A battle over the separation of church and a state university has finally been settled.
UF is adding a plaque and three new quotes to Heavener Hall after the inscription of a biblical quote caused controversy in April, UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email. The school will start inscribing the extra quotes this week.
The plaque and secular quotes will be placed in the double archway of Heavener in addition to the existing quote. The plaque will provide an explanation for those quotes, Sikes said. The three quotes being added are not religious, while the existing one is from the Bible.
The quote, from Micah 6:8, reads, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
The quote was provided by the building’s donor and namesake James W. Heavener, Sikes said.
"The school has no interest in advancing or burdening religion; its only interest is educational and relates to the quotes’ core universal ethical principles," she said.
The addition will cost about $20,000, Sikes said. This will be paid for by remaining building construction funds.
The addition of the three quotes comes from about six months of compromise between UF and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, said Andrew Seidel, an FFRF staff attorney.
Seidel had written a letter to UF President Kent Fuchs in April protesting the religious quote.
He said the foundation is happy to have the quote, "My country is the world, and my religion is to do good," from Thomas Paine on the plaque, as there are few monuments to him.
The other two quotes being added are: "To restrain our selfish(ness), and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature," by Adam Smith; and "Wealth is evidently not the good we are seeking; for it is merely useful and for the sake of something else," by Aristotle.
While Seidel said this wasn’t the ideal solution, he was happy with the outcome.
"All the parties are satisfied, but nobody’s satisfied 100 percent," he said. "One of the goals of college is to expand students’ horizons."
Felicia Metellus, the president of UF Campus Alive, a Christian group, said she thinks the addition of the plaque was a good idea.
The 24-year-old said she supports all of the quotes. The plaque will increase student interest in the quotes, she said.
"It’s always good to have a reference," the UF pharmacy doctoral student said. "People can still look at the quotes and have their own interpretation."
UF currently has no formal policy for approving quotes on buildings, Sikes said. UF is currently developing a process for approving building inscriptions, design of monuments and art in public places.
Contact Caitlin Ostroff at costroff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @ceostroff
From left: Custom Quality Scaffold builders Bryson Swails, Dan Yunk and Chuck Griffith set up to work on the double archway at Heavener Hall. Three secular quotations will be added to the archway to supplement the Bible verse already inscribed on it.
