As a transgender man, Brooke Clayton’s first preference on the housing application was the Springs Complex, the only UF dorm that offers gender neutral housing through the Lavender Living Learning Community. Then, his preference disappeared from the application May 7 — a week before he had to submit it.
“That was actually one of the reasons why I ended up committing to UF,” said Clayton, a 17-year-old incoming UF mechanical engineering freshman. “It was safer than my other options.”
The Lavender LLC and the Black Cultural LLC, located in Graham Hall, disappeared from the UF housing website on the same day. Clayton and other students said they think the removal of both LLCs could be related to legislation banning funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state universities, which has left the future of diversity-related initiatives like LLCs and the Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement unclear.
Clayton said he was scared when the LLC vanished. He sent multiple emails to housing about the LLC’s status. After receiving no answer, he called housing twice only to be met with confusion.
“I was considering taking a gap year because housing was one of my biggest fears, especially since I plan on medically transitioning in the fall,” he said. “I feel like unless I have another LGBTQ roommate, they won't truly understand what I'm going through.”
Clayton said when his housing appointment came May 20, there were no more seats left in Springs. If he couldn’t get into Lavender, Clayton said he wouldas choosesing Honors Village. In the meantime, he said he plans to keep calling housing.
Hannah Farrell, the spokesperson for the Division of Student Life, wrote in an email the LLCs were taken down May 7 and were put back up May 20. Students can now express interest for them ahead of the next academic year, Farrell said.
She did not respond to The Alligator’s questions about why the Lavender and Black Cultural LLCs were temporarily removed.
Ryan Wilder, a former Student Government Senator and UF alumnus who co-wrote a 2020 resolution calling for the creation of an LGBTQ Living Learning Community, said Lavender’s removal from the website and application was “spineless,” and suspected their temporary removal was a preemptive response to state laws.
“We're continuously moving backwards in the state and at the university and continuing to placate our governor and all the things that he wants to turn the state and the university into,” Wilder said. “You're fully going backwards and that completely erases people's community.”
Sen. Allan Rivera-Jaramillo (Independent-Keys-Springs) said he got to mmeet residents from the Lavender LLC and knows many students who personally benefited from living there. He said Lavender’s removal and the university’s silence on its future was worrying.
“I'm really concerned for the future if this is a trend that we're expected to see from the university,” he said.
He said he will keep discussing this with other senators and is looking to see if there is a way to advocate for the LLC through a Senate resolution.
Unlike the two LLCs, the Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement is mostly state-funded with 85% of its 2022-2023 operating budget coming from the state. This has made the status of the center, dedicated to engaging LGBTQ+, Asian, Desi, Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic students, more unclear under the anti-DEI law. The center’s website has been down since May 2.
Rivera-Jaramillo said he volunteers at the center as the executive coordinator for the Horizons transition program, which provides resources for incoming LGBTQ+ students. He said Horizons and other transition programs have been told to pause operations until they hear back from “other departments.”
“It's a little bit unnerving cause then we don't know what the future of the program is,” Rivera-Jaramillo said. “I just hope that UF makes the right decision.”
The Daily Signal, a conservative news outlet, reported April 29 that a Board of Governors spokesperson said the center is being reviewed to see if it violated a state law passed last year barring public institutions from funding DEI programs.
Another Board of Governors spokesperson declined to provide The Alligator any further information on the review.
Farrell, the Division of Student Life spokesperson, wrote the center is currently being updated “to ensure that every Gator is served by a diverse community that fosters trust and respect for every member.” She did not mention if the center’s updates were linked to the Lavender or Black Cultural LLC.
“Student Life is working with the General Counsel’s office to ensure that all programs and expenditures comply with state and federal nondiscrimination law,” she wrote.
Student Body Vice President Laura Thomas wrote in an email to The Alligator that she was reaching out to the UF administration to see why the center’s website is under construction. She also wrote that LLCs benefit all students by allowing them to meet others with similar interests and helping them feel comfortable at UF.
“The Black Cultural and Lavender LLCs create an opportunity for students to learn about both communities and their presence on campus which are so important now more than ever,” she wrote.
Tiffany Ross, a 20-year-old UF health science junior who lived in Graham Hall, said it seemed suspicious when the Black Cultural LLC was removed from the housing website and application.
Ross said LLCs help build communities and are safe spaces in a predominately white institution like UF, where about half of undergraduate students are white, according to the most recently available statistics from UF Institutional Planning and Research.
“Why were certain labels taken off, and some could stay? I feel like that wasn’t necessary,” she said.
Olivia Gayle, a 20-year-old UF microbiology and cell science junior who lived in the Black Cultural LLC during her freshman year, said she enjoyed the sense of community there.
“Sometimes you'd have dinner in the kitchen together, and you'd meet a lot of really cool and interesting people,” she said. “I think just from the LLC perspective, it was just really nice to sort of interact with people of similar backgrounds and similar culture for me when sometimes outside of my dorm, I didn't really get to see as many people like myself.”
Gayle said it was heartbreaking to find out that the LLC was removed from the website and housing application.
“I feel like it kind of comes as a result of this political climate that we have here in Florida,” she said.
Contact Timothy Wang at twang@alligator.org. Follow him on X @timothyw_g
Timothy Wang is a junior journalism student and the Fall 2024 Santa Fe College Reporter. He was the University Administration reporter for Summer 2024. His hobbies include gaming or reading manga.
