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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
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NIU pushes for relocation of Oderkirk
the courtesy to the people in our or- relationship with the Annie Glidden ganization to let them know what Agrarian Society because it does not the response was.” have nonprofit status, Rey said.
Keith Hernandez Day Editor H @dezjournalism
DeKalb | The Oderkirk House will have to be relocated off-campus if further renovations are to be made. The Annie Glidden Agrarian Society will have to find and purchase a vacant lot in DeKalb and raise part of the funds for the relocation of the house, NIU Foundation President Mike Malone said after a closed meeting between the organizations and university officials Tuesday. The foundation will pay $50,000 — what it would cost to demolish the building — to help defray the cost of moving the structure; however, the historical society will have to receive nonprofit status before the foundation will help with the relocation cost. “We don’t have a compelling use for that small building in that location,” Malone said. “The reason the foundation bought the land in the first place was to keep it for future development. We’re staying true to
Ryan Ocasio | Northern Star File Photo
Joe Lameyer caries a ladder from the Oderkirk Home Oct. 17 as workers begin to remove shingles from the roof of the historical house. NIU wants the building relocated before it is further renovated.
that purpose.” Barry Schrader, co-founder of the Annie Glidden Agrarian Society, said he does not have a location in mind for the house, but the group’s first priority is to decide if it should pursue 501(c)(3) status and raise
funds to move the house or continue efforts to convince the university to pay for renovations. “I hope by the end of the week we’ll have had a chance to have a meeting and look at the options,” Schrader said. “I should at least give
House Malone cited the success of the Naper Settlement, 523 S. Webster St. in Naperville, as a model for the relocation of the Oderkirk House. The Naper Settlement, where 30 historical buildings have been relocated and restored since 1969, started as a collaboration between the city of Naperville and the Naperville Heritage Society, a nonprofit organization. The city now provides most of the funding for the organization, said Naper Settlement spokeswoman Donna DeFalco. Most vacant lots in DeKalb are located downtown, which would require a 1-2 mile trek for the house, Mayor John Rey said. While the city is open to a resolution supporting the house’s relocation and renovation, it cannot enter into a formal
NIU gathers feedback ahead of vet, non-traditional merger
DeKalb Expressions
Merger | From Page 1
Daniel Cortez Junior communication major When have you felt valued by another person? “Just last week I did a cancer walk as part of Community Advising. I got a lot of positive feed-
Land Although the NIU Foundation has no current plans to demolish the Oderkirk House, the property will be the most desirable for development during the foundation’s next funding campaign, Malone said. “We have land available on the edges of campus, but we don’t have land really close to the heart of campus,” Malone said. “We just didn’t think it was fair to ask people to invest in repairing it ... when we knew we wouldn’t be able to guarantee any kind of a longterm lease on that building.” Schrader said he would like a final answer as to the fate of the house, should it remain at its current location, from NIU President Doug Baker and not from university and foundation officials.
back for my involvement from my hall director, Ashley, which made me feel really good about myself.” Meet the people of DeKalb and NIU with Expressions every Wednesday. Content compiled by Brandon Semel.
Visits to merged centers at other universities will be made within the academic year, with a town hall meeting planned where students will be invited to speak to Eric Weldy, vice president for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management. “And then we’ll make a decision based on all of that over the summer to determine what the new name, what the new mission, the new vision and the new programming framework will look like,” Caldwell said. Caldwell said she has reached out to military students to let them know this will not be a rushed process and
the merger will be stronger with their participation, as she recognizes the needs of Military Student Services and Off-Campus and NonTraditional Student Services. Student Association Senator Leon Kincaid, president of the NIU Veterans Association, said he opposes the merger but has not started any petition to oppose it. Listing a loss of identity as the “first, most obvious” concern for the merger, Kincaid said NIU must consider a Department of Education initiative called Eight Keys of Veterans’ Success. The initiative outlines ways universities can support veterans. “One of the Eight Keys [to] Veterans’ Success is to have a
dedicated place for veterans to feel comfortable at, and veterans are very proud of their service and they want to be recognized as being different,” Kincaid said. Kincaid said he is concerned about the understaffing in Military Students Services, citing a vacant counselor position. He said he is concerned about the merger’s effect on the services the staff can provide. Kincaid said he will use his role as a senator to propose a resolution to express “the student body’s opposition to the merge ... .” He and the SA Committee for University Services Oversight will meet today, and he will suggest a discussion on researching and drafting a resolution.
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Faculty Senate to give gen. ed plan 2nd look Jackie Nevarez Campus Editor H @NevarezJackie
DeKalb | Faculty Senate will con-
tinue its discussion of the operation and requirements of the Progressive Learning in Undergraduate Studies report today. Faculty Senate President Bill Pitney motioned to endorse the report Oct. 1, but the motion was postponed to today after the senate decided to continue discussion. The report proposes reform to the university’s general education and undergraduate studies programs. Associate biology professor Joel Stafstrom, a member of the PLUS Task Force, said adding the program into the course catalogue and operating in general is expected to be implemented by fall 2015. Faculty expressed concerns over including the program’s decrease in hours for the nature and technology domain, among other things. The report can be viewed at niu.edu/plus. Associate sociology professor Robin Moremen said she was concerned with the departmental advisers’ role
If you go
What: Faculty Senate meeting When: 3-5 p.m. today Where: Holmes Student Center, Sky Room in the program. Advisers are “the ones who are gonna shepherd [students] through this combination of general eds and departmental requirements,” Moremen said. “How is that gonna happen all before next fall?” An addendum to the report, added Friday, shows more than 2,220 students, faculty, staff and administrators contributed feedback, allowing the PLUS Task Force to identify key issues: increasing general education course offerings, reducing the minimum of general education courses from 13 to 11, increasing focus on writing skills, increasing relevance of general education courses to majors and including engaged learning practices in undergraduate studies. To view the agenda for today’s meeting, go to bit.ly/1xBjObT.
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