Spot's fate awaiting meeting with artist
March 7, 2008
After three years of construction, five years of repairs and seven months under a tarp, the Italian glass mosaic Tiger Spot’s future is still uncertain, university officials said.
Tiger Spot has been covered with a tarp since August, and the last time repairs were made to the spot was in the summer 2006. The tarp was purchased by Student and Auxiliary Services and cost between $1,500 and $2,000, MU Libraries spokeswoman Shannon Carey said.
Missouri Students Association President Jim Kelley said in a statement that the next step to fulfilling Chancellor Brady Deaton’s July 2006 request to remove the spot involves coordinating a negotiation meeting between artist Paul Jackson and Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services Jackie Jones.
“We look forward to engaging him (Jackson) in a positive dialogue that will get us to that desired outcome,” Kelley said in the statement.
In a previous interview with The Maneater, former MSA President Rachel Anderson, who was serving as president at the time, said the university was waiting on negotiations between the university and artist then.
In a January meeting with Jones, Kelley said she showed him and MSA Vice President Chelsea Johnson a design mock-up for a 12- to 20-foot wall to take Tiger Spot’s place.
Jones had said the design was pending MU Libraries Director Jim Cogswell’s approval, Kelley said in an interview.
“You and Jim Kelley are misinformed about Tiger Spot,” Cogswell said in an e-mail to MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays. “The libraries have no part in the decision-making about what happens next. Jackie Jones, the vice chancellor for administrative services, has the dubious honor of determining that. My only function has been to applaud the folks in Student (and) Auxiliary Services who arranged to have the canvas cover placed over (the) Spot to hide the eyesore.”
Kelley and Johnson met with Jones a second time Tuesday.
“After our meeting on March 4, Vice Chancellor Jones and I are committed to an outcome that is agreed upon by all parties,” Kelley said in the statement.
Kelley said he was determined to continuing to bring up the issue with administrators.
Jones declined to comment.
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