:: Running from the Thought Police ::

:: Wednesday, February 16, 2005 ::

Will It Have To Fall Down First?

Funds for renovating the dilapidated Lincoln Hall, home of the LAS office and the lecture hall for the entire MCB core curriculum, fell through at the state capital.

After receiving $2 million in 2004 to begin planning the renovation, the University expected $3 million more in 2005, said Randy Kangas, the Assistant Vice President of Planning and Budget. But the Illinois General Assembly was unable to free up any capital for the project, Kangas said, and the University will receive nothing this year.

"During the summer they did not have any capital, and we were hoping that some would be available after the veto sessions, but there wasn't money for anything," Kangas said.

State Senator Rick Winkel, a University alumnus, said Gov. Rod Blagojevich had personally promised him the funds will be made available for the renovations.

"I'm still optimistic the governor will make good on his promise," said state Sen. Winkel. "These things take time ... I will be relentless."

Sen. Winkel said the delays were caused in part by a conflict between the governor and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan over where capital funding would come from.

The full cost of renovating Lincoln Hall would be near $52 million, Kangas said. He said the work would ideally start by the summer of 2007.

...Fixing the building has been one of the top campus priorities for several years, Kangas said. It sees the third most classroom hours of any building on campus, and still has all the original systems from when it was built in the early 1900s.

In the basement, broken desks and chairs are piled outside the grad students' office. Exposed pipes hang from the ceiling, less than six feet above the ground, and deeper in the tunnels, a sign even warns of asbestos.

For those who don't go to school here, let me make this clear - there is no other way than state funding to get Lincoln Hall renovated. This is a hall at the state's flagship university named after the state's greatest citizen - there is no chance in Hell that the hall could be renamed in order get the funding necessary. (Besides, there's already Smith Memorial Hall on the quad.) I've had classes in Lincoln for six straight semesters now, and many other LAS students have the same experience, as the building's ground floor is filled with general-purpose classrooms for many diferent departments. Since the building is so old, used by so many people, and named after our 16th president, one would hope that the state could be able to follow through on promises to provide the funds to renovate the hall.

:: The Squire 2:22 AM :: email this post :: ::
...