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Frohnmayer speaks on Jock Box

8/10/2010: Greg Bolt of the RG has an article on the Jock Box, based on the cost estimates the Oregonian obtained from UO with a public records request. The article does not explain how the tax-deductibility of this sort of donation means that regular taxpayers picked up about half the $42 million. Nor does it explain how UO has an obligation to ensure that gifts further the academic purposes of the University. He does get a quote from Frohnmayer:

Retired UO President Dave Frohnmayer also defended his decision to accept the gift. Calling criticism of the building “both petulant and inaccurate,” he pointed out that the university has more than enough examples of what can be produced when it has to build on the cheap.

“If you want to see what low-balling construction does, just go look at Prince Lucien Campbell (Hall),” Frohnmayer said, referring to one of the least-liked buildings on campus. “Our buildings have to be built to last and they have to be built with class, and the examples of low-balling construction are among the most uninhabitable and undesirable buildings on campus today.”

PLC is pretty bad – but at least it has an academic purpose. There are no faculty offices in the Jock Box.

Frohnmayer’s decision that the Jock Box was consistent with UO’s academic mission would be easier to accept if he didn’t have such a large apparent conflict of interest. At the point Frohnmayer approved the project Knight’s assistant Pat Kilkenny had given $440,000 to Frohnmayer’s Fanconi Foundation, and Dave had appointed him AD to help move the deal forward. About half of Frohnmayer’s pay was coming through private donations laundered through the UO Foundation – donors still unknown. Who was Frohnmayer really working for?

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