What Quinn’s Visit Means for ICC

EAST PEORIA — Illinois Governor Pat Quinn made a stop at Illinois Central College recently to announce that the state was investing in ICC, but the real impact of the investment was never clarified.When the governor spoke on April 8 in the Student Lounge of the East Peoria Campus facing a crowd of students, faculty, staff, and reporters, he broke the news that the state was investing $2.6 million in ICC as part of his $31 billion Illinois Jobs Now! state construction program. He said that it would be used to build a “24,000 square-foot addition” at ICC.

“When it’s built, this institution will particularly focus on – and it’s a large addition to the school – space for truck driver training, auto body training, and an alternative energy sources laboratory,” said Quinn. “… we want to make sure that we really take good care of all our natural resources, so there are programs at this institution that really teach folks what we can do in all of those areas to create jobs and to be well trained. Whether its solar or wind or geothermal or whatever the case may be. All of those opportunities and skills can be obtained right here.”

It was apparent that Quinn was describing a “green” construction project of some sort, but what few knew was that he was referring to a project called the Sustainability Center that ICC had been planning for several years.

According to Troy Hattermann, director of ICC facilities planning and design, the Sustainability Center will be built on the east side of College Drive near the Route 24 entrance to the East Peoria Campus, and when constructed, it will house many of the programs now housed in Dirksen Hall, including architecture and heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC).

The center was already scheduled to be built in the next 18 months, so there’s no question that it is being built. However, the college does have questions regarding Quinn’s monetary “gift.”

According to Bruce Budde, ICC’s vice president of administration and finance, the state already allotted ICC $2.65 million for the same project about a year ago, so it now has to be determined if Quinn simply gave the college money it already had or if this is “new” money.

There was one more thing that Quinn left for students before he departed, a message.

“The highest office in a democracy is the office of citizen,” said Quinn. “Democracies only work if we have lots of people involved. It’s not a spectator sport. We are the government; the government isn’t some alien force “up there.” We’re the first democracy on Earth, the best democracy, and it only goes as far as our education takes us. In order to have a good democracy, we have to have a great education.”