Northern Illinois University has backed away from a plan to demolish the building where five students were shot to death last month, less than a week after announcing it would tear down the structure and build a new one in its place, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The university’s president, John G. Peters, sent an e-mail message on Tuesday to students and members of the faculty and staff saying that the future of Cole Hall, a 40-year-old brick building in the center of the university’s DeKalb campus, should be determined by a “consensus opinion” of people connected with the university.

The retreat followed last week’s announcement by Mr. Peters and Illinois’s governor, Rod R. Blagojevich, that they would seek state funds to raze Cole Hall and erect a new, state-of-the-art classroom building in its place. The new building, they had said, would be called Memorial Hall.

But Mr. Peters has since faced criticism from some students and faculty members who said they wanted a voice in the final decision on Cole Hall’s fate. And state lawmakers, mindful of Illinois’s recent budget woes, balked at the $40-million Mr. Blagojevich requested last week for the plan. —Libby Sander