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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1986)
UP DA TE JON JACDBSON ‘We've gone through Are and been tested’: Sister Catherine Dunn. Clarke president Rising From the Ashes Clarke College survives a trial by fire; turning disaster into a golden opportunity for renewal It wastwodays before graduation in 1084 when the hilltop campus caught (ire, and Clarke College burned from after noon until early morning. The awful pyro technics incinerated four major buildings at the Roman Catholic coed institution in Dubuque, Iowa, and left 30 nuns homeless. Students who stood in forlorn clusters, holding hands and wondering whether the school would survive, heard a fervent aflir ination from Sister Catherine Dunn, who had then been president of Clarke for only 111 days. Marching along the police lines with a bullhorn, Dunn announced that fi nal exams would lx- rescheduled and insist ed that the school would rise, triumphant, from the ashes of the accidental blaze Sure enough, Dunn reopened the devastated school at 8 a m. the following day By noon she had counselors telephoning reassur ances to every applicant—and was em barked on a mighty salvage mission Today, 30 months later, it is clear that Clarke has turned disaster into opportuni ty. Contractors are putting finishing touch es on u state-of-the-art campus that was built to serve for 150 years Gleaming new structures flank a huge atrium, vet blend skillfully w ith the pitched, red-tile roofs of the old buildings that withstood the (ire Innumerable clever design features mean students at the school—which opened in 1843 as the Midwest’s first women's col lege-will reap the grandest rewards of a reconstruction they helped plan "Small schools need something that says, 'Bang— this is the spirit of the place!' "says Chicago architect Percy E Roberts. "Clarke’s new campus will help achieve that." St udents and administ rators say t he syn ergies occurred largely because Roberts's prestigious firm, Vickrey Ovresat Aw sumb. set up shop in a campus lounge and invited endless opinions from anyone who Up in smoke: Blaze destroyed four major buildings __ _lilH.ii M-H m t; \l i» had an idea about Clarke Many faculty members helped design facilities exactly as they wished. Librarian Paul Rob erts—no relation to the archi tect—will have twice the space he had before the blaze, plus a fully computerized catalog that students can instantly examine from 50 terminals scattered across the campus. And with space to spare, Clarke’s library is now growing at five times its normal pace. Roberts, who had to freeze-dry some water logged volumes, is even adding new subject areas with books obtained from less fortunate small colleges that have closed. "We're growing,” he says confi dently. "I’m the only librarian around who accepts donated books by the ton.” Encircled by music: Fine touches abound The wraparound bal cony in the performing-arts hall will permit music director John l^ease to experimentally surround ms audiences wun live sound, in a well-lit print laboratory, ventilators quietly remove the inevitable solvent fumes. One end of the atrium is terraced to offer noontime seating for readings or small performances. And a partially con cave front lawn now boasts a sculpted out door amphitheater. The new buildings are virtually mainte nance-free, accessible to the handicapped and wired for futuristic telecommunica tions systems. Broad windows swathe li brary study areas, highlighting the tree topped limestone hills around Clarke. "At last we have open spaces again,” says student-body president Lisa Hawks. Insurance covered two-thirds of the S13 million loss. The rest will come from donors, including phenomenally loyal grads who routinely keep Clarke debt-free; their donation rate is among the nation’s highest, easily upstaging such alumni fa vorites as Harvard and Notre Dame. In the short term the president must deal with an unexpected avalanche of requests to con duct weddings in the new atrium, a facility mm win niso De me sue ior stu dent affairs, community events and seminars For the long haul Dunn is adding academic pro grams. She trusts that Clarke’s new splendors will make re cruiting far easier, and she foresees enrollment climbing from 9(X) to 1,2(X). "We’ve gone through fire and been tested," she says. "Any student who passes through here will en counter that strength.” John McCormick in Dubuque
