Sonoma State's $120 million Green Center takes center stage

The Green Center's critics say they have seen nothing to convince them of that.

"That's preposterous, I don't believe it," said Orlick. "I'd like to see a listing of everything in both categories."

McNeill said her office could not provide a detailed breakdown of gifts to the university that were for

purposes other than the Green Center, because over the years they have been recorded differently on different database systems. But over the decade they have included:

-- $4.3 million for the Computer Engineering and Science Program;

-- $2.2 million for the Osher Lifelong Learning Program;

-- $300,000 for the Jewish Studies Program;

-- $2.5 million for the Native American Studies Program;

-- $800,000 for the Wine Business Institute.

Also, McNeill's summary showed that $7 million has been given to SSU over the decade for student scholarships.

Still, even McNeill conceded that years of focusing on the Green Center has delayed other initiatives.

"It's time for this project to be done," she said. "I want to complete the Green Music Center so we can move on from this to the things that I really came here to do, which is to do a comprehensive campaign for the entire university."

The music center was birthed in 1997, envisioned as a choral hall to be funded by a $5million gift from Telecom Valley pioneer Donald Green.

Nine months later, Armi?na announced a further $5 million matching grant from the Greens. And he proposed a year-round amphitheater for conferences, symphonic performances and jazz and chamber music performances. It should, he suggested, be modeled on the famous Tanglewood music center in western Massachusetts.

By 1998, the vision was for a larger concert hall costing $22million. A year later, the projected cost was $47 million and the facility was to house SSU's music department; it was to include classrooms, practice rooms, recording facilities and a recital hall, a restaurant and banquet facilities.

Today much of the building is open. The first public event went forward Saturday in the concert hall — which still lacks permanent chairs; they have been paid for and are being made, at a cost of $2.5 million in state education bond funds.

The classrooms and practice rooms are in use, and the hospitality center is up and running. The restaurant is being used for special events, though it's not open on a daily basis yet.

And music critics have pronounced the center a project of "major promise."

Former San Francisco Chronicle critic and UCBerkeley lecturer [NEWS_00]Robert Commanday[/NEWS_00] in February called it "a much more important project with a greater potential and mission than even its supporters may envision."

But that vision is still not fully realized.

The 250-seat recital hall remains but a shell surrounding a dirt floor, and $6 million is needed to complete it. There is no recording studio. The concert hall, too, needs $6 million more to complete its lobby, restrooms and back-stage facilities for performers.

As of this summer, according to Furukuwa-Schlereth, the school needed to raise $30 million more to finish the center.

"It's very frustrating," said history professor Kathleen Noonan. "Thirty million more, it makes your head spin, especially when you're in a situation where you can't even offer the basic kinds of support to students and faculty."

She said that faculty members often lack classroom materials such as whiteboard markers and classroom wireless Internet access, and that no financial aid is available to her department's graduate students.

Armi?na said that swings in the economy and construction costs have contributed to the delays and climbing price tag. But he said he understands the frustration — and shares it.

"It has kept me awake many nights," he said.

In the end, he said, the center will be as appreciated as SSU's high-tech library, the 10-year-old Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center, which is widely considered one of the university's highlights.

Asked what place the center will have in his legacy, Armi?na said: "It is part of a vision of transformation and excellence for this university where performance and education come together for our students, faculty and community."

For now, among the school's roughly 120 music students, the center prompts a mix of opinions.

"It's invaluable really," said junior Paul Coker, 20, a music major. "This is really top of the line for us musicians."

But another third-year music major said the building — though handsome — falls short.

There are too few practice rooms and offices that could be used for practicing aren't soundproof, requiring students to use Ives Hall, where the department had been located, said the student, who asked not to be named because she didn't want to upset her teachers.

"They didn't think of us when they built it," she said.

Langley acknowledged that the student's complaint is on target.

"That's one of the things I wish had been addressed," he said. "But we originally hadn't expected the music department to be located here."

Otherwise, though, Langley is convinced that the center gives SSU a unique standing.

"Students attending a California State University, a public university, are getting facilities that rank with anything Juilliard would have," he said, referring to the prestigious New York performing arts conservatory.

"The performing arts are always the last one to get anything in these places, I mean, What gets cut first? It's the arts," he said. "I can't feel guilty about the fact that at this university, the arts kind of scored."