Tristan Worthington shouted “Hey UF administration, money is for education” from a megaphone at a rally against police militarization on campus Wednesday afternoon.
Worthington, a 19-year-old UF English sophomore, led the march with Students for a Democratic Society from Turlington Plaza to Tigert Hall in protest of UF’s participation in the 1033 program.
The program provides free military grade weapons to local police departments.
“We don’t feel that military grade weapons and supplies should be provided to local and campus police departments in order to do their jobs,” said Worthington, a Students for a Democratic Society lead organizer.
Three members of the organization entered Tigert Hall for a meeting with UF administration representatives, including University Police Chief Linda Stump.
About 20 minutes later, students emerged and announced that Stump was willing to help the group convince the administration to opt out of the 1033 program on the condition that the department could keep its armored rescue vehicle.
Among the student organization’s concerns are the lack of training for the weapons provided by the program and the cost of having the weapons delivered to campus.
UF spokesperson Janine Sikes said the rescue vehicle is the only piece of equipment obtained by UF from the 1033 program.
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 12/4/2014]
Jonathan Waring, the 20-year-old president of Students for a Democratic Society, addresses the crowd gathered on Turlington Plaza on Wednesday afternoon to protest UF’s participation in the 1033 program, which distributes surplus military equipment to local law enforcement.
