News

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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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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NEWS  |  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.

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS

“Little signs of hope” grow in McCarty Woods year after conservation protests

By Lucille Lannigan | Feb. 21, 2022

On Feb. 12, about 40 volunteers gathered in the woods to plant native shrubs and trees for the first time in the woods’ history. Save McCarty Woods, the organization leading conservation efforts for the area, raised more than $7,000 on Gator Giving Day, Soltis wrote in an email.

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Gator Party, Change Party talk platforms in Student Government debate

By Maia Botek | Feb. 18, 2022

The executive tickets for the Gator and Change parties had an hour-long debate Tuesday. Candidates defended platform points and examined opponents’ initiatives concerning legislation and governing codes.

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Gator Party announces platform for Student Government’s Spring elections

By Maia Botek | Feb. 16, 2022

Students can vote for 50 Senators and the Student Body President, Vice President and Treasurer on eight campus locations Feb. 22 and 23. The Change, Communist and Gator Parties have candidates running for Senate seats.

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

March for Our Lives Gainesville holds vigil to remember mass shooting victims

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 16, 2022

The vigil, held at the Plaza of the Americas, commemorated the 14 students and three faculty who were killed during the 2018 Parkland shooting and the two students who passed after. 

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS UF ADMINISTRATION

Search for UF’s new president comes amid discussion of decreased transparency laws

By Elena Barrera | Feb. 14, 2022

  UF expects to start looking for a new president in March, UF spokesperson Hessy Fernandez wrote in an email. The search has been kept under wraps so far, and SB 520/HB 703 would keep it that way.   Meanwhile, Florida’s senators and representatives have filed Senate Bill 520 and House Bill 703, which would delay the release of any information identifying a university’s presidential applicant, including meeting recordings that would disclose such information if obtained through a public records request. 

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Meet your candidates for Student Government’s Spring elections

By Maia Botek | Feb. 14, 2022

Students can vote for 50 Senators, the Student Body president, vice president and treasurer in eight polling locations across campus on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. Here are the candidates representing the executive tickets for the Gator and Change Parties. 

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NEWS  |  SFC

Santa Fe College creates new charter school

By Lily Kino | Feb. 14, 2022

With a $2 million grant from the State of Florida, the school will offer high school students training in information technology and health sciences, according to a press release. The college received the grant Feb. 2 as part of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ $89 million plan to enhance workforce initiatives across the state.

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS

UF partners with foundation to fund Blockchain Lab

By Fernando Figueroa | Feb. 14, 2022

UF received $270,000 to provide resources to students who want to learn and develop blockchain technology including cryptocurrencies and NFTs.  Blockchain is a complex technology, and its applications have not yet been fully defined. Some popular applications of the blockchain include cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin and non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which are typically digital artworks, like Bored Ape.  

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NEWS  |  CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Infamous TikTok street preacher “Sister Cindy” returns to UF, draws a crowd of heckling students

By Fernando Figueroa | Feb. 11, 2022

In a long skirt and a blue T-shirt with the slogan “Ho No Mo,” ‘Sister Cindy’ pranced inside a circle of more than 500 students, blocking the walkways of Plaza of Americas Monday afternoon. “Welcome to the ho no mo’ revolution!” she shouted.