Although UF's cuddly-as-a-cactus, charming-as-an-eel budget woes threaten to rob students of teachers and advisers, UF administrators just aren't ready to give up seasonal cheer.
This year, UF's holiday cards are coming without ribbons. They're coming without tags. They're coming without packages, boxes or bags.
Instead, UF President Bernie Machen has encouraged UF's faculty members to switch to electronic greeting cards to save trees and money, he wrote in a memo to UF's deans, directors and department chairs.
Each year, 2.65 billion holiday cards are sold nationwide, Machen wrote in the memo.
"That's enough to fill Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and Florida Field to the brim!" he wrote.
After a meeting of UF's Faculty Senate on Thursday afternoon, Machen said he didn't know how many cards his office sends out every year.
By motioning with his hand, he estimated the stack towers up to his shoulder.
Machen's office sends cards to financial donors, legislators and all the other state universities.
"Why do we do it? Because of tradition," he said. "I inherited a Christmas list."
When UF's Office of Sustainability brought up the idea of e-mailed greeting cards, Machen said he was skeptical whether it would be well-received.
When he asked around, he said no one objected.
He said his main concern was that the e-mailed cards would seem unfriendly.
"E-mail is not the same as a personal card," he said. "It's not even the same as a letter."
In his memo, Machen included an example of one of the brightly colored, nondenominational cards available on UF's Web site.
"Of course, you can create your own design, if you prefer," he wrote.
On Thursday, Machen chuckled at the thought of choosing the card he'll send out.
"My wife picks them," he said, adding that she usually picks two or three cards of the 13 offered, and they decide on one together.
Chris Brazda, spokesman for the UF Foundation, which handles donations to UF, said most colleges at UF send out their own holiday cards to thank donors.
UF's Alumni Association also sends holiday cards to the association's 50,000 members each year, Brazda said. This year, the association will only send out electronic cards to the 30,000 members with available e-mail addresses, he said.
He said he didn't know how much money the association would save, but between printing and postal costs, it's a "considerable amount."
The 20,000 members without e-mail addresses won't get anything in their virtual stockings.
Still, the budget hasn't stolen Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday, for that matter. And Machen, with his jolly laugh and snow-white hair, is making sure of it.
