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Your Name Could Be In Sewage

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By RAY REYES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 2, 2008

For people who have ever dreamed of having their name adorn a building at an accredited university, now's your chance.

Webber International University in Polk County has put the naming rights to its newest 2-acre structure up for bid on eBay. Those who wish to contribute to the small business school in Babson Park need not be affluent, university president Keith Wade said.

People, however, need to have a good sense of humor about effluence, because the winner of the auction gets to pick the name of the university's new sewage treatment plant.

"We just didn't see normal approaches working with a project like this," Wade said. "I could go to a thousand businesses and say, 'Would you like a sewage treatment plant named after you?' And a thousand businesses would've thrown me out."

By Wednesday evening, the bid for the naming rights was more than $3,000. The auction ends Sunday. The description on eBay, written by Wade, states that the winning bidder cannot use names that are profane or libelous because the new plant will appear on maps and in catalogs.

The winner will also get "some of sort of sign, elegant in proportion to the amount of your winning bid," Wade wrote, and "special recognition in direct portion to your winning bid (at the full $3/$4 million price tag, the ribbon cutting will be proceeded by cocktails and a jazz band; at $500 we'll send you a nice letter full of heartfelt sentiments)."

Wade said he hopes the humorous approach to the description will attract bidders with similar comedic sensibilities who would not mind a sewage treatment plant named after them, a relative, a friend, or "someone you don't like all that much."

Although the eBay approach seems odd, "at its core, it's a good cause," Wade said. "It's a worthwhile environmental cause and a worthwhile higher education cause."

The $3 million project, funded by loans, is more environmentally friendly and replaces a 20-year-old facility, Wade said. The modern plant - whatever it is named - starts operation in early 2009.

Construction of 80 new dorms was recently completed, and a more efficient water and sewage treatment plant was needed because of the increased load, Wade said. Webber International has a total of 650 students with 320 living on campus.

"It benefits good kids," said Wade, who put in the initial bid of $500.

Students joked that they would bid just to name the sewage plant after the current president, he said. If that happened, the facility would be named the "Keith Wade Waste Water and Water Treatment Facility."

"For better or worse," Wade said about the auction, "it's my brainchild."

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920 or rreyes@tamptrib

.com.

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