Always Get the Secretary's Name

Oct. 12, 2005 — -- The University of Florida in Gainesville, "Home of the Gators," is well-known for its celebrated football team and rabid fans. But in the midst of the palm trees, stucco dorms and lush athletic fields sits a nuclear research reactor housing weapons-grade uranium.

According to the school's Web site, tours of the reactor aren't given to just anyone off the street but to educators and school groups interested in nuclear science. Tamika and I aren't teachers or high school students. Yet, as ordinary citizens visiting the campus, we were able to walk into the Nuclear Science Building as if it were any other campus building, without an appointment or identification.

In fact, I didn't even need to give my name initially to gain access for a tour. Knowing the first name of the secretary to the reactor director was enough information for a student operator to let us into the reactor area -- no questions asked.

I didn't set out to learn her name, but it wasn't hard to do. I called the College of Engineering to see if, despite what the Web site said, there was any way we could take a tour of the reactor. I talked to a professor who informed me that we didn't need to be part of a student group to schedule a tour. According to him, tours of the reactor are readily given at "any time."

But he said that our tour would be dependent on the availability of the director who was conducting an experiment that morning. Then he gave me the first name of the director's secretary and transferred me.

I left the secretary a message but decided after a few hours to try showing up unannounced and see how far we'd get. First, we visited the nuclear engineering office where I asked for the secretary by name. Without asking for any identification, the receptionist told us, "She's in the reactor," and gave us directions. After we passed the reactor entrance and realized no one was there, we decided to wait. When I saw a student opening the door, I stopped him.

"Excuse me," I said as he was unlocking the reactor-area door. Using the secretary's name, I asked him where we could find her. He asked if we needed to see the reactor director, for whom she works.