Issue date: 5/23/08 Section: City

The campaign said NU is grossly overestimating the cost of repairing the building. Activists at the meeting distributed copies of a letter from Evanston Fire Chief Alan Berkowsky to Ron Nayler, NU's associate vice president for facilities management. In the letter, Berkowsky said the house could remain open to the public with minimal repairs - most of which referred to installing exit signs and reduced capacity requirements.

But such bare-bones repairs wouldn't allow the house to be fully used and would only allow the building to continue to operate for a short time, Sunshine said.

The rally concluded with "Dawes" and his troops marching on University President Henry Bienen's office to demand the deed to the mansion. Security allowed a costumed Lindsay inside to hand over about 35 signed petitions to the president's secretary.

Sunshine declined to comment on the group's proposal to complete the basic repairs mentioned in Berkowsky's letter and transfer the deed to the History Center. However, the university is in negotiations with the center to allow them to remain in the building rent-free through 2009.

Activists said they hope Thursday is the beginning of a grassroots campaign similar to recent protests against new construction in downtown Evanston and renovation of the Civic Center at 2100 Ridge Ave.

But most attendees said they were still trying to get a grasp on the issue.

"It smells funny," said long-time Evanston resident Mary Moring. "Something is not quite right in the way it is being laid out (by both sides)."

d-yadron@northwestern.edu

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