Eaton Hall
Philip Eaton
All over college campuses in the US, buildings are named after people. Some have bought this recognition while others have sacrificed something else such as time. Colleges and universities rely on the people to donate money to improve or build buildings. Without them, there wouldn’t be a campus. I am not sure why they are always named, maybe to make finding classes and resources easier for students and to commemorate those who have helped make the college or university what it is.
Eaton hall is located on Seattle Pacific University’s campus. It is one of the newer buildings on campus and houses the biology and chemistry departments. It is located on the edge of Tiffany Loop and next to what is called the SUB. The outside is a reddish brick and there are lots of windows. The building is very square and a green house is visible on the top floor. Once you enter through what is considered the front entrance, there is a study area with rounded couches, chairs, and tables. There is also a printer here for the students to use. The floors in the study area are carpeted, similar to the stairs, it is a dark blue color. The rest of the building has white linoleum tile flooring. Every floor is very similar. They all have classrooms, lab spaces, and offices on either side of the hallway which is in a square shape and comes back around to the front door. The building feels sterile on the inside, almost like a hospital. This may be due to the fact that it is a science building. It is very quiet: you can only hear some clattering from inside the labs and professors typing away in their offices. You may occasionally hear someone walking, usually a girl in heels, and hearing people talk is rare as well. When you walk around, especially on the upper floors, it feels like you are the only one in the building. It has a peaceful feeling though, like you are safe, but you are alone.
Philip and Sharon Eaton were people who dedicated a lot of time to multiple communities. Philip started out his education at Whitworth University where he got his B.A in English (“Philip Eaton”, 2014). He then went on to get his masters and doctorate in Arizona. Once done with his own schooling, Eaton became a professor at Whitworth. In 1985, Eaton decided he wanted to pursue a career in business instead of English. During this time, he was a member of the Board of Trustees at Whitworth. Eaton had another career change later on: he became the president of Whitworth. While this was only for one year until a permanent replacement could be found. This opened up doors for Eaton and he became the president of Seattle Pacific University in 1996. He recently retired in 2012.
Dr. Eaton became the chair of the English department at Whitworth within little time. The vice president for academic affairs wanted to shake things up and so he made the youngest member of each department the head. This was a big time in Eaton’s life as he was also teaching next to a professor who had made a big impact on his education. Now he was his idols’ peer and in a way his superior too. Now of course Eaton was not the chair of the English department by himself, that would just be silly, to make the youngest, least experienced person, the head of the department they were in. (“Philip Eaton”, 2014)
Eaton was president of SPU for 16 years. During this time, there were many rumors about Dr. Eaton. Some were a little silly while others were more realistic. Some of these include:
1) President Eaton does not live in the Hilford House. Maybe someone else lives there, maybe no one does. But if you see Dr. and Mrs. Eaton go inside at night, they don’t sleep there. They just want to make it look that way, and they wait till everyone on campus is asleep before driving to their real, secret home under the Space Needle.
2) If the campus goes to a “Code Red,” Demary Hall initializes a lockdown and becomes utterly impenetrable. Even our own United States military couldn’t break through to the control rooms inside. So, come what may, the office of our leader is protected.
3) The President’s speeches are all crafted by the script writers of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
4) The Audi is bullet proof, just in case one of the vice-presidents decides that he or she wants a “promotion.”
5) Apparently, during his time here at SPU as an undergrad, Phil lived on 4th Hill. And 6th Ashton. And 5th Hill, 2nd Moyer, 3rd East Emerson and the Leadership House. All of this in four years.
6) Dr. Eaton’s skin has been conditioned through years of cell therapy to mold overnight into a clean, dashing, wrinkle-free suit. It works something like a cocoon.
7) President Eaton is a hologram, or a robot or maybe just wishful thinking. Somebody somewhere else is pulling the strings, and not even his closest advisors know the truth. (Bollinger, “Is Eaton Just a Robot”)
Now some of these myths such as number 6 are not possible, while others such as number 3, could be debatable. Either way, the president seemes to have been very mysterious. He was not often seen walking around campus and his speeches had a strange Lord of the Rings feeling.
What I think is interesting, is that the building named after Eaton is the science building. I could not find a correlation between the president and science. He was an English professor and wrote and studied English while he was president. He did not have a big impact on the chemistry and/or biology departments during his time as president as far as I can tell. He has however made other impacts on the campus, yet his impact is not limited to SPU.
Bollinger, Matt. “Is Eaton Just a Robot.” The Falcon. N.p., 27 Oct. 2004. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
“Philip Eaton.” Blog post. The Campaign for Whitworth 125 Years. Whitworth University, 10 Aug. 2014. Web. 18 Nov. 2016.
