Monday, Dec. 5

World Cup frenzy floods UF campus, Gainesville despite US elimination

FANS WERE UP EARLY TO WATCH US MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM

By Brandon Hernandez & Kyle Bumpers Alligator Staff Writers

Some fans wore classic jerseys. Others tied American flags around their necks as capes. Students waltzed around town in pajama pants. A bedazzled cowboy hat read “American made.”

The commonality between all these get-ups was three colors: red, white and blue.

Gainesville residents took to UF’s campus and nearby sports bars to watch the United States Men’s National Team on the largest stage it's been on in years. After failing to qualify for the World Cup in 2018, it advanced to the round of 16 where it fell to the Netherlands.

The Reitz Union was packed with USMNT and Netherlands fans who had their eyes glued to a white board where the match was projected. Other students and Gainesville residents chose to fill out nearby bars like The Social at Midtown and The Swamp Restaurant.

Unfortunately for fans watching the morning of Dec. 3, the U.S. couldn’t get past the Netherlands, losing 3-1, and ending its World Cup journey.

The World Cup, which started Nov. 20, is a soccer tournament of the highest national competition that takes place every four years, showcasing the world’s greatest players in the sport. The knockout stage of the 2022 World Cup began with the match between the U.S. and Netherlands, and competition will continue until

the final match Dec. 18.

The U.S.’ Nov. 29 match against Iran inspired various fans to show up for the Netherlands match, including Noah Almond, a 19-year-old UF industrial engineering freshman.

“[The crowd] was just everywhere,” Almond said. “It was just posted on everyone's stories, like everyone knew this was going on. I just wanted to be a part of it.”

The Instagram account Barstool Florida, a direct affiliate of Barstool Sports that covers UF, posted multiple videos of fans inside the student union Nov. 29 and received thousands of likes.

Jakob Ames, who operates the Florida Barstool accounts on both Instagram and Twitter, said someone sent in a video to him of people watching a Brazil match at the Reitz Nov. 28. The next day, Florida Barstool posted a meme telling its followers to “Pack the Reitz” for the U.S. match against Iran.

The rest was history.

“I’ve never seen the place that crowded,” Ames said. “Obviously, we wanted to support the USMNT, but the atmosphere at Reitz was really what we wanted to encourage. Everyone cheering and chanting felt like a taste of the Swamp.”

As many fans left disappointed Dec. 3 after the loss, a small group continued to cheer.

A handful of Dutch fans, wearing the iconic Netherlands orange jerseys, came out to support their team at the Reitz too.

Lars Roelofsen, a 22-year-old law exchange student from Linden, Netherlands, said watching the World Cup

WORLD CUP, PAGE 11

Jalen Kitna heads back to Texas pending child pornography trial

HE’S NO LONGER LISTED ON GATORS’ ROSTER

By Aidan Bush Alligator Staff Writer

After a brief career as backup Florida Gators quarterback, Jalen Kitna faces team dismissal, a UFcampus ban and potential jail time after being arrested on child pornography charges.

Just months before his first season playing as a redshirt freshman, Kitna allegedly joined and exchanged child pornography through online social media, according to an arrest report.

Kitna’s now under a trespass warning from UF campus — barred from entering any UF properties for the next three years. Kitna was also removed from the football team’s roster Dec. 2, indicating his dismissal from the program.

His $80,000 bond was paid Dec. 2, and he’ll be spending his pre-trial time at his family home in Texas, according to court records. His in-

SPORTS/SPECIAL/CUTOUT

Gators volleyball sweeps its way to round of 16

Story description finish with comma, pg#

The O’Connell Center hosted the first and second round. Read more on pg. 11

ternet access will also be monitored by Alachua County.

The arrest came as a surprise to some who know him.

Anthony Gonzales, a 20-yearold University of Arizona student who played football with Kitna in high school, said he was wellliked, courteous and very religious. Kitna’s father, former Seattle Seahawks quarterback Jon Kitna, was also very down-to-earth, he said. Jon Kitna played quarterback in the National Football League for more than a decade.

“He was liked by everybody,” Gonzales said, “He was one of those kids that’s just super polite.”

