Tostitos BCS National Championship

J. Bernard Machen, President

Congratulations to our student athletes, their coaches and other support staff on an exciting season of Gator football and the upcoming game for the National Championship. As I am sure you know, the Tostitos BCS National Championship will be played in Glendale, Arizona, on January 8, which is the first day of classes for the spring 2007 semester. Several of you have inquired about canceling classes or closing the university to celebrate this success.

We have carefully analyzed the impacts of this on the academic calendar for the semester as well as the university’s operations. Classes will begin on January 8 as scheduled and the university will be open. We do, however, recognize that this National Championship game is a wonderfully unique and exciting opportunity for many students and we urge our faculty and staff to make it easy for them to make up any missed work.

One challenge for students who attend the game is that they will be absent for some of the spring term drop/add days on January 8 through January 12. We will extend the drop/add period through 5:00 pm Tuesday, January 16, to provide all students with more opportunity to make decisions about their spring courses.

As was the case when our basketball team played for the national title, we will open the O’Connell Center and project the game to attendees. Anyone presenting his/her Gator One ID card is welcome to bring a guest and watch the game with thousands of other Gator fans. The doors to the O’ Connell Center will open at 6:30 pm and we hope many of you will be there to cheer our team.

Thanks again for your support of our student athletes this past year. Go Gators!