The waters flowing beneath the burning bridge of WKDI still are as stagnant as they were all summer.

Having been shut down by the Student Association because of unpaid bills, all parties involved are at a standstill as to what lies ahead for the silent station.

SA President Kevin Miller said several months ago that the association was waiting to receive all of the station’s business files in order to have a better understanding of the amount of money owed by, WKDI.

Those files have yet to be collected.

If the student staff that was in charge of running the station does not assist the SA in resolving the money matters, it’s questionable where the responsibility will fall. The rumor mill has bounced around fears that the university will have to bear the burden, but that is not very likely.

“The people who are involved with the organization are entrusted with the money,” NIU legal counsel George Shur said. “The university doesn’t often get involved with active oversights.”

The money owed involves potential violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which WKDI may not have obeyed when playing songs. The act requires that royalties are paid by a station when it plays certain songs.

Shur went on to explain that it is up to the SA how to get the money together, but the organization has not approached him for any legal counsel yet.

Although the ultimate way to repay debts owed by WKDI would be through court litigation, there could be no such action taken on programmatic decisions, Shur said.

“They like to step back and let students handle their situations,” Shur said.

Speaking as a representative of the SA, Chief of Staff Kevin O’Kelly said nothing has happened since the summer to advance the process of bringing WKDI out of the hole it’s in, or whether it will be heard on the air at all in the future.