Best way to renovate NIU's Cole Hall

In the wake of February's shootings at Northern Illinois University and the Gov. Rod Blagojevich-inspired haste to raze Cole Hall and replace it with a new $40 million lecture hall, we recommended that NIU and President John Peters take their time with the decision -- and take advantage of the perspective that often occurs with the passage of time. They did that, and in a letter beginning "Dear Students and Colleagues"… Peters wrote that Cole Hall would remain, albeit after the overhauling of first-floor lecture halls. Peters asked for additional input on the three remaining options:

"Renovate both auditoriums for continued use as lecture halls but with significant changes in appearance, feel and functionality;

"Renovate Auditorium A (Room 100) for continued use as a large lecture hall while remodeling Auditorium B (Room 101) to support non-classroom activities;

"Renovate both auditoriums to support non-classroom activities."

…We favor the second option as the one that best addresses future space needs without forcing students and faculty to re-enter the site of the Feb. 14 shootings. It is an option that is sensitive to the wishes of the university community without being cost-prohibitive.

Wise redistricting

…The Illinois House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a measure that could return some sense to what has become the nonsensical process of redrawing legislative district maps. The House voted 98-10 in favor of an amendment to the state constitution that would establish a nonpartisan system of district remapping which is required after every census under the state constitution if the House and Senate can't agree on a new map…

If the House and Senate deadlock, a bipartisan backup system would be in place. If that failed to produce a map amenable to both parties, two state Supreme Court justices (the chief justice and a justice from the opposite party as the chief) would select an outside party known as a special master to draw the map. The real intent of the special master provision…is to give the House and Senate more incentive to create a map in a spirit of bipartisanship. The last three legislative maps have been drawn in a spirit of vindictive score-settling, with party bosses moving district boundaries to get back at their political enemies.