[South Florida DX Association] University of Central Florida Amateur Radio Club situation

Thu, 16 Oct 2003 18:29:31 -0400

 
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 11:56 AM
Subject: University of Central Florida Amateur Radio Club situation


> On the advice of ARRL Assistant Director, SE Division, Carl Zelich,
> AA4MI, I am contacting the ARRL affiliated clubs of Florida.  Through
> virtue of being located in central Florida, reading the articles posted
> on QRZ.com or eHam.net, or visiting the UCFARC website, some of your
> membership may be aware of the situation at UCF.  For them, what I pass
> to you will be an update.  For your membership who are not aware of the
> situation, please pass this information as well as the UCFARC website
> (http://ucf.edu/~wb4tcw) to them.
> 
> On June 6, 2003, the UCF Amateur Radio Club was evicted from its base
> of operations for the last 31 years.  While the University does have the
> right to ask us to relocate at their pleasure, what we were addressed
> with was not a request for relocation.  We were bombarded with
> allegations of code violations and un-permitted access to the building
> roof.  When we requested an itemized list of the allegations against the
> club, we were met with bureaucratic stalling and silence.
> 
> While a large number of amateur radio operators from around the nation
> and Florida voiced support for UCFARC and some offered to assist in
> resolving any valid code violations allegations, the people were
> answered with a form letter if they received a reply at all.  Even with
> this support, the College of Arts & Sciences stayed its course on
> carrying out the eviction.  Senator Graham and Senator Nelson both
> contacted UCF on UCFARC's behalf but there was no change in the
> situation.  Florida Representative Doug Wiles, WF4B, has also initiated
> multiple contacts UCF's President's Office and Provost's Office.  He has
> mainly encountered the same bureaucratic vortex UCFARC has.
> 
> A change to the situation came on September 9, 2003, when the situation
> was moved from the control of the College of Arts & Sciences to the UCF
> Provost Office.  The reason and method of the change of control is not
> known to us, but some positive result has come from it.  Unlike the
> College of Arts & Sciences, the Provost was willing to meet with
> representatives of UCFARC.
> 
> On September 18, 2003, UCFARC's staff advisor had a meeting with
> Provost Dr. Hickey.  The following points were discussed:
> 
> 1) The College of Arts & Sciences wanted no more interaction with
> UCFARC and, therefore, would not allow any chance for UCFARC to reassume
> its previous location as a ham shack.
> 2) The Provost's office would be paying the approximately $5,000 to
> remove UCFARC's towers and antennas from the roof of the MAP building.
> 3) The Provost was willing to help find space for UCFARC to relocate.
> 4) Due to the current climate of budget cuts, the Provost does not feel
> he could draw funds directly from the money given UCF by the state to
> pay for UCFARC's relocations
> 5) Funding of the relocation will have to come from UCF's Student
> Government, state & federal grants, and donations from the public
> 6) Initial guest-a-mate for the relocation cost is around $40,000.
> 7) UCF has unused portables which could be used as a building for
> UCFARC.  Since UCFARC's intent is to be operating during hostile
> weather, a building with a hurricane rating would be preferred.
> 
> With UCFARC's towers and antennas slated for removal in the near
> future, UCFARC is beginning its quest for funding the relocation.  From
> the public we are asking for assistance in finding relevant state and
> federal grants and writing the grant proposals.  UCFARC's membership
> is primarily undergraduate students and the advisor is a computer
> programmer and computer system administrator; between us all, we do not
> have the experience to properly request funding via grants.
> 
> Once a site has been finalized and what funding we can secure from
> Student Government and grants is complete, the next step will be
> building a building.  We hope to secure enough funds to pay for this
> step.  If we do not, we are asking for certified professionals who can
> donate time towards designing a hurricane rated building, building said
> building, installing plumbing, installing electrical circuits, and
> erecting towers.  We are also looking for individuals and businesses
> that can donate the materials needed to raise the building.
> 
> SOP would be to gather everyone from the amateur radio community who
> wishes to assist to execute the project.  UCF is not allowing us this
> ability.  UCF is requiring anyone who works on the project be a
> professional in the field on which they assist in the project and they
> have their own appropriate bonding and insurances.
> 
> If a person cannot provide assistance in the previous ways mentioned,
> but does wish to assist in some manner, monetary donations for the
> project will be accepted also.  
> 
> Monetary and material donations are tax deductible.  Donations of time
> and labor in the fields this project needs are likely also tax
> deductible to some degree.  For handling the tax deductibility of any
> donations, the contact point is the UCF Foundation (407-249-4740).  If
> you are able to make any type of donation, please also contact UCFARC
> via the staff advisor (Michael Potaczala, KC4NUS, [email protected] or
> 407-823-2461) so that we are aware of what to expect transferred to us
> from the UCF Foundation.
> 
> Updates to the progress of the Relocation Project are being maintained
> on UCFARC's website (http://ucf.edu/~wb4tcw).
> 
> Thank you for your time.
> 
> 
> 
> Michael Potaczala
> 
> -KC4NUS-                | University of Central Florida
> [email protected]      |  Computer Services & Telecommunications
> http://ucf.edu/~mikep   |   Academic Computing Support
> x2461                   |    PC LAN Accounts, LAN Support & Groupwise
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Staff advisor for the UCF Amateur Radio Club, 146.64MHz-PL103.5Hz
> UCFARC webpage: http://ucf.edu/~wb4tcw