News

Build or Die

Why the UO has to pander to the rich and generous to raise 135 million - or face losing out in the high stakes game of higher education.

Here at the UO, tour guides often find themselves in a difficult position when it comes to convincing prospective students to attend this school.

They can't sell the school with the lure of warm weather as it's overcast about a third of the year. Nobody would buy that Eugene is an urban hub of excitement and frankly as much as we love the Athletic Department, we haven't heard Oregon, national and powerhouse in the same sentence for a long time. And our mascot is a duck - a big, fluffy, cartoon duck.

So, why would anyone consider attending the UO? At this stage, the perky little tour guide will point out the law school just recently completed, and the brand-spanking new Student Recreation and Fitness Center replete with an indoor track, climbing wall, Olympic size pool and rows upon rows of work out machines. Essentially, the UO has stayed competitive with other national level schools by playing the game of fund raising and construction.

Now this isn't a strategy devised by this university alone. Any school, be it Washington State, or UC Berkeley, has to keep pulling in donations, federal and state funds and any other way of raising money to ensure its place in the highly competitive world of universities.

Schools live and die by either their academic or athletic reputations. As Ivy League schools with their concrete reputations of excellence are not an option for most young adults who are deciding on where to pursue their undergraduate degrees, their decision then falls to either a school known for its academic standards or athletic accomplishments.

To keep a school's national reputation intact in either of the two categories, huge amounts of money need to be raised to improve the tools of knowledge and to expand the schools athletic potential.

Yet, the rush to constantly expand and improve campuses can cause problems, which could actually have a negative impact on the quality of student life. The UO is charging right ahead with its plans to expand, and is currently at the midway point of raising the $135 million it needs to make the school's dreams of expansion a reality.

The $135 million is the cost of funding seven separate projects, all of which will be primarily funded by private donations. These projects include the renovation and expansion of the Architecture and Allied Arts Field House, Autzen Stadium, Gilbert Hall, the Many Nations Longhouse, the Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History, and the Vivian Olum Child Development Center.

Some projects will receive federal and state funding in addition to the private funding, and the Autzen Stadium expansion, the most expensive of all with an estimated cost of $80 million, will be partially funded by the Athletic Department's stadium revenue.

In the Jan. 21, issue of the Oregon Daily Emerald this project was reported to have been "put on hold" by the Campus Planning Committee during the group's Jan. 20 meeting.

"That was just misleading," Dave Williford, Director of Media Services for the Athletic Department, said in regards to the article.

He then added, "There are steps and approvals we have to get, but at this stage in the game we see no major delays." ,p> The Campus Planning Committee had expressed concerns over crowds and litter. Twelve thousand new seats will be added to the stadium, bringing its total capacity to just under 54,000 seats. Larger crowds will mean added stress on local transportation services to and from the stadium, and will also likely increase the amount of garbage left over from games. The committee wanted to make sure that the Athletic Department was willing to ensure any additional needs would be met, something Williford said the department could do.

"We are very open to accommodate those concerns," he said.

One issue of the stadium expansion which was undecided when news of the project first broke in mid-November is still unclear almost three months later. That issue is student seating.

Williford could not say for certain if the additional 12,000 seats would be included in the student section. All he could say was that the department has planned to add 12,000 seats, and how, or if, that will affect the number of seats left for students will be determined when all work is done.

In addition to 12,000 regular seats, 32 sky boxes are planned to be included in the stadium renovation. It can safely be assumed that this will not be the new student section. As it has to wait for the approval from both campus and city officials, the Athletic Department does not know when it can start construction. Once it does, it expects to be finished by the summer of 2002.

The second biggest construction project scheduled for the UO is the expansion and renovation of Gilbert Hall. The project is estimated to cost around $35 million and has received a $12 million donation from the millionaire Charles Lillis, chairman of MediaOne Group already.

A Lillis Business Complex will be added to the business school and classrooms will be modified. A new lecture hall will also be added.

The Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the Vivian Olum Child Development Center will all receive expansions and renovations at a cost of $12 million, $1.2 million and $600,000 respectively. A new 2,500 square foot field house for the Architecture and Allied Arts Department will be built by the summer of 2001 through a $250,000 gift from the Bowerman Family Foundation.

Each project has a specific purpose, or is related to a specific department. One project; however, is designed to attain higher goals than the enrichment of students from one discipline.

The Many Nations Longhouse, a renovation and expansion project with a cost of $1.5 million, is described by the school "as a community, cultural and educational center for Native American and non-native students, tribal groups and the general public." The project will replace an existing longhouse located behind the Law School with a new 5,200 square foot building that will be bigger than UO's Museum of Natural History, which is only 3,500 square feet.

Dave Hubin, University Executive Assistant President, who has been in charge of the project, feels the longhouse will be "a reaffirmation of our partnership and relationship with Native American People."

While the longhouse will be designed in a traditional Native American manner, Hubin stressed that it will be open as a meeting place to all people and will also serve as an academic center to further the study of native cultures from all over the world. Construction has already started on campus. The renovation work to the Journalism School's Allen Hall is just being finished. This construction spurred numerous complaints from students in the back rows of Room 201, jarred awake in lectures by jack hammers.

Even now, the sheets of material in the windows of that room just barely mask the noise. As important as it is to the continued success of a university, construction is disruptive to a school and its students. The construction of the new Law School and Student Recreation and Fitness Center were not as disruptive as they both are off the main campus.

Yet, the multi-million dollar business school project is right near the heart of camus, where thousands of students pass by every day. Once the projects are completed, there will be an even greater lack of available parking. With all this talk about building additions and renovations, there hasn't been a word said about another parking lot somewhere.

As the Athletic Department moves ahead with increasing its revenue power with a nicer stadium that has more seats and sky boxes, the UO and the City of Eugene should be careful to not create a cash cow they can't keep tethered. Andrew Adams, a sophomore majoring in Journalism, is probably drunk right now.