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Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>UF spokesman Steve Orlando (left) addresses about a dozen protesters participating in the nationwide Million Student March outside Tigert Hall on Nov. 12, 2015. Students and Gainesville locals protested rising tuition, loan debt and low-wage jobs offered to them after leaving school.</p>

UF spokesman Steve Orlando (left) addresses about a dozen protesters participating in the nationwide Million Student March outside Tigert Hall on Nov. 12, 2015. Students and Gainesville locals protested rising tuition, loan debt and low-wage jobs offered to them after leaving school.

Timothy Hooker stood on the Plaza of the Americas with a sign that read, "My only sex life is getting f----d by student loans."

The 29-year-old UF history junior said he will owe about $75,000 in student-loan debt when he graduates. And that will make it difficult to care for his son and fiancee.

He was joined by about a dozen other sign-waving students and Gainesville locals.

Throughout college campuses Thursday, the Million Student March was in full swing.

From New York to California, college students protested high tuition fees, the haunting of loan debt and the low-wage jobs offered to them when they leave school.

Hooker said two-member families cannot survive on the current minimum wage of $8.05 per hour without working 89 hours per week. And with rising tuition costs and loans to stress over, he thinks students are some of the most vulnerable members of society.

"In my lifetime, college tuitions have increased 500 percent, and the minimum wage hasn’t gone up 50 percent," he said. "I don’t see why we should advocate for people to live in poverty."

In Gainesville, the march began on the Plaza before heading down Union Drive to the steps of the administration building, Tigert Hall.

The clamoring protesters positioned themselves in front of the steps leading to the main entrance, where they believed UF President Kent Fuchs would be.

They vowed to remain until someone came out and acknowledged them, but Fuchs was out of town.

In his place, UF spokesman Steve Orlando came out to meet with the protesters.

He fielded the group’s questions and told them UF doesn’t dictate how much money students pay for tuition. The Florida Legislature does.

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But Orlando was still attentive to the plight of the protest and stayed with the group of students until every question was answered.

Passerby Aaron Lind, a UF fifth-year materials science and engineering graduate student, said he thought the protesters’ demands were farfetched and uncompromising.

The 28-year-old said he was reminded of something his economics professor taught him five years ago: "There’s no such thing as a free lunch. At the end of the day, it has to cost someone something."

Eventually, Orlando and the protesters agreed to work together in the future to reach some sort of compromise.

At about 2 p.m., for the first time all day, the protesters clapped in affirmation.

They won a small battle.

"It’s important to have these conversations," Orlando said afterward. "If they have concerns and worries, we want to hear about them, and we know that rising college costs are a concern for a lot of people."

Contact Martin Vassolo at mvassolo@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @martindvassolo

UF spokesman Steve Orlando (left) addresses about a dozen protesters participating in the nationwide Million Student March outside Tigert Hall on Nov. 12, 2015. Students and Gainesville locals protested rising tuition, loan debt and low-wage jobs offered to them after leaving school.

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