Just Do It. Ducks Bow to Nike Power.
by Sarah Moon
On Friday, the Oregon State Board of Education on Friday approved Nike and University of Oregon’s proposal to build a huge 80,000-square foot complex for the football team. Because the project will be built under the auspices of a private corporation, the Nike subsidiary of the UO foundation, Phit LLC, the project will not be subject to the state’s “Sunshine Laws” regulating public disclosure of costs and contracts nor will it be put out to competitive bidding, as is normally required for facilities built on public lands. However, tax payers remain responsible for maintenance and staffing of the new football facility, the costs of which could be enormous.
Approval was rushed through the State Board, with only six of the 12-member board voting on the project. UO president Richard Lariviere warned the board that unless the project received approval including all of Knight’s terms and conditions requiring no-bid contracts and zero public disclosure on Friday (after only discussing it for the first time that day), the project would be off the table and future donations to the college were at risk, “If we don’t accept this gift, what will be the negative consequences for the university’s education and research mission? Probably not much — immediately, in the short-term. But they could be really, really profound over the longer term. Really profound.”
This is not the first project at the University of Oregon that Phil Knight and Nike have insisted be built with no public oversight or disclosure. At least two other project at the school have been financed and built in this way, under the direction and funding of Phit with UO and the State of Oregon being responsible for maintenance and staffing of the new facilities. The relationship between Knight and the University of Oregon is unprecedented for public colleges and universities—even projects funded with T. Boone Pickens’ $300 million in contributions to Oklahoma State University were conducted under that state’s guidelines for contracting and open records laws. In Oregon, however, we simply have no idea what the long-term costs of Knight’s generosity are to the state, because of the Nike founder’s insistence on secrecy.
While Knight has certainly ensured his legacy to University of Oregon, we Oregonians must ask what Knight’s legacy will cost us.
Sarah Moon is SFC-Portland’s Local Chapter Chair
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Bow to Nike power? I think you mean “embrace” Nike power. UO is incredibly lucky to have Phil Knight as a benefactor to the institution and, as a Duck grad, I couldn’t be more excited about his generosity towards the school that he loves. I also couldn’t care less that he finds these weird loop holes with which to conduct his business with the university. Without Phil Knight UO would be a shadow of what it is today.
We love you Uncle Phil!
GO DUCKS!!!
If you read the release, not only is Phil constructing and donating the facility, he is also donating a fund to pay for its ongoing maintenance and upkeep. So, it won’t cost taxpayers anything. If you’re going to write an article, at least get the facts correct.
Oregon is darned lucky to have Phil Knnight for an alum & avid fan. Just as it was to have Bill Bowerman as his close friend and mentor.
Phil is building the complex & “hall of Fame” privately, then donating it to the University. The maintenance will be but a fraction of the cost! Would you complain about the gas cost if your granpa or dad
would give you a Porsche??
I wouldn’t think much of anyone who would complain about being given a gift such as this!
Sarah,
Nice typical liberal piece from what is probably a twenty something journalist with zero to no life experience. You’ve never built and empire, generated a dollar, or had to support thousands of employees and tens of thousands of people that are affected by your generosity. You, much like most of your narrow minded young lib journalist conspiracy theorist, regarding Phil and Nike, have missed the boat completely. I can’t blame you…you have never been apart of business or donated a cent to a University other than your tuition. You should, and do, have zero clue as to why Nike and Phil insist on these types of donation agreements. Look to your older wiser colleges and you will find an article written in the las 48 hours that explained why Phil requires this type of control.
1) The last 2 projects that he let UO facilitate, were a combined 1.5 years late and over budget because of the red tape by approx 35%. That cost mr Knight approx. 6.5 million dollars. hmmm….I think I’d not want to make that mistake again.
2) Having the costs be kept in house, keeps you and your friends that like to write articles complaining about another mans generosity from the material you seek. Hopefully putting a few of you out of work and forced to actually produce something in life and understand what the value of a dollar is.
3)When you have built and empire and you are in a league of two in regards to donations, you can, and always will, be able to dictate terms. PERIOD!!! It’s called REAL LIFE. Those who have, have always made policy since the beginning of time.
4) This “BOWING DWON TO POWER” (lol…what a Joke!!!) is a “BOWING” that every University in the WORLD would love to “BOW” too. There’s an old saying, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” President Lav. and the AD (who are very conscious of making bad decisions, even in the public eye) would not be this adamant about this cause if it wasn’t good for the University.
5) I think the 110 million dollar donation that Phil and Penny gave the UO probably will cover any short comings in personnel to staff these new facilities.
In short, please get a clue about what a wonderful and generous man Phil is! The people who actually do spend and donate their hard earned dollars to support the UO get it. Maybe you need to make or build or grow something to contribute to society and own a business to see how your liberal thoughts and ideas are counter productive to everything that the USA stands for! maybe then you’ll get a clue and quit writing articles that are so jaded against something that can only be called “WONDERFUL”. That is what the UO is “bowing” to. Something completely selfless & wonderful!
I doubt you have the courage to let this post. Only time will tell!
Nice response. Clearly, your speculative, personal attacks are a sign of a losing argument, and if you have proof that Nike will support the maintenance financially and assume the added expenses to this public institution, we’d love to see it. SFC-Portland Local Chapter Chair Sarah Moon wrote this piece requesting that we see the details. Following the money is not so wrong is it? Supporting a policy that accepts blindly taking handouts has caused trouble in the past.