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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 5, 2002)
http://www.dailyemerald.com Wednesday, June 5,2002 Since 1 900 University of Oregon Eugene, Oregon Volume 103, Issue 165 Oudden Sculpture ■ Akbars Garden, the newest campus artwork, now sits on the lawn across from the Student Recreation Center By Lisa Toth Oregon Daily Emerald One day, there was just a dirt hole. The next day, Akbars Garden arrived, al ready assembled. The sculpture was installed Thursday on the patch of the EMU lawn at the corner of 15th Avenue and University Street, across from the Student Recreation Center. The stainless steel edifice, created by a prominent Portland sculptor and donated by the Schnitzer family, took a peculiar trip up and down Interstate 5 to get to campus. Sculptor Lee Kelly, who keeps his studio in Portland, built the structure — with its unsymmetrical, spiral designs that reflect sunlight off the two silver arches —from 1983 to 1984. Kelly’s sculpture stood for 17 years at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, Calif. Denise Grote, assistant of the vice president and gen eral manager of the Claremont Hotel, said the sculpture sat on a corner of the property called the carriage entrance, on a hillside. Grote said the hotel, built in 1915, was owned by Harold Schnitzer, who is known for owning one of the largest collections of Pacific Northwest art — both old and new. When Schnitzer sold the hotel in 1989, he donated the sculptures on the grounds to var ious places such as the University. Akbars Garden was moved by truck to Kelly’s ware house in Portland where it underwent re pairs, including the addition of base plates on the sculpture’s foundation, University archi tect Chris Ramey said. Former Associate Vice President Duncan McDonald approved the sculpture’s location with the help of the sculptor, donor and the University’s sculpture committee. Ramey said the sculpture’s location across from Gerlinger Hall is also fitting because alumni often frequent Gerlinger Lounge. The structure stands out in its space on the open lawn, which elicited mixed reviews from passersby. University grounds crew worker Jonathan Stevens said he thought it was a good loca tion, but added, “I’m wondering if it’s going to get tagged a lot in the future.” EMU Craft Center employee Ralph Wilson said time will soften the sculpture in its grassy location, which is not surrounded by many trees. People will become used to such a large, glossy sculpture. Sophomore Jessyck Hereth said she thought the sculpture was a nice addition to campus, and freshman Leah Petit said she noticed the hollow sound the structure made when she knocked on the side of the lattice work. “I really like the spiral design on the met al,” Petit said, although she added that the sculpture looks a little out of place and does n’t quite mesh with its environment. As a renowned leader in outdoor sculpture, Kelly is known for his “aesthetic subtlety and use of light” in his contemporary metal sculp ture, said Laura Alpert, an art professor who I nomas Patterson fcmerald (Top) Akbars Garden, a donated sculpture recently deposited on campus, has drawn mixed reviews from passers-by. (Above) Graduate student Katie McCarron likes the stainless steel surface but isn’t sure about the work’s asymmetry. specializes in sculpture. Alpert is also on the University sculpture committee, which deals with selection and placement on campus of significant pieces of artwork. “It is an exceptionally high quality piece of art for this campus,” Alpert said. Kelly was unavailable for comment. Harold, Arlene and Jordan Schnitzer donated the piece to com memorate the completion of a private $255.3 million fundraising drive for the University from 1992 to 1998 called the Oregon Cam paign. Jordan Schnitzer is a 1973 graduate of the University, and the money from the cam paign went toward student scholarship, fac ulty support, development of new programs and new facilities at the University, according to Janet Fratella, director of outreach projects with the University Development Depart ment. Akbars Garden was not the Schnitzers’ first major donation to the University. Ann Mack, director of communications with the University Foundation, said the Schnitzer family of the Schnitzer Care Foun dation in Portland has made several major gifts to University, including creating the Ju daic Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences in 1998. E-mail features reporter Lisa Toth at lisatoth@dailyemerald.com. Congress begins Sept. 11 hearings ■A joint committee opens a ‘fact-driven, witness-driven inquiry’ investigating government intelligence before the attacks By James Kuhnhenn and Ron Hutcheson Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON (KRT) — As Con gress began closed-door hearings Tuesday into pre-Sept. 11 intelli gence failures, President Bush ac knowledged that the FBI and the CIA failed to share vital intelligence be fore the attacks. “In terms of whether or not the FBI and the CIA were communicating properly, I think it is clear that they weren’t. We’ve addressed that is sue,” Bush told reporters during a visit to the National Security Agency, another frontline federal agency in the war against terrorism. The super secret NSA monitors global electron ic communication. Bush offered assurances that the CIA and FBI are now working togeth er to prevent future attacks and said there is no evidence that U.S. offi cials could have prevented the at tacks even if all agencies had worked better together. The FBI and CIA have come under increasing criticism amid disclo sures that they failed to share or ana lyze data in their possession before Sept. 11 that may have signaled an imminent attack by terrorists affiliat ed with Osama bin Laden. A few hours later, the House and Senate intelligence committees be gan their work of investigating America’s intelligence agencies in a secret, soundproof room in the Capi tol’s restricted fourth floor. Three hours later, they adjourned for the day. “We will be a fact-driven, witness driven inquiry,” said House Intelli gence Committee chairman Porter Goss, R-Fla., as his Senate counter part, Bob Graham, D-Fla., stood be side him. “We will not be driven by outside pressures,” Goss said. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, summed up the chal lenge facing the joint House-Senate effort before its hearing began. “We need to be aggressive and rig orous in this inquiry, asking the right questions, like who knew what? And if they didn’t know it, why? And what did they do with the informa tion they had? And how we can pre vent, detect, derail and disrupt any other future attacks on the United States of America?” she said. At the same time, a controversial proposal for Congress to appoint an independent commission to perform a similar investigative mission ap peared to be losing steam. President Bush strongly opposes the idea, as do Turn to Hearings, page 4