Kitna appeared in court Dec. 1 wearing a green suicide prevention gown after being put into custody the day prior.

Darry Lloyd, state attorney spokesperson, said Kitna could face a minimum of five years per sentence — though details of the case can make sentencing vary widely, he added.

Battle looms for faculty tenure review across Florida

FACULTY SENATE TO CONSIDER RESOLUTION

By Christian Casale Alligator Staff Writer

In January, the Florida Board of Governors will decide whether to adopt a regulation that would institute a tenure review every five years for faculty at Florida public universities.

The United Faculty of Florida union, which represents 25,000 faculty members and 8,000 graduate students across the state’s 12 public institutions, has signaled the regulation — called 10.003 — in its current form would be a blow to academic freedom and faculty job security. The Board of Governors, on the other hand, say it’s a way to ensure the best educators are tenured and to reward faculty who deserve recognition.

Faculty at UF already go through a post-tenure review process — the Sustained Performance Evaluation Program (SPEP). Every seven years, faculty members are evaluated by their department chair, their dean and the university

Santa Fe College a hub for continued learning

provost.

The 10.003 proposal would replace UF’s SPEP with a statewide program where faculty go through a review every five years, their tenure status is determined by requirements such as history of professional conduct, accomplishment and productivity in their assigned duties, and adherence to state law, among others.

Pamela Gilbert, a UF English professor, said based on her experience in academic tenure reviews, the new regulation is likely politically motivated.

“It's redundant and pointless except for its sort of political content,” Gilbert said. “It basically takes power away from faculty governance, which is bad for the academic standing of the university.”

Gilbert pointed out a specific provision of 10.003 that stipulates a review of a “faculty member’s non-compliance with state law; Board of Governors’ regulations; and university regulations and policies.”

It's already expected for faculty to obey the law, and it seems likely

Students over 25 shatter stereotypes of college students at Gainesville’s community college, pg. 6

Alligator seniors say goodbye

The Editor-in-Chief, Enterprise Editor, Elections Reporter and Metro Editor reflect on successful semesters at the paper, pg. 8

that the real issue at play is about free speech, she said.

Although the review requirements state a faculty member’s ideological and political viewpoints aren’t to be considered or discriminated against, violation of a state law such as House Bill 7 — known colloquially as the “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act — could jeopardize a professor’s tenure status.

HB 7, which hinges on controversial topics like academic freedom and curriculum related to topics like injustice and racism, is currently held up in court — a judge issued a temporary injunction against it in November.

The law’s language is vague, Gilbert said. She fears it could further complicate faculty uncertainty about what kind of curriculum they’re able to put forward.

Tim Cerio, chair of the BOG’s committee on academic and student affairs and a supporter of the BOG’s regulation, said its primary purposes were to crackdown on faculty he said were serial nonperformers or guilty of misconduct

Ryan Friedenberg // Alligator Staff

Spectators fill three stories of the Reitz Union to watch the World Cup match between the US and the Netherlands Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022.

International students weigh in on US gun culture

UVA mass shooting prompts discussion

By Christian Casale Alligator Staff Writer

Pla Navapan was confused the first time her Mississippi high school conducted a mass shooting drill.

Back home in Thailand, assault weapons are banned and there’s a limit on the amount of guns and ammunition that can be sold to civilians — though those regulations haven’t stopped major mass shootings in recent years.

“It shocked me,” the 21-year-old UF aerospace engineering student said. “This is something I would never expect from a place that should be safe.”

School shootings have become increasingly common in the U.S. over the last two decades, leaving many students to adapt to stricter safety measures in the classroom. However, the cycle of violence isn’t something many international students relate to back home.

Specifically at universities, where lives are meant to begin and students grow into who they’re meant to be, lives were extinguished before that chance.

In a November shooting, three students were killed at the University of Virginia. Around seven years prior, 10 students were killed at an Oregon community college. In the largest school shooting in American history, at Virginia Tech in 2007, 32 lives were ended by a fellow student.

For UF international students, the idea of being vigilant to the threat of shootings is a new experience, and definitely an unwelcome one.

Navapan has found herself hyper-aware of the average American’s accessibility to guns, she said.

