A new, all-bronze Sparty Statue at the Union is to be unveiled next fall, Union director Tami Kuhn said. Kuhn also said she believes the statue will become just as iconic as Beaumont Tower, Spartan Stadium and the original Spartan Statue.
The statue will be located on the main floor of the Union and is set to be unveiled during homecoming week 2016. It will be a life-sized replica of the mascot seated on a metal bench for students, faculty and alumni to take pictures with.
The project is a gift from the 2016 senior class with a current fundraising goal set at $150,000.
“I really picture students around their commencement coming here, getting their family gathered around the statue and getting their picture taken,” Kuhn said.
Kinesiology junior Mackenzie Gravelyn said she is also excited about the addition of the new statue.
“It would be another iconic statue on campus,” Gravelyn said. “A monument for people to come in, sit with him and take pictures (with).”
Kinesiology senior Kyle Mikolowski agreed with Gravelyn.
“We don’t have any (monuments) for Sparty,” Mikolowski said. “It will be cool for there to be something else besides the Spartan Statue.”
Other features will include a kiosk featuring the history of Sparty, a short documentary about the creation of the monument and a complete list of donors for the project, Alison Brown, the statue's artist, said.
Brown has also created sculptures for the University of Oregon, University of Southern California, Oregon State University and Boise State University.
“I think he is really going to become an attraction,” Kuhn said. “Sparty is all of us, he is somebody who we all identify with, he is every man.”
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