The bronze Joe Vandal statue sculpted by Gareth Curtiss will be commemorated and placed on Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. on the corner of Stadium Road between the ICCU Arena and the P1CFU Kibbie Dome. The commemoration ceremony will also include speeches from Curtiss to describe his art, University of Idaho President Scott Green and ASUI President Seyi Arogundade according to Jamie Wagner, the senior director of marketing and communications for UI.
The statue was proposed by ASUI in late 2024. Previously, the facility was named the ASUI Kibbie Dome, but the name was changed to the P1FCU Kibbie Dome in the summer of 2023. As the student government, the name “ASUI” encompassed all students who contributed to the dome’s completion. The decision to rename the dome sparked controversy.
“To some of us, that feels like the great injustice that now, 50 years later, Kibbie’s name stays on the building and ASUI’s name goes off,” said an alumnus from the ‘70s who asked not to be identified, in a previous story by The Argonaut. “Even though the ASUI contribution was slow and steady over the years.”
The original name for the dome was in recognition of two significant sources of funding for its construction. UI students paid an annual $37 fee ($291.66 with 2025 inflation), from 1969 to 1975, with an additional $5 roof fee added around 1972. Student protests had been organized against the added tuition fees in 1975 which some believed were being secretly allocated to other university resources.
William H. Kibbie was a UI alumnus who donated $300,000 (approximately $2.4 million with 2025 inflation) to the dome’s construction. The Argonaut previously reported on speculation that Kibbie’s donation was not completely fulfilled, only a $50,000 down deposit, but the athletic complex’s page on the UI website acknowledges his donation.
Potlach No.1 Financial Credit Union paid $5 million for the stadium’s naming rights in 2023. When told of the name change bought by P1FCU, many alumni saw it as another letdown in the dome’s history.
The Kibbie Dome was originally planned to have a seating capacity of 20,000 and a separate area for basketball and other events. The current Kibbie Dome has a seating capacity of 15,250. The Argonaut previously reported on false promises of an ice hockey rink, which had appeased some students at the time.
Due to the project already exceeding its budget by $2.8 million, campus leadership decided that a multipurpose, enclosed stadium would be best. Until the completion of the ICCU Arena in 2021, the Kibbie Dome was reconfigured into a basketball stadium with 7,000 seats.
The sculpture design was created through a survey done by students, alumni, employees and community members. A small clay model of the sculpture was finalized during a live sculpt in the ISUB rotunda on Feb. 4-7.
More information about the Nov. 8 ceremony will be available later.
Josie Adjanohoun can be reached at [email protected].