Feb. 9, 1968: Eleven people, including six UF students, are arrested by UPD during a protest of Dow Chemical Company’s campus recruitment and charged with trespassing.
About 30 demonstrators sat in the hall to block UF faculty from returning to their offices after giving a speech in support of the company, which manufactured napalm for the American forces in the Vietnam War.
When the demonstrators refused to leave, an argument ensued, and one man was sprayed with Mace.
Feb. 7, 1984: Two women from Miami bike through Gainesville on day three of a mega-joy ride from Tallahassee to their hometown.
The women, Marci Hurait and Dristi Pliske, planted a “tree of peace” near the Capitol building in Tallahassee and said they planned to plant another one, 580 miles away, in downtown Miami at the end of their journey.
Feb. 9, 1998: Gainesville’s City Commission gathers to discuss adding sexual orientation to the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.
Opponents of the measure say homosexuals are hardly ever discriminated, and they also say being gay is against the Bible.
