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Following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor a little over a year ago and one day before Juneteenth, University of Florida President Kent Fuchs announced 15 anti-racism goals UF would pursue to create a more equitable campus. Spread across three categories of education, history and representation, the 15 covered both short-term and long-term goals for students, workers and the university as a whole. They can be found online at statements.ufl.edu. Some, like eliminating the Gator Bait cheer at sports events and bringing more diverse speakers and artists to campus, saw change quickly. But others, like improving recruitment and retention of Black students and faculty and reviewing UF s honorary namings and system, have a long way to go. ....
O Connell and Reitz, both former university presidents, were practical segregationists who relied on tokenism, empty promises, and slow movement to stall the integration of the University of Florida s student body and faculty, according to a 2011 article published in the academic journal Florida Historical Quarterly. Nevertheless, two of the university s most prominent buildings the Reitz Union and the O Connell Center arena continue to display their names. J. Wayne Reitz became the university s president in 1955, one year after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision that deemed racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. Nevertheless, according to the Florida Historical Quarterly article by Jessica Clawson, Reitz did not prioritize integration at UF until 1962, when he quietly admitted seven Black undergraduate students. ....
University of Florida students and protestors announced Wednesday afternoon that they would occupy the J. Wayne Reitz Union until their demands for a more equitable university food service contract are met. Ava Kaplan, a UF sophomore studying political science who is one of the event organizers, said they had a plan and were prepared to deal with conflict and police if necessary but would not specify details to help protect the group. The point of an occupation is to disrupt enough that they will actually listen to us, she said. We re not leaving. About 21 people filled the hallway outside of and below UF s Business Services division inside the Reitz Union when the announcement was made at 4 p.m. Ten of them, all with the local activist coalition the Food Justice League, planned to spend at least the night and following two days there, Kaplan said. ....
Earth Day 2021, this year s observance lauding nature conservation and appreciation, is Thursday and there are several ways people can honor it in Alachua County despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The annual holiday celebrates the start of the modern environmental movement. It began in 1970 with a Wisconsin junior senator and has grown to include over 1 billion participants in more than 190 countries worldwide, according to the organization s website. The first Earth Day helped create the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and legislation like the Clean Air Act. In 1990, it grew outside of the country. And now, it is the largest non-religious observance in the world, the website states. ....
One northeast Gainesville polling station is temporarily being relocated for the city’s upcoming election on March 16. Voters living in Precinct 27, who are assigned to vote at the Thelma Boltin Center, will instead vote Tuesday at the Thomas Center, 302 NE Sixth Ave. Voters within the affected precinct were mailed letters notifying them of the change at the end of February. The Thelma Boltin Center is undergoing renovations, and Precinct 27 will return to that location following this election. In addition to the temporary polling place for Precinct 27, several precincts are combined during City of Gainesville elections. They are as follows: Precinct 30 voters residing in Gainesville city limits will vote at Precinct 13 (Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, 2505 NE Eighth Ave.) ....