The search for UF’s next president has begun, and graduate students remain frustrated they are not represented on the Presidential Search committee.
On May 2, UF began its next phase of on-campus construction, leaving parts of Museum Road and its intersection with Gale Lemerand Drive closed for Summer. The new project follows ongoing road closures scattered throughout campus since May 2.
For Frisch and four students who share their experiences on college campuses, challenges associated with a lack of accessibility are commonplace. At UF, barriers send a message that they don’t belong — such as construction, neglect of funds, hurtful language and classroom inaccessibility.
Emma Bissell thought a frisbee whacked her head outside Normal Hall. But frisbees don't leave talon marks. The 20-year-old UF telecommunications sophomore was attacked by a hawk in January. On Wednesday morning, UF’s College of Education sent an email warning students to be wary when walking in the Norman Hall area.
Four months after a 24-year-old snuck into UF residence hall bathrooms and recorded women, UF Housing installed additional locks on bathroom doors. But residents remain uneasy about their safety. Deontre Donnell Mason snuck into female-only floors in Murphree Hall and Thomas Hall and took videos of at least nine residents as they showered, used the bathroom and walked up the stairs.
Fewer women’s restrooms in UF STEM buildings lead some women to question whether they belong in a male-dominated field. Ginger Lucas, a 22-year-old nuclear science senior, said the lack of equal restrooms bothers her but pushes her even further to prove her capabilities to others. “It’s just a minor inconvenience and sort of irritation,” Lucas said. “Like a reminder of the past, of how things used to be.”
The Senate confirmed Jackson Thursday in a historic 53-47 vote. Three GOP senators — Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Mitt Romney, R-Utah — crossed party lines to secure the simple majority vote required. Cheers cried out from the Senate chamber and across America. But for many Black law students and attorneys, the interrogations she faced leading up to this moment reflected their everyday struggles in and out of the legal arena. Some Black women like Janelle Rolle, a first-year student at UF Levin College of Law, believed the questioning highlighted the scrutiny that Black women endure despite their outstanding merit and qualifications.
A conference room on the ground floor of the hall was named Thursday afternoon after one of UF’s first history and economics professors Enoch Marvin Banks.
The secret scene of organized chaos, accented with lonely Exacto knives and abandoned t-squares scattered across the atrium’s cement floor, may be unfamiliar to many UF students. But every Spring, second-year architecture majors face PIN UP, a daunting task that determines if they continue in UF’s architecture program.
For more than 20 years, environmental organizations have called attention to the threats pollution and over pumping pose to the Santa Fe River. The river is home to more than 30 springs and provides habitat for a wide range of diverse flora and fauna. The Spring Fling event, hosted by several environmental conservation organizations, including Stand Up 4 Springs and the Public Interest Communications Student Association’s Florida Springs project, hopes to combat some of the damages. It will take place April 22 starting at 8:30 a.m. at Canoe Launch in Canoe Outpost High Springs.
Graduate Assistants United at UF protested for increased wages after delayed attempts at bargaining. GAU normally reopens salary negotiations with UF at the beginning of every Fall semester, but the university has since delayed a deal twice, each for 90 days. About 70 people showed up for support, including City Commissioner David Arreola, and a few attendees walked up the building's stairs to give speeches on their struggles. For two hours, attendees chanted phrases like “Top 5 school, Top 5 pay” and “gator pay bites” in hopes the university administration would agree to another bargaining session.
Every Tuesday evening on the ground floor of the Reitz Union, the UF Student Government Senate meets to discuss and vote on legislation. During meetings, some Senators play computer games like Octagon, do homework in Canvas or scroll through social media. Seven bills have passed this semester and seven bills were passed last semester, compared to 19 last Spring.
Eight professors spoke out in November about their rights being barred by the university, raising questions about the institution’s independence from the state government. Since then, students and faculty have been working to spark change around the campus. The United Faculty of Florida, UF Young Democratic Socialists of America, UF College Democrats and the United Campus Workers organized the coalition and the outdoor event.
Flyers with COVID-19 statistics are being swapped out for artistic displays. A UF-funded arts and vaccine confidence project on campus aims to spread accurate information about COVID-19 and vaccines as part of a larger campaign.
Santa Fe College upholds its plans to host a limited-capacity graduation ceremony in April despite lifting all COVID-19 restrictions. Santa Fe lifted COVID-19 precautions related to serving food, onsite class size and event size across all SFC properties Monday. However, graduates will still be socially distanced at their April celebrations.
Since Wednesday, UF no longer recommends or expects students to wear masks but welcomes them to mask if they choose to. UF released new masking guidance due to a decline in local and nationwide COVID-19 case numbers.
Johnson, 22, has been accused of felony sexual assault and has been under investigation for four weeks, according to a WUFT report. Johnson’s accuser, 19, who remains anonymous, claims Johnson assaulted her while she was intoxicated at a pool party Feb. 26. In a controlled phone call, an investigation tactic used by police, Johnson admitted he was aware of the accuser’s drunken state.
Beyond normal repercussions for cheating and honor code violations, students can be sued for sharing course content violating copyright laws. David Berkovitz, Chapman University professor, filed a lawsuit March 10 against unknown students for posting his exam prompts on Course Hero, a subscription-based website where students share content from their college classes, according to The Washington Post.
The ACCENT Speaker’s Bureau event was the Student Government agency’s second guest of the semester. Howie Mandel spoke with UF’s journalism department Chair Ted Spiker Feb. 28.
UF no longer expects or encourages wearing masks on campus. Now, the university supports and welcomes masks if people choose to wear them.
Solutions by The State News
