Results tagged “northernillinoisuniversity”

A sculpture dedicated to the victims of the February 2008 campus shooting was unveiled earlier this week. Created by NIU alumni Bruce Niemi, the piece is made of stainless steel and called, "Remembered." Niemi said of his sculpture, "When I create a work, I try to make it be positive and uplifting. No matter how bad things are, there's always something good that can come out of it. I hope people can walk away with this with a feeling of calmness and piece of mind.'' The cost of the sculpture and its installation - $150,000 - was paid for by a special fund created for such a memorial. [Sun-Times, Northern Star]

       

Through Wednesday, we're counting down the top 8 local stories that captivated us in 2008.

The president of Northern Illinois University announced today that the school no longer plans to demolish Cole Hall. In a letter to students, John G. Peters wrote, "In ratios ranging from 3-to-1 to 4-to-1, our campus community asked that Cole Hall remain standing, but that it not be used for instructional purposes in its current configuration."

Last week's announced plan from Governor Blagojevich to tear down Cole Hall has been met with great backlash amongst state lawmakers, NIU staff and students. An email sent yesterday from Northern Illinois University President John Peters to students and faculty put a hold on the Governor’s plan and called for campus-wide discourse regarding the fate of the 40-year-old building. Peters said the future of Cole Hall should “represent a consensus opinion” of the university community.

Cole Hall will be closed for the rest of the semester and will be knocked down this spring, with construction on the new Memorial Hall to be completed by the 2010 school year. [Northern Star, Trib]

NIU classes resumed today after a vigil last night drew 10,000 people from the university and beyond, including Governor Blagojevich, Senators Dick Durbin and Barack Obama, and secretary of the department of health and human services Michael Leavitt.

More disturbing details are emerging today about Steve Kazmierczak: Police are saying that he tried to cover his tracks before the shooting spree. He removed the hard drive from his computer and took the SIM card out of his phone. And apparently the account his girlfriend gave CNN yesterday doesn't match with what she told the police.

It was pretty much inevitable that discussions about the NIU shooting would turn to gun control. And turn they have.

The Chicago Blackhawks honored the NIU victims last night with above decal, which they'll wear on their helmets again tomorrow night in St. Louis and Wednesday night here against Minnesota. And Ozzie Guillen and co. were wearing NIU hats at spring training. [Blackhawks, Uniwatch]

This is the first photo emerging of Stephen (we're also seeing it spelled Steven, but NIU announced it as a ph) Kazmierczak, the gunman in yesterday's shootings at NIU.

9:37 Dr. Peters, president of NIU, is thanking everyone for their response to the tragedy. He says he was "renew[ed]" by seeing the university community come together.

CNN is identifying the shooter as 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak.

Another wounded student has died, bringing the number of fatalities from yesterday's shooting at Norther Illinois University to 7. The gunman's identity will be announced at a news conference later this morning, but right now authorities have said he was a 27-year-old graduate student enrolled at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. [Trib]

More reports out of NIU tonight:

At least two people were shot during a geology class at Northern Illinois University this afternoon. As of 3:50, NIU had posted this on its website:

Northern Illinois University is closed today after police found racist threats written on a wall in a women's bathroom Saturday night. According to the university's website, Written in black ink on a restroom wall in the Grant Towers D complex were two separate entries claiming that “things will change most hastily” in the final days of the current semester. “Tell those n---ers to go home,” the first entry reads. “ME / OUT … Die...

Chicagoist is old-fashioned. We long for the olden days of class and luxury. We are also a bit of a rail enthusiast. What could be better than being whisked off in a Zephyr to some remote part of the country, with your every want and need attended to, in the most tiptop of accomodations? Thanks to a new venture from a company called Train Chartering, we now have the opportunity to find out.

As Chicagoist wrote the last installment of TWIS, a blizzard was taking over most of the Midwest. There weren’t as many stories of snow-related stupidity as we’d hoped for, but we were able to find at least one. As for the others, well, maybe the weather drove them to it.

In case you weren't paying attention earlier, the Chicago Humanities Festival begins tomorrow. Really, we’re not kidding. Judging by the long scroll of sold-out shows in the website’s festival updates section, advance ticket sales have been brisk. And at $5 a pop to see the likes of General Wesley Clark, Garry Trudeau, and Paul Krugman, are you honestly surprised? This year’s theme, Peace and War: Facing Human Conflict, speaks to growing apprehension about America's military...

Looking for something different to do this weekend? On Saturday, the Filipinos in Alliance at UIC presents the Battle of the Bamboo, a competitive showcase of Philippine cultural dances performed by university students. A trophy will be awarded to the winning group and they'll be judged by a panel of professional choreographers and artists in the Chicago Filipino community.