Florida university bans Christmas decor

[The Straight Story]

Florida university bans Christmas decor

FORT MYERS, Fla., Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A Florida university has annoyed many of its employees and students by ordering a complete ban on Christmas decorations in public areas.

That means Florida Gulf Coast University is not holding its greeting card contest this year, the Fort Myers News-Press reported. The giving tree in one building will be a "giving garden."

"Public institutions, including FGCU, often struggle with how best to observe the season in ways that honor and respect all traditions," President Wilson Bradshaw wrote in a memo last week. "This is a challenging issue each year at FGCU, and 2008 is no exception. While it may appear at times that a vocal majority of opinion is the only view that is held, this is not always the case."

The Staff Advisory Council said it has received 44 comments -- all of them in favor of Christmas decorations. Students from various faiths also disagree with Bradshaw.

"I think they're pretty," Marilyn Lerner, a junior who is Jewish, said of the Christmas trees that graced the Student Union in earlier years. "It's just a Christmas tree. I don't mind."

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2008/11/26/Florida_university_bans_Christmas_decor/UPI-47131227682548/

[qb]

1. With all of the pagan traditions like trees, lights & holly it may as well be a secular holiday.

[Warpy]

5. For a lot of us out here, it IS a secular holiday

We exchange gifts and have a big dinner. We have a tree with lights on it. We play seasonal music. Our stockings are hung at whatever we're using for a mantel that year.

What we don't do is go to a church.

I think we can all agree there is a secular winter festival based on a lot of old regional, pagan traditions. There should be no problem erecting trees, stringing garlands, or putting up pictures of Coca Cola Santa.

The creche and the cross, however, belong to the churches. For me, that's where the line is.

[SeattleGirl]

2. Good freakin' grief!

I get so sick of this kind of overkill. Instead of banning everything that has to do with a particular holiday, why don't they have displays that represent all the holidays that are celebrated this time of year?

Instead of pretending Christmas isn't happening, why not showcase it, along with Hanukkah, Kwanza, the Solstice, and anything else going on this month? It would be a way to honor the various holidays and celebrations, AND people could learn how other people may celebrate.

And I'll bet anything that most people would not be offended.

[anonymous171]

3. A christmas tree is a pagan symbol.

[Ezlivin]

4. Firing the first shot on the war on xmas