… Allow me, then, amid flashing light sabers, to add my perspective by answering five questions:
1. Whose university is it, anyway?
… But it’s a dangerous precedent to think that anybody with money can, essentially, decide what kind of building a university needs, in this case laughably extravagant, not that I would wish upon any student-athlete a 170-seat theater that didn’t have upholstery made from the same leather that Ferrari uses for its car interiors. …
2. What is the highest value at play here?
If you think it’s money, image and winning football games, you’re thinking too small. Because if those become your major focus, you’ll sacrifice anything to get there: integrity, people, community, sportsmanship, the works. …
3. Can you be disturbed by UO’s hubris — “This is not excessive,” Athletic Director Rob Mullens told The New York Times about a building that includes 250-plus TVs — and still be a Duck fan?
I’d like to think so. I’d like to think that one reason some of us are bothered by the excess — the complex includes wall art of the Duck mascot wearing a top hat adorned with a dollar sign — is that it reflects poorly on the university we love; whose teams we support, in my case as a football season-ticket holder.
4. If the UO is still a place of higher education, what’s the lesson here for our student-athletes?
That, as Hawkins told The New York Times: “We are the University of Nike?” That the way to impress people isn’t with substance — the stuff that matters — but with style? …
5. Finally, what does this out-of-control trend say about the UO? …
I think the NCAA calls it “loss of institutional control”.
Well clearly gottfredaon has no control. Last I heard, the academic side was sending 400k to the AD for the pres box. What a circus this whole thing is.
Obviously, UO is banking on that $2 billion that Uncle Phil has supposedly promised.
Until that money is in the UO bank, they’re not going to do anything to cross him.
Too bad, that’s the way the world works.
Kilkenny is Knight’s executor. That $ 2B is going to come with more strings that the Jock Box, and Gottfredson is going to agree to them without ever consulting the faculty just like Frohnmayer did.
Is there any evidence for the $2b? Any committment?
If Knight wanted the biggest bang for the $2b, he would have spent it – or some of it – in 2008-2010 when Lariviere was around, loans were cheap, construction was cheap, and our (academic!) competitors were struggling – a historic chance.
I think he cares about athletics only. We should “rent” him this toy and charge him annual fees. It’s time to raise the stakes and call the bluff. Otherwise we will be the University of Nike with may be(!) $2b for athletics and no money for academics, have sports-partying admins, and look like the biggest fools ever – selling out for a mirage.
I’m not privy to any contracts or his will. But if there’s a chance of getting that money, UO is going to do everything it can to get it. Get used to it.
“Kilkenny is Knight’s executor. That $ 2B is going to come with more strings that the Jock Box, and Gottfredson is going to agree to them without ever consulting the faculty just like Frohnmayer did.”
You have no idea what you’re talking about. None. A gift of that magnitude could be a game-changer for this university, and you are in no position to speculate about what “strings” might or might not come attached. Stop talking out of your ass.
^ There’s never been a Knight gift without strings. On what data are you imputing that the $2b will be free and clear?
Oh, it’s a tongue lashing with an anonymous wet noodle. Looks like the interns are back in town.
Jim. Clearly.
@ “But if there’s a chance of getting that money, UO is going to do everything it can to get it.”
I say: Get the money now. There’s no convincing signal that there is money down the road – as there was no money for the last 10 years (academics) or during prime time for investments (which he has done for athletics).
How to gain control over the university and build Phil’s Neverland for free? Spread rumors about potential donations in the future… Obviously, nobody wants to scare him away (“You lost $2b.”) but it’s time to get some convincing signals.
Kilkenny isn’t the bagman for Knight, he’s the bagman for Frohnmayer.
I think some people are missing the point. As it is, we face millions of dollars in additional, unsubsidized expenses each time Knight builds his ego on campus. The new Sweat Shop is just the latest. Can you imagine the implicit tax on the academic side when he “gives” $2b? The academic side should just roll over and die if that happens.
Those drooling for the $2b are fools anyway. You look like children, behaving “well” because they think they’re going to get more candy.
Question for the commentariat: how dense do you have to be to complain about a gift that (a) you know nothing about, and (b) hasn’t even been pledged and may not ever happen?
To the commenter who asked about the data on which I was “imputing”: what strings were attached to the Knight Library? The law school? The Knight professorships? The OHSU Knight Cancer Research Center? The Stanford Graduate School of Business? What exactly do you think Phil would be trying to extract from the U of O with a huge gift to the endowment? What conversations have you had with him or with people close to him that would make you think that?
^ Why do you put imputing in quotes?
I am the earlier guy who wants to rent/sell the AD and call the bluff…
Compare the donations 10 years ago (library, law school, professorships, etc.) to recent donations/investments (basketball arena, student tutoring, football building, etc.). It’s tough to get official financial numbers but it looks like an imbalance.
How do you relate the recent donations (and their implicit taxes) to UO’s mission? This should be the benchmark. Entertainment for alumni isn’t part of it. And “Eat Your Enemies” and “War Room” is just embarrassing.
http://pages.uoregon.edu/uosenate/UOmissionstatement.html
The problem of the “gift” (or the rumors about it) is that it stops any reasonable discussion and that people accept recent implicit taxes following athletic donations in hope for some future money. There is no discussion if we want such a basketball arena or football showroom and how it affects UO’s mission and reputation.
