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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1982)
Oregon daily . _ emerald Thursday, October 14, 1982 Eugene, Oregon Volume 84, Number 29 Citizens attack center’s name By Marian Green Of the Emerald What’s in a name? Apparently a lot more than the Eugene City Council bargained for when they changed the name of the Eugene Performing Arts Center to the Hult Center for the Performing Arts Nils and Jewel Hult never imagined their $3 million endowment gift to the performing arts center, which led to the renaming, would be greeted with such con troversy. But the day after the Eugene City Council unan imously voted to change the name at a Sept 23 recog nition dinner for a limited number of center supporters, angry citizens already were circulating petitions and questioning the practice of naming public buildings after private individuals The people of Eugene wanted to identify with the | center To have it (the name) taken away was just I like a slap in the face." says Dottie Neil, one of eight Eugeneans who are circulating petitions criticizing the I name change I The group has gathered more than 1,300 signa- I tures since the renaming Neil says the people of Eugene deserve recognition because of their 1978 approval of an $18 5 million bond ( issue for the about $24 million center's construction • They're going to be paying for it for the next 16 years," she says "It's not $3 million, but it's a lot for them, especially in this hard economic time Center Director Dick Reynolds says city and center officials are working to retain the city of Eugene identification somewhere in the center's logo "We're very sensitive to what this community has done in putting together a project of this size," Reyn- , olds says "I personally don’t feel pride of ownership was lost ' The controversy has Nils and Jewel Hult, who have ucci i av«uvo wmim'ui -- — - years, confounded ’ Of course it's upsetting You can t even give money away in this town anymore, appar ently," Nils Hurt says curtly Would Hult donate the money if he had it to do over again? »mai if i haH anu it w/as cioina to create such a controversy, of course I wouldn't." he says Benson Snyder, director of the Eugene Arts Foun dation. says the facility wouldn't have been possible without the bond issue But by the same token, we wouldn't be able to have it without that private support " "It provides a big chunk of the operating costs, so that it doesn't become a burden on the taxpayers " Photo by Bob Baker Hutt Center for the Performings Arts Hult: ‘...they can name it any damn thing they want. ’ The citizen's group also questions the way the council announced the name and the practice ot "selling' memorializations for public buildings Back in 1980, the city council granted the Eugene Arts Foundation, which attempts to provide continuous supplementary operating support for the arts, the power to name certain sections of the center after private donors. But the council Kept the right to name the large concert halls and the center, with considera tion of arts foundation's recommendations, according to December, 1980 council minutes Soon after, the foundation sent out a list of “sug gested memoriaiization opportunities" and submitted preliminary donation amounts for each The list includ ed a $3 million price tag for the total performing arts complex In August and September of this year, the council approved foundation recommendations for the Soreng and Silva performance halls But the citizens group criticizes the council's approval of the renaming in the middle of a $10-per-plate recognition dinner for about 500 center supporters “Every time a government body takes any action without any public input, they take away a little bit more of our freedom Pretty soon we re not going to have any," says Neil City Councilor John Ball says the meeting, which was announced at the morning council session Sept 22, was held in “kind of a rah-rah atmosphere The council meeting was kind of peripheral to the recogni tion dinner ” After the council decided in 1980 to let the arts foundation run the show, “the public in general was no longer included in the process," Ball says. He says the council felt the media provided enough of a forum for registering dissatisfaction with the name Although memoriaiization of public buildings after private individuals is a common practice, Ball says that practice “should be kicked around a tittle. “There was never much consideration of the ap propriateness of the city naming the crown jewels — the major accomplishments — after private individuals or families,” he says “What does it do to the spirit of the community to name the major accomplishments after private individuals' Ball, like several other councilors, wasn't prepared for the atmosphere at the recognition dinner “Never in my wildest expectations did I suspect that the council meeting was going to take place as a sideshow to the three-ring circus ot ine recognition uinner Several citizens have questioned whether the council violated the Oregon Public Meetings Law, which states that a special meeting such as the Sept 23 council meeting must be announced properly 24 hours in advance Continued on page 16 Survive through discipline, Jackson says i Sportscaster warns of glut in journalism By Randy Malat Of th« Em«fakJ Keith Jackson is talking about communication With a gallery of verbal effects and tricks of inflection, he's ex pressing opinions that hit like a jack hammer Jackson's voice rolls along with the dramatic urgency of a bulldozer It backs off and softly cajoles like a warm breeze The medium and the message are one He is talking about sports and jour nalism and education and free enterprise and politics to about 50 high school teacners and local journalists in the International Lounge The meeting is part of the 56th Oregon High School Press Conference at the University Jackson's voice delivers one point after another with the certainty of a Joe Mon tana spiral "Young people want discipline," says ABC sportscaster Keith Jackson "Even though they will bellyache and moan and go home and lie. They still want it. God knows they need it. And I’ll tell you why they need it.” “Four years ago the University of Tex as graduated more students in com munications than there were jobs availa ble in the entire nation,” he says "That’s why the tough ones are gonna be sur vivors.” “I know full well that there isn't one of you in the room that’s tough enough on ’em Very seldom do you find teachers who are tough enough,” Jackson says "And I don’t mean by yelling, kicking, screaming Demanding they meet the challenge Having the integrity in your own self and your own profession to put an F on it.” "I’ve often thought of going into teaching myself for a few years before I die in an airport parking lot. But I think I might be too mean.” Jackson’s responses to questions add up to a moral lesson, an hour with a phenomenon, a man who practices what he preaches 'Amplify, clarify, punctuate. Continued on page 6 Photo by David Kao Keith Jackson
