It seems it only takes about three weeks for students to lose interest in their causes.

That’s how long it’s been since Gov. Rod Blagojevich came to NIU on Feb. 27 with a grand plan for the future of Cole Hall – $40 million, he proposed, to tear down Cole and give the campus a new, state-of-the-art academic building.

However well- or ill-intentioned you say he was, the idea may strike a sharper chord with you when that ceiling tile in Reavis falls on your head.

That’s not the point.

No, students said. We appreciate the gesture, but we’d like to have a say in what happens to Cole in the future and how the building best should be used.

Headlines such as “Students petition for involvement in status of Cole Hall” and “Students need to have say in Cole’s future” graced the pages of the Northern Star for weeks.

OK, the administration said, backpedaling. Let’s let students have a say.

Cue the suspense and drumroll, as scheduled dates approached for a set of forums the Student Association would host to hear students’ input on what should happen to the building.

The first of those dates came Wednesday. More suspense and ... nothing.
After all the hysterics everyone put up over this topic, about 30 people showed up Wednesday and about the same number again Thursday.

That’s fewer people than a Student Association Senate election, folks.

Maybe students had tests or quizzes or papers to write. Maybe they forgot their ideas after the debauchery of Spring Break.

Whatever the reason, there is one more chance at 7 p.m. today, in the Holmes Student Center’s Regency Room, for students to voice their opinions on what Cole Hall’s future should be.

Please show up.

Or start to shine to the idea of attending class in Blago Hall in a few years.

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