By Sarah Breske |
April 15, 2021
Procrastinating Americans woke up on that April day knowing their taxes were due. President Richard Nixon had just eased a trade embargo on China. The Supreme Court was deciding whether busing was a constitutional means to desegregate American schools. In a few months, the voting age would be lowered to 18, and The New York Times would expose government secrets by publishing the Pentagon Papers, making the Vietnam War even more unpopular with the public. In Florida, Walt Disney World would open its doors, forever changing the tourism landscape of the state.
Thirteen years had passed since the University of Florida admitted its first Black student. Eight years had passed since Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the Mall in Washington; seven since Lyndon B. Johnson signed the landmark Civil Rights Act; and three since King was assassinated.
/ Black students assemble in front of Tigert Hall on the morning of April 15, 1971, in preparation for their confrontation with Stephen O Connell.
On April 15, 1971, a group of Black students marched to Tigert Hall with six demands in hand. Then-UF President Stephen C. O Connell threatened to suspend them all unless they vacated the premises immediately, and the students ended up in jail.
Procrastinating Americans woke up on that April day knowing their taxes were due. President Richard Nixon had just eased a trade embargo on China. The Supreme Court was deciding whether busing was a constitutional means to desegregate American schools. In a few months, the voting age would be lowered to 18, and The New York Times would expose government secrets by publishing the Pentagon Papers, making the Vietnam War even more unpopular with the public. In Florida, Walt Disney World would open its doors, forever changing the tourism landscape of the state.
Opinion: I was a freshman at UF during the Gainesville student murders over 30 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday
ABC s 20/20 will look back at the murders that shook North Florida, and America at 9 p.m. Friday on ABC25. Author: Neal Bennett Updated: 4:05 PM EDT April 7, 2021
GAINESVILLE, Fla. It was a warm late August Monday in 1990. My first day as a college student at the University of Florida. I was walking down Museum Road from my dorm room in Hume Hall to my first college class in Norman Hall when I learned about the tragedy. A student handed me a piece of paper with the masthead of the
Students recap one year since COVID-19
Classes, friendships and campus life have transformed in the last year March 8, 2021 | 6:45am EST
Lillie Rooney, a 20-year-old UF Entomology senior, sits on RTS Bus 35 at the J. Wayne Reitz Union stop on campus on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. RTS is adding more buses to existing routes 12, 13, 20 and 38, continuing mask mandates and keeping capacities low for buses this Spring. Photo by Julia Cooper | The Independent Florida Alligator
Nearly a year after the COVID-19 pandemic spread to UF and caused a campus shutdown, students are still grappling with the challenges of the last year and ongoing restrictions.
The University of Florida Board of Trustees is expected to adopt the new Campus Development Agreement, which outlines plans for university growth and land use, in March 2021. Here s what you should know about the proposed changes in the meantime.
Housing
Linda B. Dixon, director of planning with the UF office of Planning, Design & Construction, said a new honors hall will be built in the space currently taken up by the Broward Outdoor Recreational Complex s tennis courts and pool for additional and upgraded housing.
Like the current honors housing in Hume Hall, the new building will hold a mix of honors and general undergraduate students, according to Sara Tanner, marketing and communications director for UF Housing & Residence Education. Hume will still house other undergraduate students, just not anyone in the honors program, she said.