USF Poly spends $10,000 on sci-fi figures

USF Polytechnic was looking for a way to make its business incubators "something different, innovative, progressive and creative."

They found Captain James T. Kirk, with his confident gaze and slicked-back 1960s hair.

And much more: ET, an Imperial Storm Trooper and Darth Vader, complete with cape and attached light saber.

Polytechnic, it turns out, spent $10,000 to buy life-size "museum quality" recreations of the four sci-fi characters earlier this year.

The revelation comes amid scrutiny of costs associated with Polytechnic's effort to break away from USF as an independent university. Its focus would be training students for jobs in high-wage science and technology jobs.

Poly needs the movie figures "to encourage the creative culture for business development partnered successes," says a February memo to Michelle Cummings, of University Advancement, from Josh Bresler, executive director of administration and finance at Polytechnic.

The figures would help Poly's business incubators be more like the famed Google Creative Lab space, he wrote.

Poly's incubators in Lakeland and Winter Haven were started "to encourage the application of creative thought and ideas in ways that are not restrained by conventional expectation," said the memo.

"It was always thought that movie themed items should also be included in the space."

The seller was Geraldine Rothman-Serot, of Lakeland.

Emails indicate the money came from a fund provided mostly by the Central Florida Development Council – a private, nonprofit organization funded through local governments and businesses.

In addition, the USF Foundation paid $950 to appraiser Eric Peterson of St. Petersburg to estimate their value. The foundation, also private and nonprofit, raises money for USF.

Peterson said the four figures were worth $21,400 – even though one, the storm trooper, is missing a hand in the appraiser's photos.

According to a June 22 email from Bresler, "The hand is not missing, but will require a simple repair."

Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, the names of the sender and recipient of the memo quoted here were swapped.