Zackery Bobb, a 19-year-old UF chemical engineering freshman, slides a disc across a glowing shuffleboard in the Reitz Union during GatorNights on January 8. Bobb said his friends convinced him to go.
Starting July 8, all guests brought to GatorNights by UF students might have to be at least 18 years old.
Joshua Wilson, a program coordinator for the Reitz Union, said although a policy change has been under consideration, the executive director has not approved it as of press time.
GatorNights is a student-led program that brings free entertainment, such as movies and activities, to UF students Friday nights.
Currently, each student can bring one guest to GatorNights, but this has allowed students with families to bring young children.
“Some of the families that will come see GatorNights as a daycare,” said Andrea Drausal, a 20-year-old GatorNights student manager and UF family, youth and community sciences junior.
GatorNights graduate assistant Jennifer Hughes, 22, said the program may not be a place for children. She said families complain about activities and movies being inappropriate for their kids.
Hughes said activities such as sticky walls and surf simulators are brought to the events, and while parents sign consent forms for kids, dangers still exist.
Although unable to elaborate, Drausal said there was recently a scary incident involving a lack of child supervision that prompted the age requirement.
Hughes said this rule would affect students with children and possibly students with younger siblings, but it would not apply to UF students under 18 years old.
“We really want to change how people see GatorNights into thinking, ‘This is a really awesome late-night college program for us,’” Drausal said.
