It turns out students who skipped class on Friday after celebrating the football team's defeat of the Oklahoma Sooners the night before weren't alone.
Administrators took the day off too.
A survey of UF's top administrators beginning at 9 a.m. Friday revealed that many of them were away.
UF Provost Joe Glover, who sent a memo to administrators in December asking them to remind faculty and staff not to cancel classes because of the game, left for Miami Tuesday afternoon and was out the rest of the week, according to his office.
"I combined attendance at the game with a visit to a friend I haven't seen in a decade," he wrote in an e-mail.
"I will also point out that even though I was traveling and technically on leave I continued to deal with e-mails, phone calls and other university business," he wrote.
UF President Bernie Machen attended the game and took a vacation day Friday, said UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes.
Machen declined to comment on the reason for his absence in an e-mail.
Other administrators who attended the game and were out Friday include Vice President of Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin, who left for Miami Tuesday afternoon, according to her office, and Vice President of University Relations Jane Adams, according to Sikes.
Administrators who came in late or worked a full day Friday include Chief Financial Officer Matt Fajack, who wrote in an e-mail that he took the morning off but worked the afternoon. According to his office, he attended the game. Senior Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh and UF's Senior Vice President for Health Affairs Doug Barrett worked a full day and did not attend the game, according to their office. Interim Dean of Students Paige Crandall said she worked a full day and watched the game with students at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Although many administrators were in Miami for the game, Sikes wrote in an e-mail that they were still at work. Many of them met with alumni and other potential donors, which "is even more important now during our current economic crisis as state funds dwindle," she wrote.
She also wrote that UF was expected to send a delegation of officials to participate in BCS National Championship events.
As for UF's policy toward student attendance on Friday, she said in an interview that UF ultimately left it up to faculty.
"The University of Florida itself does not enforce what happens in each and every classroom," she said.
Some students expressed disappointment that UF would encourage faculty not to cancel classes Friday while many top administrators took the day off.
"It's very hypocritical," said Gaurav Saxena, a UF business administration senior who attended the game. "If the faculty and the administration are going to say one thing, then they should live up to it also."
Joel Birlingmayer, a UF chemical engineering freshman, disagreed.
"If they have vacation days, they can use them during the game," he said. "That's probably when I would use them."
