Campus

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CAMPUS  |  SFC

Santa Fe College still plans for a precautionary spring graduation ceremony even after lifting all COVID-19 protocols

By Lily Kino | Mar. 30

Santa Fe College upholds its plans to host a limited-capacity graduation ceremony in April despite lifting all COVID-19 restrictions. Santa Fe lifted COVID-19 precautions related to serving food, onsite class size and event size across all SFC properties Monday. However, graduates will still be socially distanced at their April celebrations.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Coursehero could earn students a lawsuit

By Elena Barrera | Mar. 28, 2022

Beyond normal repercussions for cheating and honor code violations, students can be sued for sharing course content violating copyright laws.  David Berkovitz, Chapman University professor, filed a lawsuit March 10 against unknown students for posting his exam prompts on Course Hero, a subscription-based website where students share content from their college classes, according to The Washington Post. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Student Government agency hosts second event with a guest speaker this semester

By Maia Botek | Mar. 23, 2022

The ACCENT Speaker’s Bureau event was the Student Government agency’s second guest of the semester. Howie Mandel spoke with UF’s journalism department Chair Ted Spiker Feb. 28. 

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CAMPUS  |  BREAKING NEWS

UF no longer expects masks on campus

By Maia Botek | Mar. 23, 2022

UF no longer expects or encourages wearing masks on campus. Now, the university supports and welcomes masks if people choose to wear them.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Student Government website crashes from funding request overflow

By Maia Botek | Mar. 21, 2022

Student government opened the ability for student organizations to submit requests for operational, event and travel funding Monday morning. Less than an hour later, an overflow of people on the website caused it to shut down.  In an email, Budget and Appropriations Committee Chair Catherine Giordano informed organization alerted leaders and Senators of the form’s crash and apologized for inconveniences. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Tim Tebow to speak at April’s commencement

By Lily Kino | Mar. 21, 2022

Former Gator quarterback Tim Tebow will return to The Swamp this Spring to address the 2022 graduating class in a commencement speech. Tebow will speak April 29 at 7 p.m. in the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for the university-wide ceremony, a celebration of students from all colleges. Graduates, their families and members of the public are invited to come to the special night under the lights. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Santa Fe College dropout makes six figures as a full time Twitch streamer

By Omar Ateyah | Mar. 21, 2022

Emad Nasif, a 21-year-old Gainesville Twitch streamer, spends much of his day shouting. Nasif believes that a high level of energy and enthusiasm is required for him to maintain his audience, and attaining success in the streaming world is no easy task.

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CAMPUS  |  UF ADMINISTRATION

UF’s presidential search will be held behind closed doors under new Florida bill

By Elena Barrera | Mar. 15, 2022

Senate Bill 520 and its companion bill, House Bill 703, will keep the identities of presidential candidates out of public records for most of the process. Students and faculty will be able to research and meet with finalists 21 days before a new campus leader is chosen.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Students experience first Spring Break since pandemic shutdowns

By Fernando Figueroa and Maia Botek | Mar. 14, 2022

Last year, UF students did not partake in their long-awaited Spring Break. Administration canceled the break “for the purpose of making the Spring semester as successful and healthy as possible” and instead gave students an extra week of Winter Break.  This year, students’ mid-semester break from March 5 to 13 came amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine invasion. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

UF Senate begins new legislative session, elects Senate leaders

By Maia Botek | Mar. 14, 2022

UF Senate swore in its batch of 50 newly elected senators and chose a new Senate president and president pro-tempore at the meeting. It was in the process of electing the members-at-large when the meeting was cut short, as the Reitz Union building closes at 11 p.m. The election results bring few changes to the chamber. Gator Party remained the supermajority while Change party remained the minority party. Gator Party’s candidates also won the election for Student Body president, vice president and treasurer, who will take office in April. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

SG opposes diminished student parking spots

By Maia Botek | Mar. 14, 2022

UF’s Transportation and Parking Services will convert 40 parking spots in Norman parking garage from student to faculty parking. Student Government leaders protest. The Student Body president and Student Body president-elect released a statement via Instagram and Facebook Saturday opposing the decision.  

