This semester’s UF Student Government elections will be one of the most boring in recent years. After a successful gerrymander, Vision Party is guaranteed to sweep the 37 off campus seats through the tried-and-true strategy of Greek life voter coercion. Whether it be refusing a chicken parm dinner to those who don’t place their “I voted” sticker on their house’s sticker board, voting to get points from their house or receiving alcohol for votes, the practice of “block voting” has ensured over a century of Greek-dominated student government.
Political machinery has a long history in UF SG, dating all the way back to its beginning. SG began in the summer of 1915 but in only a few years, a group of students conspired to monopolize its levers of power. After World War I, student veterans (later organized into fraternities) formed a secret society known as the Beefsteak Club to take over SG from their peers who did not fight in the war. The Beefsteakers’ ruthless tactics set the tone for the century of dirty tricks that followed.
In one memoir, a member of the Beefsteak Club recalled their corrupt methods: embezzling student funds, engaging in electoral fraud and paddling freshmen who voted incorrectly. Their name originated from their practice of celebrating a successful night of fraudulently swapping ballots with a downtown beefsteak dinner. Around the same time, in 1923, a leadership honorary society at the University of Florida formed: Florida Blue Key. FBK quickly incorporated Beefsteak leaders and became the nucleus of student government political machinery.
As other fraternities challenged Beefsteak control of SG, the era of one-party rule fractured and the FBK “group system” developed. In the group system, Greek houses divided into fluid factions, or groups, that backed different parties. Representing each group was a group leader, who would negotiate particular positions or favors for their faction prior to elections. This group system produced a relatively competitive two-party system, each with a core of Greek houses seeking support from non-Greek students.
Nevertheless, the Florida Blue Key factions united in moments of crisis. In 1976, Dan Lobeck challenged the group system by leading his own independent party and exposed corrupt practices in FBK. Although he succeeded and, for a time, helped trigger efforts to reform FBK, the group system continued unabated.
It would take two more moments of crisis to trigger a reorganization of the Blue Key political machine. In the 1995 SG elections, FBK operatives falsely defamed their opponent Charles Grapski as a child molestor. During the ensuing lawsuit, Grapski obtained damning testimony proving FBK defamed him and manipulated student government elections. The resulting judicial notice stated “Defendant FLORIDA BLUE KEY has historically undertaken a political function in connection with student government affairs at the University of Florida.” No longer an open secret, Blue Key meddling in elections had been confirmed in a court of law.
The second moment of crisis was the loss of the student body presidency in the 2004 SG elections. Realizing that its grip on power was slipping, the group system re-organized into its modern iteration.
No longer characterized by fluidity and division, the Greek houses in the modern system are divided into rigid blocs – social, political, and third bloc – that back a single party. In addition to these blocs, representatives from “the communities” (non-Greek multicultural organizations) meet together and negotiate the spoils of student government.
The communities typically receive the vice presidency and treasurer position while specific houses “own” agencies such as Theta Chi controlling Student Government Productions or Alpha Epsilon Pi controlling ACCENT Speakers. After negotiations, the system presents a unified front during election season, defeating their non-Greek opponents through the block vote.
The sophisticated organization has meant it has only lost the presidency one other time in the 21st-century: 2015. In this semester’s elections, nearly a decade since its last defeat, the party backed by Greek life will undoubtedly prevail once again. What began with the Beefsteak Club’s crude corruption over a century ago has evolved into a well-oiled political machine that dominates UF SG with precision.
Rey Arcenas is a UF history and women's studies senior.
