sent out a firm edict this week to university deans to canvass their faculty and see how many called off Wednesday classes in anticipation of the two-day break and the annual Georgia-Florida football game in Jacksonville last weekend.

Mace said his interest was piqued Wednesday morning when, on a walk across campus, he noticed fewer students than usual.

"The campus was basically dead," Mace said. Later he learned that some student employees of the university were working all day because their classes had been dismissed.

"Fall break begins Thursday," Mace said. "I'm going to be very hard-nosed about this."

As of Wednesday of this week, few departments had complied with Mace's request, and at least one dean reported that he was having trouble getting the information from faculty members.

Some couldn't resist poking fun at the issue.

In an e-mail to faculty members asking whether they had canceled classes, one dean compared Mace to Dean Wormer, the malevolent presence at the fictitious Faber College in the movie "Animal House."

"There is something in his request that has that 'Animal House' flavor," the dean wrote, knowing that faculty would bristle at the directive. "Remember, Dean Wormer?"