One of my besties, Hannah, told me about this Tampa Tribune article this morning, and I immediately looked it up. I've never really thought about where I would like my ashes to rest after I am dead and gone, but this article really makes me think about it a lot more. Sure, the University of Florida was only a part of my life for four years, but those were undoubtedly the best years of my life so far. I met my best friends, lived on my own for the very first time, and most importantly, found myself and discovered my true passions in life. So, check this out, and for all my Gator readers out there, leave me in the comment section where you would want to be remembered on the field.
UF Wants State OK To Keep Ashes On Campus
The Associated Press
Published: March 4, 2009
TALLAHASSEE - The University of Florida doesn't advertise it, but about once a month people call about having their ashes spread on the school's football field.
The school tries to honor those requests and knows alumni quietly scatter ashes on the campus's Lake Alice or behind fraternity houses. Now the school wants to build a more permanent home: a Gator graveyard of sorts.
The university wants to build what's called a columbarium — a structure with niches for the ashes of alumni — but there's a catch. Without the blessing of state lawmakers, the idea itself is dead. A bill that keeps the project alive passed its first committee Wednesday without objection.
"We feel like it would be meeting a need. I can't tell you how many people call," said Katie Marquis, the university's alumni association director of membership and marketing.
Right now, to build a columbarium the university would have to be licensed as a cemetery. But the state's oldest and largest university wouldn't qualify because new Florida cemeteries must have a minimum of 30 acres. That's more than 20 times the size of the field of "The Swamp," the university's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, and the university can't set aside that kind of space.
As a result, the project is riding on a bill that would exempt the university and let it build a columbarium of five acres or less.
The proposed law would actually let any of Florida's 11 state schools to build their own campus columbarium, but a University of Florida lawyer helped draft the bill and the school has been promoting it. Identical bills have been filed in both the House and Senate (SB 926, HB 671).
University officials first floated the idea of a columbarium by Lake Alice in 2007. At the time, officials said a niche at the memorial might cost $3,000 to $5,000.
Kathryn Mizereck, who graduated from the university in 1973 and is now involved with the alumni association, said she understands the desire to spend eternity on campus and told her husband the football field is where she wants to be.
"Your ashes got to be somewhere," Mizereck said. "I personally would like to be on the 50-yard line because I don't want to miss anything."
If the bill passes and the university constructs its planned building it wouldn't be the first to house alumni's remains. The University of Virginia opened a 180-vault columbarium in 1991 and another 180 spaces in 2004. A master plan calls for building more space when those run out.
Indiana's Notre Dame opened a cemetery in 1843 and in 2007 added a columbarium with approximately 650 niches and 70 crypts. The university says it has sold roughly a third of the space available and could construct up to nine more similar buildings based on demand.
In Florida, the bill may have a fair chance of passing, not least because the University of Florida has a special place in many lawmakers' hearts. Six of the Senate's 40 members attended the university at some point as did nearly a quarter of the House's 120 members.
