UF is eliminating thousands of dollars in funding and staff support for several identity-centered welcome assemblies, potentially jeopardizing events meant to acclimate new Gators to campus.
The cuts will affect the annual welcome assemblies of at least four student organizations: the Black Student Union, Pride Student Union, Hispanic-Latine Student Association and Women’s Student Association. The assemblies, funded by UF’s Signature Events program, hosted incoming students each August with performances, food, merchandise and opportunities to get involved on campus.
A university spokesperson didn’t respond to questions about the funding cuts, and the leaders of affected organizations said administrators didn’t explain the rationale for the decision. Some students fear it's the latest example of how efforts to dismantle diversity initiatives impact campus life with uncertain benefits for students.
The Trump administration issued an order in February threatening to withhold federal funding from schools that considered race in all campus activities. Just days after, UF paused several on-campus housing programs geared toward certain identity groups.
Republican state lawmakers are separately planning to scour state universities’ budgets to ensure compliance with a 2023 law banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. At a meeting with the state university system’s Board of Governors March 26, Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested some schools were enforcing the ban on “a superficial level” and allowed some diversity programs to “burrow in and rename.”
“There is some sense, in some quarters, that the law in the state of Florida is not obligatory on them, and they can kind of do their own little fiefdom,” DeSantis said. “That’s not going to fly here.”
The university funded the welcome assemblies through its Signature Event program, which recognizes events promoting “a vibrant and diverse student experience that prepares Gators to engage, transform, and thrive in an evolving global community.”
“Although we shouldn’t have been put in this situation, unfortunately, we are,” said Olivia Tulloch, the director of the Black Student Union’s welcome assembly. “Regardless of any legislation that is passed to suppress our voices or anything that we want to do on campus, if there’s a will, there is a way, and we have to make it ourselves.”
Tulloch, a 21-year-old psychology and criminology junior, said the university’s decision not to support the assembly this year comes amid rising financial needs for the event, stemming from its increasing popularity. A record-high of 570 students attended the Fall 2024 assembly, bringing the allotted event budget up to $15,000 — a $2,500 increase over the previous year.
Tulloch defended the assembly as an entry point for Black students looking to feel more at home on campus, adding the organization is exploring new funding sources, including alumni donations. Dozens of alumni pledged to support the event in the comments of BSU’s social media announcement of the cuts.
“It’s a big reason that I stayed at this university,” Tulloch said of the event. “The connections I made, the experiences I had, that I only would have known about if I had gone to that assembly.”
It’s unclear how much money the university is pulling from welcome assemblies or how many will be affected.
The Hispanic-Latine Student Association announced its assembly lost Signature Event status in an Instagram post March 12. The statement cited “changes in state and federal DEI regulations” as the reason for UF’s decision, although the organization’s executive board didn’t respond to texts or emails clarifying if administrators explicitly told it this reason.
The Women’s Student Association also released a statement on Instagram March 25, saying the decision to stop funding assemblies "follows a troubling pattern" of budget cuts to “student-led cultural and identity-based initiatives.”
Women’s Student Association President Zeina Benton, a 21-year-old astrophysics and women’s studies junior, estimated the Fall 2024 Women’s Welcome Assembly received about $1,500 in funding from the university. Benton declined to answer further questions about the cuts.
Members of the Asian American Student Union’s leadership team didn’t respond to texts or emails asking about the status of its welcome assembly.
UF did renew funding for the Graduate Student Council’s welcome assembly, according to an email from the council’s president, making it the only assembly confirmed to still be a Signature Event.
The Pride Student Assembly, which has received $10,000 from the university each year since 2022, won’t receive funding for at least three years, according to Jonathan Stephens, a 22-year-old food science senior and the president of Pride Student Union.
Stephens said the assembly attracts roughly 500 students each year and described it as a haven for “queer joy.” When new students meet other LGBTQ+ peers for the first time, they said it “really allows for folks to know that there is a family in Gainesville.”
Like the Black Student Union, PSU is pursuing alumni donations to replace university funding. Stephens said organizers are seeking help from supportive administrators, adding that while they think UF’s priority is legal compliance, many officials are sympathetic to PSU’s efforts.
“Where we’re at right now is trying to pick up the pieces,” they said. “At the end of the day, what’s really important is that we try our best to preserve those relationships and that we, too, try to find ways to comply with the law.”
Contact Pristine Thai at pthai@alligator.org. Follow her on X @pristinethai.
Pristine Thai is a university general assignment reporter and a third-year political science and journalism major. Her free time is spent attending classical music concerts or petting cats.
