Gregorio Ruiz-Perez - The Independent Florida Alligator

Paige Fultz, 20, nursing student at Santa Fe College, poses for a portrait in Plaza of the Americas on Sunday, April 17. Fultz, who is deaf, wears a cochlear implant.

NEWS | CAMPUS

Students with disabilities question UF’s accessibility efforts

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez and Lydia Parker | Apr. 18, 2022

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.

Members of the UF community protest for higher graduate assistant wages in front of Tigert Hall on Friday, April 1.

NEWS | CAMPUS

UF graduate assistants protest for better wages

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Apr. 4, 2022

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.

Roksolana Myktiuk, 25, a non-degree seeking UF women’s studies exchange student (left) and Sasha Nelson, 19, UF microbiology sophomore lead a group of about 30 in a minute of silence for the Ukrainian lives lost in their ongoing war with Russia on Thursday, March 3.

Esha Nair

NEWS | CAMPUS

Ukrainian students stand together against invasion happening back home

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Mar. 14, 2022

The conflict in Ukraine has displaced more than 4 million Ukranians and gained worldwide media attention.UF’s Ukrainian students have felt the negative effects of the invasion back home. Their loved ones are under attack and while their community in Gainesville is small, it has brought them closer together. There are only three Ukrainian international students at UF, Mykytiuk said.

Minca Davis

METRO

Historically Black Community, Porters Quarters, forced to reckon with gentrification

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 28, 2022

Although Burton admitted this development in Porters was a necessity and good to return to, a lot of recent changes weren’t welcomed by the community. Burton, along with other Porters residents, said it’s important that further development be responsible and consider the wants and needs of residents. She began to understand what was happening to the Porters community: gentrification.

UF students and community members gathered at Plaza of the Americas for a commemorative candlelight vigil to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting on Monday, Feb. 14.

Julia Coin

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT LIFE

March for Our Lives Gainesville holds vigil to remember mass shooting victims

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 16, 2022

The vigil, held at the Plaza of the Americas, commemorated the 14 students and three faculty who were killed during the 2018 Parkland shooting and the two students who passed after.

Gabrielle Adekunle (left), Change Party's presidential nominee, and Alexandra Quintana lead protestors down Fraternity Row on Friday, Feb. 4. The rally was held by Change Party to advocate for more emergency blue lights along Fraternity Row.

Ashleigh Lucas

NEWS | CAMPUS STUDENT GOVERNMENT

Communist Party and Change Party announce Party Platforms

By Maia Botek and Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 7, 2022

Students can vote for 50 senators and the Executive Cabinet in SG’s Spring election on Feb. 22 and 23. Five parties are registered: The Gator Party, Change Party, Communist Party, Keg Party and Waffle House Party. Polls will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on election days, per SG election codes. Students who are unable to vote in-person can request absentee ballots through an online form before 5 p.m. on Wednesday, said Supervisor of Elections Alexandra Stedman.

UF students, faculty and Black Student Union members wait for the Black History Month opening ceremony to begin at the Institute of Black Culture on Tuesday, Feb. 1.

Gregorio Ruiz-Perez

NEWS | CAMPUS

BSU holds opening ceremony to start off the celebrations for Black History Month

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Feb. 4, 2022

The Black Student Union hosted an opening ceremony to honor the start of Black History Month Tuesday. Nearly 50 UF community members, including students, faculty and the UF BSU, along with two guest speakers walked a small red carpet at the Institute of Black Culture across from UF campus.

UF students sit inside their Integrated Principles of Biology Two lecture on Friday, Jan. 14, 2021. Students have been re-adjusting to in-person classes amid a rise in COVID-19 cases.

Ashleigh Lucas

COVID 19 | UF

UF professors create online alternatives as COVID-19 empties classrooms

By Gregorio Ruiz-Perez | Jan. 18, 2022

Students who have to quarantine and miss class will be treated as being absent for any other sickness, according to an Aug. 18 campus brief.