The atrium in the John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes@@http://ssa.uoregon.edu/@@ has suffered water damage, causing the majority of the wood flooring on the first level to need replacement after just a year and a half of use.
The damage was rumored to have been caused by a leak in the cooling pond that surrounds the building, but was actually caused by a refrigerant leak from a drinking fountain.
“The leak went unnoticed for quite some time until the damage occurred,” associate athletic director Bob Beals said.@@http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/24791549-41/turf-crown-surface-stadium-field.csp@@
The water leak happened earlier this year, but the damage became apparent over the summer. The damage includes warping, chipping and discoloration on a significant portion of the atrium’s custom wood flooring.
“When you walk in, you can feel that the floor is damaged,” University freshman football player Tyler Johnstone said.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Tyler+Johnstone@@
Finding the wood to match the remaining floor proved difficult, especially because much of the floor that needs replacing has been custom etched with the names of important figures in Oregon’s athletic history.
Concerns surrounding how to cover the cost have cropped up, and some are worried that academic funds will be used in order to make these repairs.
“I’m totally sympathetic. I have mushrooms coming up under my own kitchen floor,” economics professor Bill Harbaugh@@http://harbaugh.uoregon.edu/@@ said jokingly. “So if the athletic department has figured out how to use tuition money to pay for water damage, I want to hear how to do it.”
Officials at the Jaqua Center want to assure the University that the money will not come out of students’ pockets.
“The cost is being covered completely by insurance,” said Stephan Stolp, the executive director of the Jaqua Center.@@http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/sports/24322391-41/athletes-student-academic-building-stolp.csp@@
Still, the question remains of who is paying for the insurance. Maintenance costs, including repairs, are usually covered by general academic funds. Harbaugh speculates that there may be some form of special insurance covering the Jaqua Center, but believes it is highly unlikely.
The Jaqua Center, which opened in January 2010@@http://tinyurl.com/885kc74@@, cost nearly $42 million@@http://www.oregonlive.com/education/index.ssf/2011/03/university_of_oregon_students.html@@ and was paid for entirely by the school’s largest donor, Phil Knight. The building has been the center of controversy in the past due to its high cost and the fact that most of the building is used by less than 1 percent of the student population.
The Jaqua Center is widely considered to be the finest athletic tutoring center in the Pac-12, and has been referred to as the “Taj Mahal” of academic services@@http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindducksbeat/2010/01/new_oregon_academic_center_bac.html@@. In comparison, the University of Washington’s Ackerley center, built in 2005, cost approximately $20 million. Oregon State’s Student Success Center (currently being constructed) will cost $14 million, but will serve students as well as athletes.@@http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/may/osu-break-ground-tuesday-14-million-student-success-center@@
Despite its sumptuousness and exclusivity, the Jaqua Center has succumbed to damage just like any other building on campus, and this luxurious gift is largely esteemed as the most controversial donation received by the University.
“It’s (the damage) definitely noticeable, especially when you have such a nice and expensive building and then the floor is all warped,” Johnstone said.
The replacement wood flooring has already been purchased and the athletic department plans to complete the repairs over winter break to disrupt learning as little as possible.