NIU memorial ideas due April 29

Just two months after the Feb. 14 shooting that claimed the lives of five students, Northern Illinois University is well on its way to building a memorial to honor the students and their families.

The university's memorial committee already has received more than 100 ideas for memorials, including fountains, landscaped gardens and statues -- many bearing the slogan "Forward, Together, Forward."

The committee has set an April 29 deadline for submissions, which should be sent by e-mail to memorial@niu.edu.

The memorial committee, a group of more than 30 students, faculty, staff and alumni, will pick the best ideas and present them to university President John Peters by the end of May.

"Every idea is going to be reviewed and looked at and considered," said Mike Malone, committee chairman and vice president for university advancement.

But Malone said the ideas that will get the strongest consideration will be meaningful, dignified, accessible to the disabled, centrally located -- and affordable.

"We are not expecting this to be very costly or elaborate," Malone said, citing Virginia Tech's memorial to the victims of the school's 2007 shooting, which cost less than $30,000.

NIU's memorial will be funded by private donations. Area organizations have already raised at least $50,000, and the university may set up a memorial fund to raise more, Malone said.

After the committee presents its report at the end of May, Peters and a smaller group will look at the feasibility and cost of the recommendations to come up with the winning idea, Malone said.

"If a family of one of the victims comes to this memorial and finds some peace and feels that it is a dignified and appropriate way to recognize their loved one, if someone who was in the classroom comes back in 15 years with their kids and goes to that special place on campus and feels like they can sit there and explain what happened, then we will have been successful," Malone said.

The university hopes to complete the memorial by the first anniversary of the tragedy: Feb. 14, 2009.