Talk:University of North Florida/Archive 1

Archive 1

Founding Date

Question...from all I have read, UNF was founded in 1969...so why does it say "1965" in roman numerals on its seal? Mike H. That's hot 03:51, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

According to the catalog, 1965 is the year UNF was "chartered." joeOnSunset 19:06, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Parking

I removed the following addition for various reasons: "An ongoing issue with the campus is a lack of parking locations for both housing students and those coming on and off campus for classes and work are unable to find parking spaces and often discover themselves late to class or work, or they get to class on time by parking illegally on grass or handicap spaces. This issue will not be resolved for years and due to the hiring of new professors and the construction of new buildings and the scheduling of daily classes, more people are traversing on-campus at the same hours than during previous years and fights for parking spaces are common throughout the semester." Of course it's an ongoing problem, as it is on most campuses, but this is hardly up to encyclopedia standards and therefore does not belong on the article. Perhaps if someone had a legitimate source and/or article about the issue? Maria 13:34, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Good call. Wikipedia isn't a sounding board for campus issues, afterall, and what university doesn't suffer from nightmare parking? In good faith I searched The Spinnaker (campus newspaper) for parking artciles and found nothing since around 2004. --joeOnSunset 23:33, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject

I am trying to start a WikiProject for UNF. The proposal link is here. A WikiProject would help enhance existing articles, add more articles, and improve organization. --The222 (talk) 05:18, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

The term nature preserve is innappropriate.

To the best of my knowledge as a former UNF student, the campus is not located in a nature preserve of any kind. While the university may give the appearance as such, nothing has stopped them from selling off land for development or building additional structures. The nature club on campus "the sawmill slough" has protested these actions but has found no legal recourse as the school at the time of the sale claimed there was no federal or state protection. As such, it is merely a marketing gimmick that this site is perpetuating. If there is a basis for calling it a nature preserve, please cite the source from the government (state or federal). If not please remove the falsehood. Thank you for your time.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.225.230 (talk • contribs)

It looks as if you've already removed this "falsehood", but things may have changed since you were a student. Earlier this year UNF was featured in The Princeton Review's Guide to 311 Green Colleges: "A 382-acre natural area on campus was designated a preserve in May 2006 by UNF President John Delaney. The state-protected area features miles of nature trails as well as numerous lakes and ponds with an abundance of wildlife. The preserve offers students the opportunity to participate in plenty of experiential learning programs." (Bolding mine, from here) Said designated area was actually named the Sawmill Slough Preserve. You can even read the official designation letter here. I hope this helps clarify things. María (habla conmigo) 19:40, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict)The wording could probably be improved, but it's not really inaccurate. Basically, the entire campus isn't officially designated preserve land; the main campus is located amidst officially designated preserve land. Additionally, there is other land on campus that's not preserved but is still left natural. Essentially there are both official and unofficial preserve areas, as well land that's developed or open for development.

Initially, none of the campus was officially preserved; however, the southern part of the undeveloped land was considered preserve land, while the northwestern part was open for development. When the state mandated that the school expand in the 1990s, they were going to have to build into some of the area they owned. What the Sawmill Slough club (and many others) were protesting at that time was building into the northwest section.[1] What ended up happening was the school bought wide tracts of land to the east and north to develop there.

In 2006, the wetlands areas in the northwest and south of the property were officially declared the Sawmill Slough nature preserve by the school. Here's the designation of the preserve[2] and here's some more information about it.[3] There are plenty of third-party sources that refer to the UNF campus' nature preserve.[4][5][6]

It's also untrue that that UNF has sold off its land for private development. If anything, its purchase of land, including the planned First Coast Technology Park, will prevent more of the area from becoming a private development.--Cúchullain ^t/c 20:45, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

I still fail to see how the school designating it as protected fits the criteria I requested above. The school can just as easily remove the status and as such is not a nature preserve. That is like saying that "no one can build in my sand box and therefore it is a nature preserve". Without state or federal status, it is still just a marketing gimmick. I have adjusted the term used to adjacent as opposed to on since that is at least more fitting with the maps cited. Additionally, the protests in my time (late 90's and early 00's) were directed toward the southern end of campus where construction went ahead under Delaney anyway. and I should point out the that the Jacksonville.com sources refer to a 25th anniversary of nature preserve which does not coincide with establishment in 2006 but rather illustrates what I mean by marketing gimmick. Plus if the campus where actually on the nature preserve as claimed, the rules depicted would necessarily hinder the function of the school (they couldn't use a bunsen burner for example).— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.225.230 (talk • contribs)

Honestly, your personal criteria of what constitutes a preserve doesn't matter, what matters is what the sources say. I've pointed out several sources that refer to the area as a preserve and we've presented the document in which the school officially designated the southern and northwestern parts of campus as preserve land. As I said, there was land that was considered preserved but which wasn't officially designated as such almost since the school was established. In 2006 this and other land was officially declared a preserve.

I think you may be remembering the geography incorrectly. Looking at the school's master plans (which I'll link to here when I can find it online) there has never been development in the south (unofficially preserved) part of campus or in the northwest. The expansion that has occurred over the last 8 years has been on land already projected for development since the 80s and to the east, largely on land that the school has purchased more recently.--Cúchullain ^t/c 22:35, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Again the sources to not substantiate the claim. The Princeton review is from 2003 according to the copyright date which means that it is false by your own account of the establishment of the 'preserve' in 2006 (that would be your number 6 (the jacksonville.com is either published before 2006 or makes reference to a 25th anniversary, none of which is consistent with the 2006 declaration) The other reference is from UNF itself and therefore not an acceptable source. BTW The construction I referred to was off Kernan road which lies to the south of the campus (protest was over a three whole golf course and the alumni building). And this does not address the fact the the campus can not be located "on" any preserve and is rather "adjacent" to one (if what you claim to be a preserve is as such). The maps clearly indicate the land described as a preserve are west of the campus itself and thus next to or 'adjacent". While I recognize that the land is technically a preserve in the loosest sense (as is my sandbox) the notion that the campus could actually be located on it is illogical. Thus why I am changing it to adjacent.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.35.225.230 (talk • contribs)

Anon, please sign your posts by typing four tildas (~~~~) so that we can follow the conversation. As I've explained several times now, the land in question was considered a preserve by the school, and referred to as such by various outside sources, long before the Sawmill Slough preserve was declared in 2006. The preserve has never been built on, and now it's officially declared, there's no loose sense anymore. I'm not sure what there is to argue about this.

You definitely have the geography wrong. Kernan Blvd is EAST of the campus. The area where the golf complex and the University Center are was never part of the preserve, and was specifically chosen for further development so as to maintain the preserve. I am unaware that there was any protest of building in that area back in the 90s, but more recently there were indeed environmental issues involving the golf complex. And as I said before, the school bought additional land to the north and east specifically so it could expand without intruding on the preserve.

Saying the university is "adjacent to" a preserve implies the preserve is separate from the campus, though it's not. I changed it to "amid a natural preserve", which is more accurate. At any rate this is something that could use further discussion in the text.--Cúchullain ^t/c 02:52, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Here's the master plan.[7] It includes previous master plan maps through the years so you can see where the university has expanded (p. 20-21), and it shows which areas are part of the Sawmill Slough Preserve, as well as other areas that are preserved or otherwise purposefully left natural (cf p. 26-27). As you can see it's a large part of the UNF campus. In fact, they are discussing expanding the preservation zone, not building on it (or selling it off).--Cúchullain ^t/c 03:52, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

Related move request

See Talk:UNF (disambiguation)#Requested move for a move request related to this page. -- JHunterJ (talk) 19:28, 7 April 2012 (UTC)