Tense Senate meeting addresses abuse of power investigation
By Sandra McDonald | May 26, 2022UF Student Government senators resumed their weekly meetings Tuesday, and senators grappled over committee recommendations and ethical dilemmas.
UF Student Government senators resumed their weekly meetings Tuesday, and senators grappled over committee recommendations and ethical dilemmas.
The university will host four listening sessions in the next two days as a part of the search for the next president. Faculty and students can provide input on qualities they want the presidential search committee and board of trustees to keep in mind Monday and Tuesday.
UF Health Shands Psychiatric Hospital faculty and volunteers spurred conversation about wellness by adorning the walls of 34th Street with a mural representative of mental health. The painting commemorated Mental Health Awareness month and Mental Health Action Day Thursday.
A tenured UF English professor is suing several faculty members, including President Kent Fuchs, under the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. He claims he was not granted his rights to free speech and due process.
UF offered graduate assistants their first wage increase in 5 years. It was less than $1,500.
A complaint submitted May 12 requests an ethics investigation into two high-ranking SG members. It concerned a trip to Israel the two took alongside other senators and executive officers.
UF Business Services announced recently it will break off its 13-year contract with Aramark to hire Chartwells Higher Education to handle all on-campus food services, including catering, residential, retail and athletic dining. The new provider is set to take over July 1.
On July 1, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ law limiting how race is discussed in workplaces and classrooms — known as the “Stop WOKE Act” — will go into effect. UF students and professors find it difficult to see a future where critical thinking and academic freedom can still be practiced.
UF professors are concerned about Senate Bill 7044, a new bill that allows an institute’s Board of Trustees to require post-tenure reviews every five years.
Students and medical staff at UF have raised concerns about the future of abortion education after reports Roe v. Wade, a Supreme Court case that protects the right to abortion, may be overturned.
Even though parking has been a common setback for students, faculty and visitors, campus construction since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the problem.
College for Kids, a program hosted by Santa Fe, allows kids to use summer to immerse themselves in subjects typically not taught until college. Registration for the 2022 camp opened May 4.
The search for UF’s next president has begun, and graduate students remain frustrated they are not represented on the Presidential Search committee.
On May 2, UF began its next phase of on-campus construction, leaving parts of Museum Road and its intersection with Gale Lemerand Drive closed for Summer. The new project follows ongoing road closures scattered throughout campus since May 2.
For Frisch and four students who share their experiences on college campuses, challenges associated with a lack of accessibility are commonplace. At UF, barriers send a message that they don’t belong — such as construction, neglect of funds, hurtful language and classroom inaccessibility.
Emma Bissell thought a frisbee whacked her head outside Normal Hall. But frisbees don't leave talon marks. The 20-year-old UF telecommunications sophomore was attacked by a hawk in January. On Wednesday morning, UF’s College of Education sent an email warning students to be wary when walking in the Norman Hall area.
Four months after a 24-year-old snuck into UF residence hall bathrooms and recorded women, UF Housing installed additional locks on bathroom doors. But residents remain uneasy about their safety. Deontre Donnell Mason snuck into female-only floors in Murphree Hall and Thomas Hall and took videos of at least nine residents as they showered, used the bathroom and walked up the stairs.
Fewer women’s restrooms in UF STEM buildings lead some women to question whether they belong in a male-dominated field. Ginger Lucas, a 22-year-old nuclear science senior, said the lack of equal restrooms bothers her but pushes her even further to prove her capabilities to others. “It’s just a minor inconvenience and sort of irritation,” Lucas said. “Like a reminder of the past, of how things used to be.”
The Senate confirmed Jackson Thursday in a historic 53-47 vote. Three GOP senators — Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah — crossed party lines to secure the simple majority vote required. Cheers cried out from the Senate chamber and across America. But for many Black law students and attorneys, the interrogations she faced leading up to this moment reflected their everyday struggles in and out of the legal arena. Some Black women like Janelle Rolle, a first-year student at UF Levin College of Law, believed the questioning highlighted the scrutiny that Black women endure despite their outstanding merit and qualifications.
A conference room on the ground floor of the hall was named Thursday afternoon after one of UF’s first history and economics professors Enoch Marvin Banks.