Villard Hall renovation almost
complete
■ Students in the historical
preservation department
received hands-on experience
by working on Villard
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
After nearly 12 years of renova
tion, Villard Hall will soon be
ready to have the University see it
in all its former glory. Workers will
start to remove the scaffolding
soon, and students should notice
changes when they return from
spring break, said George Bleek
man, a carpenter for Facilities Ser
vices.
Named after railroad magnate
Henry Villard, the hall was built in
1886 and is the second-oldest
building on campus.
Bleekman said the renovation
work began in 1989 and was nec
essary because the building was
beginning to deteriorate.
“The building was essentially
failing,” he said.
Max Brown, a political science
graduate teaching fellow, said he’s
noticed the third-floor classrooms
have been modernized, and he said
the bathrooms now look like they
were built in the 1990s instead of
the 1890s.
Bleekman said students in the
historic preservation program re
placed shingles and deteriorated
wood, replicated ornamental
carvings and repaired broken
metal detailing.
Philip Waugh, graduate student
of historic preservation, said stu
dents worked on Villard to learn
renovation techniques.
“The way it was set up was very
conducive to learning,” he said.
“This has been a tremendous tool.
[Bleekman] made it a really pain
less process.”
Waugh said he hopes his expe
rience on Villard Hall will enable
him to return to his home in Min
nesota and continue to work on
renovating older buildings.
Theatre Development Director
Joseph Gilg, whose office is on the
second floor of Villard Hall, said
he is impressed with the way the
building looks. He said workers
improved the building without
creating too much noise.
“From time to time there were
noise problems,” he said. “But it
hasn’t been bad.”
Bleekman said the building is
one of only 11 historical land
marks in the state of Oregon, and
because of this, workers were re
quired by law to maintain the his
toric integrity of the building.
Waugh said he never felt tempt
ed to add his own touch or im
prove the existing structure of the
building.
“I didn’t want to make my mark,
because I don’t want to change
anything,” he said.
Waugh said he hopes no one
will notice many new changes to
Laura Smit Emerald
After nearly 12 years of renovation, Villard Hall will soon be ready to show its former face. The restoration, which included everything
from the grounds up to the tower roofs, was a good opportunity for historical preservation students to get hands-on experience.
the building.
He said it is important to him to
have “the ability to step back from
the project and have people say
they think it looks good.”
Brown said he’s glad the build
ing received the renovation.
“As far as I’m concerned, it
looks much better aesthetically,”
he said. “I have also noticed the
facade is much more clean.”
Gilg said because the building
renovation work has been going
on for more than 10 years, he has
never seen Villard without scaf
folding. But despite this, what he
has seen is improved.
“Certainly, I think it looks much
better,” he said.
Bleekman said while the
process was long, it was never
out of reach for the students to
accomplish.
“There was definitely nothing
we couldn’t handle,” he said. “It
was just a real-time consuming
deal.”
News brief
Bomb Scare in Library
Department of Public Safety of
ficers ordered the evacuation of
the Knight Library Sunday at
11:44 p.m. after spotting a bag
feared to be a bomb.
Officers contacted the owner of
the bag, inspected the contents and
reopened the library after about 10
minutes.
The tattered green satchel —
containing a few notebooks, some
art supplies and half a loaf of
§ CRIME
_ WATCH
Disorderly conduct
Tuesday, March 6,1:05 a.m.: Officers
responded to a report of a person ly
ing on an EMU restroom floor.
Tuesday, March 6,3:10 a.m.: A DPS of
ficer observed three people chasing
vehicles on Moss Street.
Wednesday, March 7,5:42 p.m.: Offi
cers received a report of a suspicious
male going through trash bins outside
Walton Complex.
Wednesday, March 7,10:30 p.m.: A
DPS officer observed a person walking
near Johnson Hall with an open alco
hol container.
Friday, March 9,10:03 p.m.: A caller
reported a person was on the roof of
Robbins Hall.
Saturday, March 10,2:47 a.m.: A
caller reported a fire extinguisher was
missing and there was damage to the
Adams Hall lounge.
Theft
Monday, March 5,11:53 a.m.: Officers
received a report of a person attempt
ing to steal a bike in front of Straub
Hall.
Wednesday, March 7,7:34 p.m.: A stu
dent reported a stolen wallet from the
Knight Law Library.
Wednesday, March 7,11:01 p.m.: A
student reported a backpack was
stolen from Lawrence Hall.
Thursday, March 8,2:22 p.m.: A
University staff member reported
cash was stolen from a Knight
Library cash box.
Sunday, March 11,1:08 p.m.: A Uni
versity staff member reported a sub
ject trying doors and looking into ve
hicles in a McArthurCourt parking lot.
Sunday, March 11,3:39: A bike was
stolen from outside Dunn Hall.
Harassment/Physical violence
Monday, March 5,10:33 p.m.: Officers
responded to a fight reported near the
EMU Breezeway.
Thursday, March 8,11:45 p.m.: Offi
cers received a report of telephone ~
harassment.
Friday, March 9,10:46: Officers re
ceived a report of an assault in the
Earl Complex.
Drugs/Alcohol
Monday, March 5,11:17 p.m.: Drug
paraphernalia was confiscated from a
student in Parsons Residence Hall.
Thursday, March 8,5:42 p.m.: A caller
reported a neighbor was smoking
marijuana in the University Inn.
Saturday, March 9,12:27 a.m.: Offi
cers were called to Hamilton East
complex after receiving a report of mi
nors in possession of alcohol.
Friday, March 9,10:09 p.m.: Officers
received a report of people smoking
marijuana in Dunn Hall.
Other
Monday, March 5,5:09 p.m.: Officers
received a report of a vehicle and bicy
cle accident at the intersection of
Franklin Boulevard and Onyx Street.
Sunday, March 11,4:41 p.m.: Officers
responded to a vehicle fire on 15th
Street near Hayward Field.
Sunday, March 11,11:44 p.m.: The
Knight Library was evacuated after
DPS officers spotted a suspicious
abandoned bag, feared to be a bomb.
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bread — belonged to a Eugene
resident who had briefly left it
behind.
After the evacuation, DPS offi
cers on the scene joked that they
were hesitant to disturb the dozens
of students in the library who were
cramming for Dead Week.
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“In this particular place, a pub
lic area, where it’s hard to control
people going in and out, it was
best to evacuate the building,” DPS
Associate Director Tom Hicks said
Tuesday afternoon. “This satchel
just all of a sudden appeared that
didn’t look like something a stu
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dent would have. It looked like an
army satchel.”
Hicks said a handful of campus
buildings have been evacuated
for bomb scares in the past few
years, but in his years on campus,
a real bomb has never been
found.
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