Hello, my name is Austin Britton. I am a third-year graduate student in geography at UF. I am focused on climate science and equity for my research, with a background in meteorology and data science.
I wasn't involved in SG for my first two years here, as with most grads, I was and am more concerned with getting my research done, and, since I am a graduate assistant, getting paid for my work. I am involved in GAU, our graduate union, which led me to the opportunity this summer to serve as a summer replacement senator. Essentially, some senators leave during the summer term, and they can choose their own replacements for those months. It being summer, I said yes.
The senator I replaced was affiliated with Change party, and per the senate rules, so was I. I served my time over the summer, and at the end of summer was asked if I wanted a permanent seat, as another sitting senator was graduating at the end of summer. I said yes, and so I continue to be a senator.
My time in the senate chamber has been nothing short of disappointing. I hate politics. I am someone who prioritizes communication above all, and yet every time I worked on a piece of legislation, or went to a senate meeting, I saw nothing productive being done for the students. Sure, legislation could be passed, but nothing that directly impacts the student life. Bills that matter, that talked on substantive changes and improvements, always died in the Judiciary committee. This committee reviews all legislation before it makes it to the floor, and because all but one member is a member of the Vision party, all legislation they don't agree with is failed, or not heard. I submitted 17 pieces of legislation on graduate issues over the summer, spanning from graduate housing costs, support for unions, speaking out against state overreach. As of writing this several have yet to be heard by the committee. A meeting lasts several hours, and is weekly, yet each week consists of exorbitant amounts of time spent nitpicking every bill written by non-Vision senators, followed by a quick passage of anything Vision senators submitted.
Even if bills passed this committee, they were liable to be shot down in the actual senate due to the Vision supermajority. Sure, we passed bills regarding the environment, Tenders, etc, but none of those are actionable. None make a change, they're just a statement of facts, released out with no substantive change.
This strangulation of the democratic process within the senate is but one of the several disappointing and infuriating actions I saw taken throughout the summer and now into the fall. Bills were passed limiting public comment time and banning senators from speaking at public comment, bills that attempted to remove a senator's right to choose their own replacements, bills that weaken protections enacted just last year that prevent those convicted of a major crime from coming to a SG funded event and a budget that continues to underfund student orgs and the Reitz union. Actions within the chamber were angry, one sided and designed to shut down debate as soon as feasible for many contentious bills. Actions to kick out certain senators for any infraction, followed by a Vision majority committee deciding their replacement, which is almost always a Vision aligned senator, regardless of the affiliation of the member who was removed.
The worst, and most contentious, was the bill that set up elections for this fall. Contrary to forty years of precedent (besides 2023), the Vision supermajority codified a gerrymandered map for the Fall 2024 and Fall 2025 elections. For forty years the off-campus senators, 37 of them, have been split by zip code, allowing for areas of Gainesville to vote for those in their zip code. However, following Vision's 37 seat landslide in Fall 2023, they wanted to continue that win. Even though in Fall 2023, 28 of the 37 senators elected came from the areas around fraternities and sororities. Even though the student body in Spring of 2000 explicitly modified the constitution to mandate that off campus senators were split into "areas". Even though similar at-large district models have been ruled unconstitutional on a national level for decades[8].
So, what is the recourse for this obvious attempt to stifle competition in the Fall election? Members of the Change party filed a petition with the UF Supreme Court, literally their only option for rectifying this error before elections. And yet, they too decided that the at large map was constitutional, against all higher court orders.
Why is this? Why did the UF court rule this way? Well, they're all appointed by the student body president, a Vision party member, and are confirmed by a Vision supermajority senate. They are Vision, and why would they vote against their allies? It is a sham on democratic processes, and yet it is not a unique set up.
For 100 years, the student government at UF, through all its forms and shapes, has been either explicitly or indirectly guided by systems like Florida Blue Key (FBK). FBK, which has existed for a century. FBK, which has been called out again and again and again for their political power both at UF and in Florida at large. FBK, which has taken hands on approaches to senate votes, referendum questions, threats to anyone running against them, defamation, just to name a few. Vision, the political bot of FBK, exists purely to give student fee money to FBK and to allow a few of their members into the illustrious halls of FBK itself, if they follow all of the rules.
FBK takes student money, and has for years, through events like Gator Growl. Even though attendance has dropped for over a decade, FBK is supplemented with funds either directly through student government, or indirectly through student orgs like Student Government Productions. Since 2003, they have taken over $2.5 million dollars. Any money they don’t spend on these events, or the revenue they gain through things like ticket sales? They keep. They profit. And they repeat.
It's disappointing, but more than that it’s INSANE. It is such a deep rabbit hole of crime, allegations, shady actions, theft, that it sounds insane. And yet, this is not news. It’s been reported on, again and again, and every few years when the allegations become too strong, the FBK aligned party changes their name. The people remain the same, and the goals do too. This is so insane, that a master’s student at UF did his final thesis on THIS. On this insanity. And yet they rely on their ability to change the rules to benefit them, rely on the deck being stacked, and rely on students changing each year that they can continue to create and exploit a system stacked against any real improvements.
They deny bills to allow for online voting, to allow students who don’t live in Gainesville the ability to fairly vote, to allow other major collections of UF students, like in Jacksonville, to organize their own form of student government. They deny bills to release funding to lower rental costs for graduate and family housing, to create a thrift shop in the Reitz, to even allow Marston to remain 24/7. They refuse to communicate, they refuse to listen, and they refuse to allow UF to grow up.
I am a Change senator, by happenstance, and at the start of this election season I brought up to them a minor issue I had with their platform. I had concerns, and I felt comfortable enough to bring up my concerns to Change leadership. Instead of shutting me down, or telling me not to care, they were proactive and made plans for myself and all of Change leadership to meet in person, discuss my concerns, and make proactive plans to avoid future issues. Are they perfect, as individuals or as a party? No. They make mistakes. But there is a reason almost every graduate senator is affiliated with Change. They listen, and they grow, and they never stop trying to actually change things in SG.
Elections are this week, October 7 and 8, and I implore each and everyone here to research, to talk to your friends, and to vote. No matter what party you vote for, demand better of student government. Demand better for not only yourself, but the students that follow.
Austin Britton is a UF geography graduate student.
