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