Cole Hall, which once bustled with life, now stands as a constant reminder.

Although the decision was made to renovate the building, it is no closer to completion one year after the Feb. 14 shootings.

“When I walk by it and it’s empty and dark, it reminds me more of what happened than I think if it was in use,” said sophomore undecided major Anna Weber.

Although discussion had been made about possibly demolishing Cole Hall, NIU President John Peters looked to the NIU community for input on what they wanted to see done with building.

After getting numerous responses through surveys and forums, it was decided that Cole Hall would remain standing and functional.

The $7.7 million project plans call for the renovation of Room 101 for non-classroom use while the other lecture hall, Room 100, would remain used as a classroom per the requests of the NIU community. In addition, a 500-person lecture hall would need to be built somewhere on campus to replace Room 101.

The funding for the Cole Hall renovations is expected to come from Illinois’ capital budget.

“Until we are able to deal with this project, we can’t heal,” said State Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-Hinckley).

Pritchard said the funding to renovate Cole Hall shouldn’t be wrapped up in the capital budget, because it should be seen as an emergency, using funding methods that already exist, such as bonding authorities.

“We are hoping sometime in the next year that we will be able to move that project along and hopefully get started on that project,” said Melanie Magara, director of Public Affairs. She also said administrators are looking into different ways of getting that funding other than through the capital bill.

As Cole Hall sits unused, it is also displacing 12,000 students a year, requiring the difficult task of relocating large lecture hall classes that would normally take place in the building.

Weber, who had a class in Cole Hall the semester of the shooting, had to have her class relocated to Faraday Hall. She said the relocated classroom was a tight fit for the number of people in her class.

“We are hopeful now that [the Cole Hall renovations project] will move along pretty quickly,” Magara said.