Stephanie Duarte
Assistant Editor
Reed Gratz, professor of music, remembers vividly the first time he stepped on the University’s campus. He walked into Founders Auditorium and was hit with a wave of panic.
“It was so stunningly hideous,” Gratz said. “I thought, ‘If this is what this University has to offer, then this place is in serious trouble.’”
Since that day in 1977, the building that is featured as the icon of our University and as the center for our musical arts has not changed much.
The biggest renovation that took place in the hall was in the mid 1970s when a student closed it down for his production of “Man of La Mancha.” The entire hall was painted a grape juice purple with paisleys covering the windows.
The hall remained painted for several years until 1984, when the Energy Institute gave a $20,000 grant toward Founders Auditorium to make the hall presentable for a major speaker who was to lecture on campus.
It was at this time that the blue curtains, beveled glass windows, carpet and ceiling fans were installed. In addition, the fluorescent lights were replaced with the current house lights with dimming capabilities. The University also attained used seats from Griswold’s Theater in Claremont.
“They were basically junk seats from an old theater, but we picked them up,” Gratz said.
The seats were a step in the right direction. They replaced the original wooden seats installed in 1926, which were meant for the smaller people of that era. Today, the seats are due for another replacement.
“They’re horrible,” said Kendell Smith, a senior music major. “You sit down in some of them and you think you’ve sat on someone’s cell phone or something. There are broken springs in the chairs that make them really uncomfortable.”
In 1991, the University’s Centennial production of “Under the Gas Light” took place. In order to compensate for the lack of acoustics in the auditorium, a temporary stage was built out to the first row of seats. This improved the problem that the proscenium presents: Performers standing behind the proscenium arch will have their sound swallowed by the backstage area.
According to David Flaten, professor of theater arts, the stage really needs to be permanently extended to the front row. However, he said there will always be “acoustic dead spots” in the hall because it was not made for the performing arts.
It was originally designed to be a multi-purpose hall that could show movies, feature speakers and occasionally hold concerts.
To this day it is still the largest facility that the University owns, seating 430 people. It is also the biggest eyesore that the University continues to neglect.
Scott Farthing, associate professor of music, said the condition of the hall makes it difficult for community outreach.
“We have world-class musicians performing on a stage that is an embarrassment to the department and the school,” Farthing said. “At a university level, it’s the one place that people can come together and it’s so bad – it’s humiliating.”
Founders Auditorium is also the venue that shelters the department’s $100,000 Steinway piano, acquired through a donation from an extensive fundraising campaign in 2001.
It also serves as a venue for community events such as the Miss La Verne pageants, city events and conferences.
“We allow the community to rent the hall for a ridiculously low rate,” said Steven Biondo, music department coordinator. “We can’t charge a lot for the facility because it’s in such terrible condition.”
Since Founders Hall was dedicated in 1927, there have been several plans to redo the building.
“Every administration has promised that something will be done,” Gratz said. “We’ve been asked as a department several times to make plans of what we need. Still, we see from time to time an architect around the building, making plans for Founders Auditorium with no regard to the music department.”
Apparently, there is a general lack of communication between those who renovate the hall and the people who use it, mainly the music department.
During summer seasons, new installments have occurred in Founders Hall such as that addition of pipes that hold chemistry gases running through the music department offices.
Preparing for a concert is like jumping through hoops. Noisy summer additions also include the buzz of the electrical box behind the auditorium, the chemistry fans on the auditorium’s roof, the fountain outside of Founders and the air conditioning system, which cools Founders Hall, but not the auditorium. All of these must be turned off before each concert and are only a few of the inconveniences connected with Founders Hall and its auditorium.
There are questions about the stage’s safety. Last year, Becky Campana, senior English and technical theater major, started developing better lighting for the music department’s concerts. Shortly before the annual Candlelight Christmas concert, she discovered that an eight-foot steel bar suspended directly over the singers and Steinway piano was only held up by a rope that had been wrapped around and tied a few times.
“It was basically hanging by friction and was completely dangerous,” Campana said.
Other hazardous parts include the rickety, unstable stairs leading to the backstage area, broken seats and the poorly lit stairway leading to the hall’s main entrance from Third Street.
The handrails approaching either side of the stage wobble about six-to-eight inches on either side of where they are supposed to stand firm.
Brian Worley, director of facilities management, first came to the University as a technical director for the theater department.
“My biggest pet peeve is the climate control,” Worley said.
Audience members and performers alike often complain that it is colder in Founders Auditorium than outside. The two heaters on either side of the auditorium can heat a radius of about five feet – hardly suitable for a hall that seats over 400.
During the warmer summer months, bees congregate at the ceiling of the auditorium and slowly die with the rising temperature, covering the stage and auditorium floor.
The rainy months are no better. Fixing leaks throughout the auditorium has been an ongoing project in the hall. Michael Stallings, senior music and international business and language major, recalled sitting in the balcony during a world-renowned folk singing concert and feeling a light mist falling from the ceiling.
“It wasn’t even a leak – it was more like the decaying of the roof that caused it,” Stallings said. “It was strange because it fit the Midwest/marsh-like mood of his music, but it was a little too real for me.”
“We don’t make a good presentation to prospective students and to the community by not taking care of Founders Auditorium,” Gratz said. “It shows where we place culture on campus as a priority.”
