DeKALB — Northern Illinois University graduate student Karly Guldan started college four years ago — one semester after a 27-year-old gunman killed five people in Cole Hall , and then turned the weapon on himself.
Many of her close college friends attended the university at the time of the shooting, and hearing the stories of those who were in the classroom impacted her collegiate experience heavily.
On Sunday afternoon, she experienced the culmination of her efforts, and the university’s efforts, to move forward with Cole Hall and pay tribute to the five Huskie students who lost their lives on Feb. 14, 2008.
“I think we followed through on the ‘forward together forward,’ ” Guldan said, quoting the NIU fight song.
Guldan helped the anthropology department in moving its museum from the Stevens Building into Fay-Cooper Cole Hall as part of a $6 million renovation, breathing new life into a building that sat dormant for four years.
“The museum has been a tremendous opportunity for me personally,” she said.
She spent the last six weeks helping move things from the old museum to the new one, and setting up the displays. She was also thrilled that nothing got broken in the transfer.
Classrooms in the newly renovated building have been open since the beginning of the semester in January. The design work for the project began in March 2010, and construction began in February 2011, wrapping up in December.
In addition to the anthropology museum, there is also a collaboratory classroom, where students have access to 48 computer stations clustered in six learning pods, along with a 65-inch touch-screen monitor for each pod.
Anthropology professor Susan Russell taught in the old Cole Hall and recently began teaching in the newly renovated collaboratory classroom. She is still learning how to adjust her teaching to the new technology that is available, she said. The technology offers the students a world of improvement.
“Going back to the ordinary classroom isn’t going to be much fun,” she said.
The Jameson Auditorium also received a face-lift with new, state-of-the-art seating that allows students to turn 360 degrees in their chairs for small-group work.
University administrators, as well as elected officials, and members of the anthropology department spoke at Sunday’s open house. NIU Board of Trustees Chairman Cherilyn Murer said that the day brought on a mix of emotion.
“There is a sorrow that will always remain. There is a consciousness that’s prevalent,” she said.
Murer said she still recalls being on the tarmac at O’Hare International Airport that Valentine’s Day afternoon when she received news of the shooting. It’s important not to forget the past, she said, but you also have to learn from it and act on it.
“You either go forward with greater strength, or it shows your weaknesses,” she said.
The new renovation goes on to show the university’s legacy of determination, with this tribute to the five people who lost their lives four years ago: Gayle Dubowski, 20, of Carol Stream; Catalina Garcia, 20, of Cicero; Julianna Gehant, 32, of Mendota; Ryanne Mace, 19, of Carpentersville; and Daniel Parmenter, 20, of Westchester. There is a memorial outside the building with the names engraved on stone.
Because the attack occurred four years ago, many of the students currently attending NIU were not there when it took place, such as Guldan.
NIU President John Peters said the decision to revamp the current building did not come lightly. When he toured the building following the tragedy, the future seemed more uncertain.
“I was not sure we could ever open this educational facility again,” he said.
In the time following the tragedy, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced plans to level Cole Hall and do a $40 million rebuild that would be called Memorial Hall .
The community gathered and determined it would be better to renovate the existing building, Peters said.
On Sunday, Peters noted that there were family members of the victims, and first-responders from the incident, who were in the audience for the open house. They were not available for interview.
U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Leaf River, state Rep. Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley, and state Sen. Christine Johnson, R-Shabbona, also spoke at the event. Johnson graduated from NIU and was happy to see the building renovation after such a tragic event, she said.
“Today, we’re all Huskies, and we have been for the last four years.”
Telling Stories With Voice 