The $44 million plan

As the dust still settles on the beautiful (and expensive) Academic and Student Rec Center, Portland State already has its eye on an ambitious remodel of the Peter W. Stott Center—and it’s not going to be cheap.

The $44 million plan would transform the big heap of concrete into an extravagant Viking Pavilion with an 82-foot-high glass wall facing the Park Blocks.

While an incredible $22 million is supposed to be paid by PSU, the other half would be put onto the backs of tax payers. The school has raised only $10 million so far. Part of that was a comparably small $5 million gift from an anonymous donor, who perhaps was too embarrassed by the lavishness of the proposal to actually leave a name and number.

PSU claims that the expense is justifiable because of the 36,000 square feet of academic space the new building will have. Unfortunately, that space was only added as an afterthought.

The same expense was still planned for the big, bunker-like building even when the proposal was just going to include creating an improved basketball court that PSU could whip out and show the other children to prove something or other.

As it stands now, the remodel would create a sports, study and event showcase that would in all honesty probably be pretty cool if it didn’t highlight just how much our school cares about athletics (with academics only an afterthought). Because, you know, Viking basketball is so crucial to the life of every PSU student on campus.

The new arena would seat 4,800 people and feature retractable bleachers, giving it the potential to be used for 30 games a year and also as a 5,500-seat lecture, banquet or concert space.

That is a 960 percent increase in seating space over the Smith Memorial Student Union’s 500-seat ballroom, which of course could be useful to have. It is also a leap from the 1,500 seats that we currently have in our basketball space.

The Stott Center is about 50 years old and supposedly high-maintenance. On a positive note, the renovation is expected to raise about $7.5 million a year in event-related spending.

The plan to create a giant event space is really cool in theory, but its swollen price tag will undoubtedly somehow be dropped onto the backs of students who already pay too much for a state university. Whether it’s to cover unexpected costs or a rise in tuition because administration decides that the new Viking Pavilion makes PSU a more desirable school, this expensive project is going to impact students’ already empty pockets.

Even more upsetting is the amazing lack of interest in the academic value that could be afforded to the campus, as evidenced by the fact that the design did not originally include classroom or lecture hall space.

PSU seems to be focusing a little too much on showing off with this glitzy Viking
Pavilion plan, and the intense focus on basketball seems ridiculous and insulting to the majority of students who have no connection to the team.

Most important perhaps, is PSU’s inability to pay for the wasteful remodel on its own. As administrators beg for money from state legislaters and alumni alike, it wastes valuable opportunities to expand in different ways.

We are a humble state school that, while very large, should not be trying to create an enormous pavilion that may not draw a crowd anyway. The cool space that would be available for other events is unrealistic and does not justify the cost. Our basketball program should not be as important as a slew of other things, like creating enough classrooms for our already overcrowded university.