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Renewable energy could save UF millions of dollars

By Lucille Lannigan | Mar. 9, 2022

A new analysis suggests UF could transition to renewable, cheaper energy and save $100 million, rather than move forward with its current more expensive plan to construct a gas plant.  The Rocky Mountain Institute, an environmentalist think tank, presented its analysis to a group of climate scientists, retired professors and Matt Williams, UF’s sustainability director, on Wednesday. It found UF can save money by using clean energy to achieve its energy needs while protecting the natural environment.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Student Government hosts Howie Mandel as an Accent speaker

By Maia Botek | Mar. 4, 2022

Howie Mandel filled the O’Connell Center with laughs in an event for UF students Monday evening. The comedian, America’s Got Talent Judge, Deal or No Deal game show host and personality spoke to a crowd of a few hundred students.  Accent Speakers Bureau, an agency of Student Government that invites guest speakers to campus, spent $110,000 on the event, according to a contract; it included Mandel’s airfare, meals and hotel.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

Students climb for a cause in first annual Ben Hill Griffin relay race

By Elena Barrera | Mar. 2, 2022

On Saturday, Ron Farb, co-founder of The Climb For Cancer Foundation, partnered with members of UF’s Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-health honor society to raise more than $12,000 for their first-annual Gator Mountain Challenge, a relay race up and down the 90 rows of the stadium. 

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CAMPUS  |  UF ADMINISTRATION

African American studies professors push for increased knowledge of Black History

By Elena Barrera | Feb. 28, 2022

  UF students lack a proper education in African American history. “I just think that the under-education of our student population is doing us much more harm than it does good,” Stevenson said. Stevenson uses a teaching methodology called critical pedagogy, or teaching through inquiry. He frequently asks students questions about historical people and analyses only to find they have never heard of them. 

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CAMPUS  |  SFC

Santa Fe President continues strides for equity, despite COVID-19 slowdowns

By Lily Kino | Feb. 28, 2022

Two years later, the diversity at SFC remains almost identical to what it was when he arrived 一 with a Black population hovering at about 12%. With SFC in-person again, the issues Broadie once aimed to tackle have resurfaced.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Gator Party wins Executive Ticket, 44 Senate seats in Spring SG elections

By The Alligator Staff | Feb. 24, 2022

By 10 p.m., Gator Party seized the Executive Branch and grasped the majority of Senate seats for the third consecutive year.  More than 9,000 students cast their ballots by Wednesday, a 37% increase from last Spring’s 6,650 total ballots.

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Voter turnout for the first day of SG elections increased 4.75 times since last year

By Maia Botek | Feb. 23, 2022

Students cast 5448 ballots on the first day of SG elections, voting in eight polling locations across campus from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Last Spring, 1146 ballots were cast on the first day. During the Fall, 4697 students voted on the first day. Ballot counts do not include absentee ballots. 

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT LIFE

UF community protests Don’t Say Gay bill

By Fernando Figueroa | Feb. 21, 2022

The UF Young Democratic Socialists of America and Take Action Florida collaborated with Arcenas and Katz to gather 130 students and community members to march from the corner of West University Avenue and 13th Street to Cora Roberson Park.  The 1-mile-march protested the “Don’t Say Gay” companion bills HB1557/SB1834 which passed its first reading in the House on Thursday. The bills would prohibit “discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels.” These policies could destroy students’ bonds with teachers, like Arcenas’ bond with Leach at Sebring High School.  

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CAMPUS  |  STUDENT GOVERNMENT

SG elections this week will determine 50 new senators and executive ticket

By Maia Botek | Feb. 21, 2022

More than 100 candidates, including two independents, will run to represent the Gator, Change and Communist parties in 50 Senate seats, which are organized by college and year Change and Gator parties also have candidates running for the executive ticket, which includes the Student Body President, Vice President and Treasurer. Polling locations will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The locations are the J. Wayne Reitz Union Computer Printing Lab, Health Science Center Library, Norman Hall Educational Library, Southwest Recreation Center, Springs Library and Recreation Room, Broward Recreation Room, Levin School of Law and Heavener Room 202.