The name and legacy of Cole Hall are forever intertwined with the Feb. 14 shootings. Now, a proposal to raze the lecture hall and replace it with “Memorial Hall” is gaining steam.

Although it has been only a day since the press conference with Gov. Rod Blagojevich and NIU President John Peters, Illinois legislators are already reacting to the proposal.

House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego) said he supports the bill to allocate $40 million for the demolition of Cole Hall and the construction of Memorial Hall.

“He’s supportive of the idea and will work with Rep. [Bob] Pritchard on the legislation,” Cross spokesman David Dring said. Pritchard and Sen. Brad Burzynski are sponsoring the bill.

However, Dring conceded the bill will face resistance and that it may not pass.

Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) said that while he expresses support for NIU students and faculty, he does not support the idea of razing Cole Hall with taxpayer money.

“We need to take a balanced look at what we’re doing and why we’re doing it,” Lang said. “If the only reason is to build a new building because a tragedy happened, then I don’t agree with that.”

Lang said he would support Cole Hall’s demolition if the building was already slated to be destroyed or if the building had some structural defect.

“If they’re going to convince me to spend $40 million, they’re going to have to convince me there’s something wrong with the building,” Lang said.

Despite his opposition, however, Lang predicted the bill will pass because legislators believe the measure will have popular support.

“Legislators, by their very nature, don’t want to be thought of as bad people,” Lang said. “They don’t want to make a public statement of disrespect.”

Cole Hall was closed in the initial aftermath of the Feb. 14 shootings. Melanie Magara, NIU assistant vice president of public affairs, said that after Cole Hall was closed, Peters asked for the opinions of both NIU faculty and students.

She said the decision to close Cole Hall indefinitely was “quickly determined.”

“Students and faculty made it clear that they don’t want to enter Cole Hall again,” Magara said.

Furthermore, Magara described remodeling Cole Hall to memorialize the victims would be challenging.

“It’s a single-purpose building that can’t be used for that purpose anymore,” Magara said.

With its closing, many classes that were in Cole Hall have been moved to various other buildings across campus. However, Pritchard (R-Hinckley) described this as a short-term effect.

“The long-term [goal] is to find a place to replace in Cole Hall,” Pritchard said. “It’s an ongoing need, and we are trying to assist the university with that need.”

Burzynski (R-Sycamore) said it is difficult to determine a consensus on the bill from the Illinois legislature because it has not been introduced. Burzynski said the goal is to introduce the $40 million proposal into the Illinois House by the end of next week.

Although the bill initially calls for $40 million, Pritchard said that this amount is an estimate for the demolition and the construction of Memorial Hall.

“It is an all-inclusive number. That number will certainly not be exceeded,” Pritchard said.

Thus far, a location for Memorial Hall has not been determined, Magara said. However, she said the proposed building will be near the Cole Hall site. Magara said they will leave the footprint of Cole Hall.

“We will have discussions on an appropriate memorial on where Cole Hall stood,” Magara said.