The Feb. 14 shootings left the NIU Anime Association homeless.

The AANIU held its meetings in the Cole Hall Preview Room every Tuesday and Thursday at 6 p.m., said Amber Lewis, senior design major and president of the AANIU. This is where they would talk about anime-related topics and watch anime together.

“We have been there for 10 years and were pretty much the only people who regularly used [the preview room], and it’s very sad,” Lewis said. “Meeting in classrooms and using the Smart Classroom equipment won’t be the same as our musty old room with mismatched seats and ancient video equipment.”

The 30 members of the AANIU will miss the way it used to be in their former meeting place with their beta and laserdisc players.

“We love Cole Hall and it will be missed as we shift from place to place,” Lewis said.

The AANIU was shocked along with the rest of the campus as the events unfolded, but they eventually had to think about the future of the organization, said Omonike Ayorinde, a senior biology/pre-veterinary medicine major and treasurer of the AANIU.

“We were kind of freaking out at first, but the president, vice president and I have been talking all week about various parts of the club,” Ayorinde said. “We have been looking at other locations, but nothing is definite yet.”

Michael Wright, sophomore history major and vice president of the club, said their room in Cole Hall will be missed greatly.

“[Cole] definitely feels like our home, and it will take some adjustment to work in a new environment,” Wright said. “We’ve gotten very used to how that room is set up, and almost everything we need is sitting right there on that shelf.”

Wright said the AANIU must now move on and find a new room, but there have been several barriers they have to overcome. They have found temporary residence in the Holmes Student Center on Tuesday, and today’s meeting will be held in Neptune’s Smart Classroom.

“We’re looking for a permanent location at the moment, and it’s been difficult,” Wright said. “We have very specific needs [a relatively large room, DVD/VHS players, projector, chairs, tables, etc.] that very few rooms provide.

“Generally, student organizations are not allowed to have smart classrooms, which has made it difficult for us,” Wright continued. “We also don’t have enough money in the budget to get the Holmes Student Center room for the rest of the year.”

The AANIU has to look elsewhere, but a permanent residence may not be possible.

“We’ve been looking at rooms in Graham [Hall], and are hoping to somehow work out a deal,” Wright said. “If not, we may end up floating around.”

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