovate Grant Hall over the years could be about $70 to $80 million.

He came up with this figure from the fact that it will cost over $14 million to renovate Grant C Tower alone. Over the years, the plan will be to renovate Grant’s lobby and each tower. Peters compared these costs to those for the renovation of Stevenson over a decade ago.

“When we re-did Stevenson, the total … for four towers was in the neighborhood of $26 million,” Peters said.

Peters also announced that the Madigan/Cullerton Pension Reform Package (Senate Bill 364), which was introduced March 31, was passed by vote April 1 and signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on April 3.

“And who said government can’t act?” Peters asked.

The bill eliminates all former Blagojevich appointees to the state’s pension boards, including the state universities retirement system to which NIU belongs.

For more information about that bill, Gov. Quinn’s fiscal year 2010 budget plans and Peters’ thoughts about what the plans could mean for NIU, visit www.niu.edu/fy2010budget.