Senate President Oscar Santiago Perez (Change-District D) signed bills condemning attacks on higher education and creating a budget review act at the Senate meeting May 30.
The historic 2023 spring election, which caused a deadlocked Senate, has led to persistent issues in the Senate chambers.
UF Student Government senators passed a resolution condemning the state bills attacking diversity, equity and inclusion, and higher education but failed to approve replacement senators during the four-hour-long meeting May 23.
Student Government Senate leadership elections Tuesday evening marked the end to a monthlong political standoff, sparked by the Change Caucus gaining a Senate majority in the Spring SG elections.
The UF Student Government Supreme Court ruled Monday to disregard the April 4 election of Sen. Oscar Santiago Perez (Change-District D) as Senate president and prohibit the Senate from meeting until leadership from the Gator and Change Caucus sign an agreement on how the Senate plans to move past its turbulence.
Throughout the past few weeks, Change Caucus has accused the Gator Caucus of attempting to delay Senate leadership elections and reclaim a Senate majority with a perceived filibuster, quorum bust and resurrection of the retired Liberation Caucus.
Political turmoil in the UF Student Senate persists as the chamber failed to meet quorum Tuesday evening due to the absence of almost all Gator Caucus members. The seven-minute Senate meeting resulted in the delaying of Senate leadership elections for a second week.
The 94 senators at the chamber’s first meeting after Spring Break were supposed to elect a new Senate president, Senate pro-tempore and two members at large, per the Rules and Procedures of the Student Senate. This comes after the Change Caucus secured a majority in Spring elections.
Besides validating the Spring SG election results and hearing the speeches of outgoing senators, the chamber passed six pieces of legislation during the four-and-a-half-hour March 7 meeting.
More than 12,400 students voted in Student Government elections Feb. 28 and March 1, resulting in a Gator Party executive ticket win and Change Party Senate majority.
Gator won the executive ticket with Olivia Green as president, Clara Calavia as vice president and Nyla Pierre as treasurer. In the Senate, Change won 30 seats, Gator won 19 and a non-party affiliated write-in candidate won a seat as well.
Thousands of UF students lined up across on-campus polling locations Tuesday for the first day of the Spring Student Government elections.
UF Student Government Spring elections begin Feb. 28, where the executive branch seats — student body president, vice president and treasurer — along with 50 Senate seats are on the line after a contentious campaign cycle between Gator Party and Change Party.
With less than a week until the Spring elections, Gator and Change party’s executive tickets sparred over student organization funding, graduate student resources and 24/7 library services in the Student Government debate Tuesday.
Student Government senators approved two resolutions condemning antisemitism and political encroachment and a new Change Caucus minority party leader was appointed during the Feb. 7 meeting’s 29 minutes.
UF students will elect a new student body president, vice president and treasurer, and 50 new senators representing various academic colleges during the Student Government Spring elections between Feb. 28 and March 1.
Pamela Bingham visited her alma mater Thursday as part of the Black Student Union’s 2023 Black History Month program, speaking to a group of BSU students in the Reitz Auditorium.
With no legislation on the docket, public comments concerning student organization funding and executive branch efforts consumed the Jan. 31 Student Government Senate meeting.
UF’s student government announced on Instagram Jan. 13 that Marston Library would reinstate 24-hour services after spring break with funding secured through Provost Joe Glover. However, details of the deal reveal the provost agreed to fund the initiative only for the remainder of the Spring and Fall 2023 semesters for a pilot study that’ll collect data on overnight hour usage to inform future funding decisions.
On the docket: a resolution to make discriminatory acts an official violation of the Orange Book Conduct Codes, an amendment to remove gendered language from the UF Student Body Constitution and a revision to the 300 Codes, which outline the rules of the legislative branch, to turn Town Hall events into moderated forums, all passed without debate.
Solutions by The State News
