In a response to a letter from the Journalism Department Advisory Council, UF President Bernie Machen made a few claims about the current situation with the Alligator's orange racks that deserve clarification.
President Machen's letter can be read online. Here is our response to his claims:
Machen's letter implies that we have not offered to comply with whatever standards are necessary to secure our racks. We have offered to do anything such as weighing the racks down.
He argues that during hurricane season, university personnel are faced with the daunting and time consuming task of removing these racks for safety reasons. We have offered to remove the racks ourselves.
He fails to mention why these racks are more of a safety hazard than bicycles or loose trash cans that could also become projectiles in high-speed winds.
He argues that the orange racks are “visually intrusive in the historic part of campus.” For one thing, these racks have been on campus for decades. How are they not an historic icon for UF's campus. When did black become one of our school colors anyway?
82 percent of our papers are delivered in this historic district.
While it is true that after August 9, we will have close to 40 racks remaining on campus, if the university moves ahead with its future removal plans, we will have close to 30 left. Not to mention that most of the main racks they are removing are in high traffic areas.
Frankly, President Machen's response fails to answer the question of why the university feels so adamant about removing the racks.
