News | Campus - The Independent Florida Alligator

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF continues searches for directors, deans and provost

By Allessandra Inzinna , Alissa Gary and Sophia Bailly | Apr. 24, 2023

Over the past year, UF has found itself in a period of transition, including a new president appointed in February, the search for a new provost beginning in the Spring, a new UF Honors Program director to be announced within the next month and searches for a new dean of the Levin College of Law and Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF says goodbye to oldest campus tree

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 24, 2023

UF’s first resident wasn’t a person, but a tree. Sprouting before the university was founded, a longleaf pine near Keene-Flint Hall has watched UF grow into what it is today. In April, the tree was declared dead.

UF President Ben Sasse makes an appearance at the Orange and Blue football game Thursday, April 13, 2023. This is one of the few public appearances Sasse has made after taking office Feb. 3.

NEWS | CAMPUS UF ADMINISTRATION

Sasse’s semester of selective silence

By Alissa Gary | Apr. 24, 2023

Since UF President Ben Sasse took office in early February, he’s been selective about his public appearances. But behind the scenes in Tigert Hall, his first semester in Florida has featured a complicated state legislative session, a potential graduate campus in Jacksonville and meetings with faculty leaders.

UF Faculty Senate President Amanda Phalin goes over the goals for the meeting Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023.

NEWS | CAMPUS UF ADMINISTRATION

UF Faculty Senate appoints new chair-elect, discusses state legislation

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 23, 2023

Faculty senators gathered Thursday in the Reitz Senate Chambers to hear UF President Ben Sasse, Senate Chair Amanda Phalin and UF Provost Joe Glover deliver reports on rebuilding UF’s foundation, senior position searches and multi-year contracts for non-tenured professors.

NEWS | SFC

Santa Fe College announces 3 provost finalists

By Peyton Harris | Apr. 20, 2023

Santa Fe College announced it narrowed its search for a new provost to three finalists Wednesday afternoon, after a search to replace Provost Edward Bonahue.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

UF Student Senate elects leadership after monthlong gridlock

By Amanda Friedman | Apr. 20, 2023

Student Government Senate leadership elections Tuesday evening marked the end to a monthlong political standoff, sparked by the Change Caucus gaining a Senate majority in the Spring SG elections.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF students face environmental anxiety as threat of climate change looms

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 17, 2023

With forests on fire, hurricanes gaining strength and regularity and other natural disasters becoming more frequent, members of Generation Z wonder: What does our future look like? What will be lost? What’s possible for the future?

NEWS | CAMPUS

Students, faculty fear UF won’t meet 2025 carbon neutrality goal

By Allessandra Inzinna | Apr. 17, 2023

In June 2021, the UF Board of Trustees approved the $235 million Central Energy Plant Project to build a combined heat and power energy facility on campus. Set to begin construction this year, it will be the university’s largest energy provider, relieving UF of purchasing 750,000 pounds of steam from Duke Energy every year.

Chris Harchick, the senior agricultural assistant at UF, stands in the middle of his tree-planting IFAS research that tests the growth of oak and sycamore trees, Wednesday, March 29, 2023.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extensions work to mitigate climate change

By Sophia Bailly | Apr. 17, 2023

IFAS has dispersed its climate change research to center on greenhouse gas emissions, ocean acidification and sea-level rise. Extensions take a local approach to educating Florida residents about climate change, whether it’s regarding forestry, farming or waterways.

NEWS | CAMPUS UF ADMINISTRATION

UF recommits to climate action

By Alissa Gary | Apr. 17, 2023

The UF Office of Sustainability is in the final stages of developing its Climate Action Plan 2.0, a revival of CAP 1.0, the 2009 original, meant to curb the university’s greenhouse gas emissions.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Samuel Proctor Oral History Program debuts ‘Oscar Mack vs the Ku Klux Klan’

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 15, 2023

Samuel Proctor Oral History Program screened the premiere of “Oscar Mack vs the Ku Klux Klan” — a 58-minute film that deep dives into the life of Oscar Mack, a World War I veteran and Kissimmee resident who was attacked by the KKK in 1922.

NEWS | CAMPUS UF ADMINISTRATION

UF Chief Financial Officer Chris Cowen to resign this summer

By Alissa Gary | Apr. 13, 2023

Chris Cowen, UF senior vice president and chief financial officer, will resign from the university July 1. He will trade his current job for a similar one at Cornell University, according to a UF press release.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF among wave of college ‘swatting’ hoaxes, investigating with FBI

By Christian Casale and Ella Thompson | Apr. 13, 2023

UF is just one of at least 16 colleges and universities that received a hoax call of an active shooter in April, according to an analysis by The Alligator. Many of these instances have been referred to by authorities as “swatting” — when a fake call is made to authorities to cause chaos and send a large amount of police to a certain location.

Inner Road Closure: From Newell Drive to 13th Street

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF’s Inner Road to undergo 16-month construction project

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 12, 2023

In a press release Thursday, UF announced it will close Inner Road to all traffic starting Wednesday. The closure is due to improvements to underground utilities that serve nearby buildings like Broward and Newell Halls.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF Honors Program director candidate Kathy Cooke speaks at final campus Q&A session

By Ella Thompson | Apr. 12, 2023

Kathy Cooke, a professor of history and founding dean of the University of South Alabama Honors College is the final of three candidates to present their Honors plan to the Honors community and participate in a Q&A. The search committee will make their selection for the next UF Honors Director in the next week.

Students line up at the Broward Recreation Room to cast their vote in the UF Student Government election Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2022.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

UF Supreme Court throws out April 4 Senate presidential election results

By Amanda Friedman | Apr. 12, 2023

The UF Student Government Supreme Court ruled Monday to disregard the April 4 election of Sen. Oscar Santiago Perez (Change-District D) as Senate president and prohibit the Senate from meeting until leadership from the Gator and Change Caucus sign an agreement on how the Senate plans to move past its turbulence.

Protestors for transgender access to healthcare gather at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street to begin a march toward the Student Health Care Center where some will perform an “inject-in” of HRT Friday, April 7, 2023.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

UF ‘inject-in’ protest shows support for gender-affirming care

By Amanda Friedman | Apr. 10, 2023

UF’s LGBTQ+ community and allies swarmed the UF Student Health Care Center April 7 for an inject-in to protest the DeSantis administration’s gender-affirming care audit and legislation like House Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 254. During the protest, a group of demonstrators participated in an “inject-in,” where they injected themselves with hormone replacement therapy treatment.

NEWS | CAMPUS

Graduate Assistants United prepares for negotiations with new leadership

By Sophia Bailly | Apr. 10, 2023

Graduate Assistants United is continuing to negotiate for stipend increases and better living conditions with UF's bargaining team. There are three bargaining sessions scheduled for April.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF app ban explained: cybersecurity concerns, marketing

By Peyton Harris | Apr. 10, 2023

As of April 5, UF students have been unable to use TikTok and WeChat on campus Wi-Fi, among other applications deemed a cybersecurity risk after UF complied with a Florida Board of Governors directive.

Students sing and clap after dinner during the Passover Seder at Lubavitch Chabad Jewish Student Center Wednesday, April 5, 2023.

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

Passover at UF’s Chabad Jewish Gator brings out nearly 700 guests

By Alissa Gary | Apr. 7, 2023

Nearly 700 students and Gainesville residents gathered at the Chabad Wednesday night to celebrate Passover — the celebration of the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. Chabad hosts the largest sit-down seder in North America, according to its email press release.