Gator Freethought and Humanists on Campus, two student groups at the University of Florida in Gainesville, sent a letter to university President W. Kent Fuchs in support of FFRF’s April 13 objection to a bible verse inscribed on a new business school building.
Heavener Hall has a bible verse on an archway reading, “He has shown you, O man, 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. Micah 6:8.”
In an April 23 letter, the two groups said, “We, as students and staff of the University of Florida, feel that the quote promotes Judeo-Christian beliefs over all other beliefs on campus, and that this alienates members of the University of Florida community, such as ourselves, who do not hold the same beliefs and encourages discrimination against ourselves and other individuals of different faiths, creeds and beliefs.”
The organizations, which have about 45 active members total, requested the verse be replaced with “a more secular, encompassing inscription.”
“It’s wonderful to see students standing up for their rights and taking an active interest in upholding the Constitution,” said FFRF Staff Attorney Andrew Seidel.
The university told FFRF on April 15 that it was reviewing the complaint.
