Recently President Machen sent a letter to the city of Jacksonville outlining key changes that need to be made by the city for the annual UF-Georgia game to continue being held in Jacksonville.
As a 27-year-old student I am outraged at one of the stipulations: the ban on liquor shots. With all due respect to President Machen, who does he think he is? Trying to be the moral authority for students who are of legal drinking age and not in Gainesville let alone on campus, is absurd and ludicrous.
It's one thing if the president of the UF wants to curtail what goes on at the campus, it's a whole other issue when he tries to regulate what students do when they are nearly 100 miles away in another city.
Machen has overstepped his bounds as an administrator of a higher-learning institution to a level I don't think has been seen before. So what's the end game here? Will Machen single-handedly end a longstanding tradition because he didn't get his way, like a child who takes his ball home because he didn't get picked for the game?
I hope the city of Jacksonville has enough fortitude to tell this guy, "You will not tell us what to do in our own city."
Moreover, I hope I am not alone in my outrage when it comes to the university (particularly Machen) telling me what I can and can't do outside of school, especially when it's not reckless or illegal.
If Jacksonville succumbs to Machen's pressure it will likely set the precedent for his moral authority agenda to
have an ever wider local effect.