State funding has left the U of O poor. Our own administration has made us look ridiculous. And an academic institution cannot afford to look ridiculous.
To ourselves, we are a serious community of learning. Our heroes are adults: Mike Posner, Gerry Richmond, Hill Walker, Helen Neville.
To the outside world, we are Pee-Wee’s Playhouse—the laughingstock of higher education. iPods, PlayStations, TVs everywhere: even in the toilet, so you don’t miss a minute of “Jackass”. Every gadget your 12 year old ever wanted of avoid doing homework. A pool table from a company “whose previous clients include the late Michael Jackson”. It’s our own Neverland Ranch.
No adolescent fantasy has been ignored. The coaches conference room is called the “war room” and “modeled after the White House war room”. Perfect: ““Hey, lets pretend I’m President Bush, you’re Dick Cheney, Mike Riley is Bin Ladin, the Beavers are El Qaeda, and this squirt gun is a ‘smart bomb’ to obliterate Corvallis’s entire water supply!”
My colleagues rightly say this has nothing to do with academics. But PK’s Playhouse has everything to do with education. Universities are entrusted with helping manage the difficult but essential transition from adolescence to adulthood. We betray this trust when we glorify Beavis and Butthead.
Where are our academic administrators in all this? Has our provost resigned himself to playing Bubbles the Chimpanzee? U of O President Gottfredson has built a distinguished career writing on the importance of self-control. What can he possibly think walking through this monument to unconstrained impulse?
Your comment is right on, but lets remember it was Lariviere who got OUS to sign off on this embarrassment, by telling them Knight wanted it and that if he didn’t get it, he’d walk away from UO.
Gottfredson’s only deal with Knight for one of these “gifts” so far seems to be the $5M Autzen insta-forest. We’ll soon know what if anything Gottfredson delivers on the Senate resolution to end the athletic subsidies.
My comment was meant to suggest that Gottfredson was handed this when he arrived. By the way, it seems that every time there is a new Phil Knight monstrosity, the amount he is rumored to be donating–in the indeterminate future–increases.
Yup, back when Frohnmayer agreed to put us $235M in debt for Matt Court, Knight’s tit-for-tat was going to be $1B.
Anyone who has ever been witness to this kind of dysfuntional giving, especially within families, knows how this ends.
Title IX requires that, while money spent on men’s and women’s facilities need not the same, they must be of equal quality. Here it is:
“The standard for compliance is one of quality rather than quantity. The actual amount of money spent on women’s and men’s programs may differ as long the quality of facilities and services for each program achieve parity. Title IX is violated if a community builds a state-of-the-art field and locker facilities for males, but requires female athletes to share a field owned by a local community center. In this example, quality of facilities is far from equitable, and Title IX is violated.”
Isn’t there a problem here?
Not if one of the first acts of the new board is to authorize the tear down of Mac Court and Howe field under the theme of “need” for a new softball complex and inside track facility. Possibly UOM should start taking suggestions for names now and have stock on hand?
We are going to have the most serious, kick-ass beach volleyball facility the world has ever seen. It has been rumoured that Phil Knight is in talks with God directly, making his case for brining the pacific ocean about 60 miles east of where it currently falls. God doesn’t always do things to Sweat-Shop Phil’s standard, though, so he’s demanding that the new beachfront property to look a bit more like southern Italy. (Don’t worry Florence duck fans, you are going to be transformed into a wonderful pacific Island… think Greece and you’ll get the idea. The AD operatives may even consult you after the fact. Until then, don’t question it.)
Before you disregard, recognize that paying for the initial construction of the new Sweat Shop is to Phil Knight as paying for my kid’s DQ Blizzard is to me. (Actually, I’m off a bit… when normalized by my academic salary, the Sweat Shop is cheaper for Phil.)
Sweat Shop Lady says:
I am really surprized that the did not install stripper poles in ths Sweat Shop and let us women use them for really good workouts, might solve the Title IX problem. Stripper poles seem like the only workout equipment that they neglected to install, but perhaps we have just not seen them yet.
Regarding that kick-ass beach volleyball facility–God got a glance at the plans and said WTF?!
I have given up my season tickets.
Anyone else? It was really slick chip and cheap Willy that was the final straw. I will take a 7-6 clean team over a cheating #2 any day.
Students should have the option to stop paying for seats by means of student fees that they do not use. The student government should bring this to a vote.
Gave up my season tickets four years ago when Kilkenny was in charge and the ChipWill fiasco was beginning.
Diane Dietz, on the Oregon Duck images in PK’s Playhouse:
“He pokes two fingers in the eyes of the UCLA bear. He punches the Arizona Sun Devil in the jaw. He tosses the Oregon State Beaver away with the food scraps. Over the serving line in the athletes’ dining room in the football center, players are admonished — in yellow neon letters — to eat their enemies.”
“UO football officials say it’s all in fun.”
Yuk, yuk, yuk. The Beavers as food scraps! Haw, haw, haw: “Eat your enemies….” Hey, Phil: How about a whoopee cushion for the opposing coach? Why don’t we short-sheet the opposing team’s beds? Man, that Oregon Athletic Department–it cracks me up!