Founders Auditorium has a high profile on campus.
“It’s the first thing prospective students and parents see when they come to the University,” Campana said. “It’s our Founders Hall. It’s a symbol of the University, but is this really the kind of message we want to communicate?”
In Brian Worley’s 19 years of working at ULV, there have been plans to rebuild Founders at least twice, but nothing major has been done.
Plans for the renovation of Founders Auditorium include a wraparound structure surrounding the auditorium. The new space would include classroom and office space and the creation of a larger music library.
Worley said that the need for a new campus center came from the University’s desire to improve its image and become more desirable to prospective students.
In addition, he supports the need for a separation of student services and sports, which is planned for the new Campus Center Project.
“The two areas really should not be together,” Worley said. “Someone downstairs in the student center cannot be watching TV during a volleyball game upstairs because the noise levels just can’t compete.”
Founders Hall has similar issues. The auditorium is located on the second floor of the building, surrounded by classrooms of students and teachers who often complain about the music distracting them during the week. Likewise, crowds of talkative students leaving their classes at night echo the hallways, disturbing the performers and audience members trying to enjoy the concert.
Performances are not the only issue. Classroom space must be shared by music, math, political science and other departments who share the bottom floor of Founders Hall. Many teachers have complained that the pianos take up too much space in the classroom. Many students complain that there isn’t enough practice space for the growing department.
Cody Smith, junior music major, remembers a time last year when he was kicked out of room 22 by a teacher next door.
“I was practicing for my piano jury when a teacher came in and told me that I had to stop because it was unfair to his students who were preparing for a test the next week,” Smith said. “I explained to him that the annex, chapel and auditorium were all full and he said ‘It’s not my problem.’ I had to move – I felt so powerless as a student; how could I say ‘no’?”
Stories like this are not uncommon around Founders Hall. Combining different disciplines in the same area is an obstacle that teachers and students deal with everyday.
“It was easier to ignore Founders Hall when we had just a very small choral group,” former dean of the College of Arts and Sciences John Gingrich said. “Now, with Scott’s leadership, the program has grown so much. I’ve been here through many choral conductors, and I can easily say that in the 37 years I’ve been here, he’s the best we’ve ever had. He’s so enthusiastic and has energized the department and students more than anyone.”
Campus Center
As the plans for the new campus center are underway, the building that houses musical arts continues to degrade the University’s image. According to the University’s Web site, the new campus center will “enhance the collegiate experience for students and present a focal point for the campus community.”
The University’s student center is currently used by “a good split of residents and commuters,” said Liz Canales, social science major and student center worker. “At lunch it gets pretty full. We get around 10 to 15 people on a rush. Other times it will be pretty empty.”
This represents only a small percentage of the students who attend the University – the same students the new Campus Center is hoping to attract.
Still, what is the University’s excuse for failing to take care of the largest meeting hall the University has to offer?
As a graduate of the University, professional singer, and former dean, Gingrich has his own ideas of why it has been neglected.
“The biggest problem with Founders is that it’s functional the way it is,” Gingrich said. “The acoustics are either terrible or not so bad – depending on who you talk to – but something definitely needs to be done.”
The excuse regularly given for not renovating Founders, besides the fact that it is still able to stand, is that the University simply lacks funds.
“We have several No. 1 priorities,” said President Steve Morgan. “I could easily name the student center, residential housing and Founders as some of our top priorities. The fact of the matter is that Mike Abraham came in with four million dollars for the specific goal of creating a Campus Center. There hasn’t been a donor of that amount for Founders, but it’s definitely still a priority.”
Abraham’s donation is pending the University’s ability to raise the other $12 million to complete the Campus Center, which is in the fundraising plan.
However, if the University is willing to raise $12 million for a Campus Center, some may ask why it cannot raise $2 million for Founders Auditorium?
“I’m sad to say that it’s on a wish list at this point,” Worley said. “It’s an important issue, and once the campus center is done, it will probably be the most important issue.”
The University’s mission statement states that “The University promotes the goal of community within a context of diversity. The University, therefore, encourages students to understand and appreciate the diversity of cultures which exists locally, nationally and internationally.”
Dana McJunkin, junior liberal studies major, believes that there is a serious disconnect between the University’s mission statement and where music is placed on the University’s “wish list.”
“Music is an integral part of a liberal arts education that allows all people to experience and appreciate other cultures on a level that transcends even language barriers,” McJunkin said. “Music is the universal language that allows people all over the world to celebrate their differences and similarities.”
As a strong supporter of the arts, Worley shares these sentiments.
“I’m really looking forward to the day when Founders is renovated,” Worley said. “It will be a great asset for the University. We have world-class entertainment, and our music department has grown so much in the past few years under Scott’s leadership. It’s really a shame that the facilities aren’t better.”
In comparison to other universities with a similar student body in Southern California, the University of La Verne is the only school without a new performing arts center.
“By continuing to push Founders Auditorium, from a ‘No. 1 priority,’ to a wish list of unfunded projects, we show that we are the ones left behind,” Gratz said. “Making the reconstruction of the hall a priority is essential in improving the status of our University.”
Stephanie Duarte can be reached at duartes@ulv.edu.
Stephanie Duarte
