Press "Enter" to skip to content

The big dog Phil Knight puts his mark

on what the NY Times calls “Oregon’s Jock Box”. RG photographer Chris Pietsch catches him in the act, here.

Does this mean that the big donation is coming soon? Will it just be for Hayward field and other 2021 Track Championship construction, or will new President Michael Schill insist that Knight toss the academic side a bone, in exchange for signing off on the IRS declaration that there’s an academic purpose to the madness?

And while we’re on metaphors: To the left, the sleek, overflowing infinity fountain of the Jacqua Jock Box, symbolizing purity, strength, and athletics. To the right, the empty, broken, debris-filled fountain in front of the Knight Library, symbolizing the messy, shallow, underfunded, and filthy life of the mind.

17 Comments

  1. Nick 05/19/2015

    I fail to see the connection between a sign and a forthcoming donation.

  2. Texas Guy 05/19/2015

    Yes, the broken/empty Knight Library fountains make me sad.

  3. New Year Cat 05/19/2015

    I laughed out loud. Yes, the life of the enquiring mind is often messy!! But there’s not much excuse for letting our fountain be broken again. It was fixed up in the ’90s as I recall — would be great to see it running pure and clear again.

  4. that effing Dog again 05/19/2015

    Ah, UOM really is a scholar – excellent visual summary of the UOs priorities. Well done. Purely and clearly, the value of an inquiring mind is not worth the price of fountain maintenance

    • uomatters Post author | 05/19/2015

      Full disclosure: The idea came from a “disgruntled tenured humanities professor with a dull ax to grind”, as our branders would say.

      • Old Grey Mare 05/19/2015

        Chains to sharpen, you mean.

      • that effing Dog again 05/19/2015

        well I would suggest using this visual imagery contrast into our next Pac 12 commercial as it does seem to resonant with What the IF

  5. Percy B.S. 05/19/2015

    ‘My name is Knight, king of kings:
    Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

  6. Hen 05/19/2015

    ‘A crew from Eugene Sign and Awning begins the weeklong process of hanging a huge billboard ad featuring NIKE athletes”
    Is that NIKE athletes or UO athletes? Is there a difference? What IF we ditch the O in favor of the f***ing swoosh and be done with it.
    Wonder how much the athletes are being paid to appear in the NIKE ad?

  7. observer 05/19/2015

    “Does this mean that the big donation is coming soon?”

    hahahaha!

    Not if he get something for next to nothing.

    • Working GTF 05/19/2015

      Exactly. Why buy the cow when the milk is free?

  8. oh come on 05/19/2015

    First, I think it is really cool. Second, we will be having world class runners from all over the world coming here. Why would we have only Eugene runners up there? How cool for the track athletes to see Eugene welcome them to a stunning venue thanks to PK. Complain all you want, but the man has put us on the map and been astonishingly generous to this entire campus. Imagine the place without him. Take away ALL of his donations and see what this place would look like. Shame on you for your self centered jealous nature over a beautiful sign.

    • good grief 05/19/2015

      Imagine this place without him? Hmm … good idea. Thanks for the go-ahead to imagine a much better place! Now … about your shaming issues …

  9. Anonymous 05/19/2015

    Why doesn’t this young man have a shirt on?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *