Students upset after ‘Beat Georgia’ tanks run out in 38 minutes

Savannah Lee, 19, camped out in front of Emerson Alumni Hall at about 3 a.m. in hopes of receiving a “Beat Georgia” tank top Thursday morning.

The UF psychology and zoology sophomore said she saw six tents of people waiting before her. But by morning, about 60 people were in line in front of her. By the time she got to the front of the line, after waiting for six hours, she received a hand towel instead of a shirt.

“We realized we had just camped out for hours for no reason,” she said.

On Thursday, the student members of the UF Alumni Association hosted their fourth Beat T-shirt giveaway of the Fall. More than 800 students stood in line in hopes of receiving one of 500

limited-edition teal tank tops that read “Beat Georgia” on the front. But the tank tops ran out just 38 minutes after the event began, leaving more than 150 students, who had been waiting since the early morning, to receive a white hand towel that read “Go Gators!” instead.

Students who are lifetime members of the UAA were able to pick up shirts at 9 a.m., while annual members had to wait until 9:30 a.m. Typically, the organization gives out 1,500 T-shirts for every home game but decided to only give out 500 because Saturday’s game will be played in Jacksonville.

Catherine Palmer, who is in charge of the shirt giveaways as a student member of UAA, said the first tent was set up at 5:57 p.m., more than 14 hours before the event.

“It was one of the saddest crowds I’ve ever seen, especially when those tanks ran out,” she said.

The shirts were funded by Geico, who is sponsoring the shirts for the year, she said. Palmer said they expected 1,000 people to attend the giveaway.

“I truly do feel bad for all those who camped out so early and were not able to get a tank, but we tried to do everything in our power,” she said.

UF nursing seniors Sara Shourds and Zahra Frye walked from their nursing classes across campus to try to pick up a tank top at about 10 a.m.

“We left class because they hadn’t updated their Facebook page,” Shourds, 21, said. “We figured there would still be some left.”

Two weeks ago, Frye, 22, said she arrived at about noon and was able to get a “Beat Missouri” T-shirt.

“I get that they want it to be limited, but 500 is not enough for everyone who signs up for these T-shirts,” Frye said. “Make them limited, make them tanks, but I’m sure you have enough money to get enough for more than 500.”

Palmer said she understood why students were upset.

“As you can kind of expect, there were a lot of negative comments, but I think it was over the fact that they camped out and didn’t get a tank,” she said. “So I understand any complaints that did come my way.”