When she wants to yell at somebody for driving poorly around town, she has to stop and remind herself that they might have a gun in their car.

The idea of people owning guns to ensure their rights are protected from the government confuses her, she said.

“It shows some sort of failure [on the part of] the government because people don't trust them enough to have a system they can rely on,” Navapan said.

Kiara Xhindi, a 22-year-old biomedical engineering senior, came to UF from Albania. She didn’t even know guns were legal in the U.S. before she came here for her education, she said.

“Where I come from, if you hold a gun, you're another policeman or a criminal,” Xhindi said, with noted exceptions for some hunters.

When Xhindi thinks about whether she wants to stay in the U.S. after she graduates, the country’s gun culture makes her hesitant, she said. She’s not comfortable with the fact that anyone around her could be carrying a gun.

In Vlorë, the Albanian coastal town where Xhindi is from, she said she always felt safe walking the streets at night. She doesn’t feel the same way about Gainesville.

“My mother doesn't believe me because she thinks the U.S. is a much better place to be in,” Xhindi said. “I'm like, ‘Mom, I'm telling you it's so much safer in Albania.’ Because, of course, there are criminals. But unless you are involved in criminal activity, you're safe.”

Xhindi thinks there’s a high correlation between mass shootings and the normalization of guns in the home, which she said increases the opportunity for children to gain

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access. A major culture shock coming to the U.S. was the thought that a normal child could show up one day with a gun, she said.

Robert Rice, a 22-year-old UF data science and mathematics sophomore, grew up in Serbia and spent two years of secondary school in Germany before coming to the U.S. He can understand certain aspects of American gun culture when it comes to protection against government oppression, he said.

“If we look back in history, many times there is a system of oppression imposed on the people,” Rice said. “It wouldn't be avoidable if the people had guns and their own militia.”

He felt the country’s culture — which he believes is predicated on people having achieved either cutthroat success or suffering devastating downfall — and accessibility to guns is a bad combination, he said. While working at Walmart, which sells guns, Rice said he sometimes felt uneasy about the people he would encounter there.

“Working in Walmart, many times you see people, and looking at them in their eyes, you can sometimes see there's something homicidal about them,” Rice said. “One wrong word and it can be the end of you. That’s very unstable.”

@vanityhack ccasale@alligator.org

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Released on bail

9:55 a.m. at his apartment Nov. 30 by GPD, according to the arrest report.

attorneys representing Kitna, declined to talk about specifics of the case, but said he and Kitna’s family are prioritizing the 19-year-old’s well-being.

“We’re looking at the evidence as it’s presented to us by Gainesville police,” Lloyd said.

Law enforcement began investigating Kitna after his account was reported in June for sending child pornography over the online instant messaging service Discord, according to an arrest report.

The Gainesville Police Department took on the case July 8, several months before his arrest Nov. 30. The investigation took months because GPD only has one Internet Crimes Against Children detective; they saw 205 cases this year, GPD spokesperson David Chudzik said.

Images shared in connection with Kitna’s account showed pubescent girls exposing themselves, captioned with “teen age p-–y so young junior.”

GPD couldn’t confirm the ages of the children in the photos, Chudzik said.

Kitna sent two pornographic images to another Discord user, whose name is redacted in the arrest report.

The 19-year-old was arrested at

Kitna told investigators he recalled having the Discord conversation and believed the photos he sent were legal, the arrest report shows.

He received an email following the conversation that his Discord account was deactivated due to violation of terms of service, according to the arrest report.

There, Kitna admitted to struggling with an addiction to child sexual abuse material, incest and other pornography, according to the affidavit.

He previously joined groups on the private messaging app Kik that discussed and distributed child sexual abuse material along with his current use of Discord, he said, though he “tries to shy away from it,” according to the report.

When his phone was searched, officers recovered three images of child pornography.

Kitna currently is charged with three charges of possession of sexual photos of a child and two charges of promotion of sexual media of a child.

Ron Kozlowski, one of the city

“Our concern at the moment is Jalen and making sure he gets the support he needs,” Kozlowski said.

The arrest isn’t a first for UF football history — prior players have seen criminal charges as minor as traffic violations to charges as grave as murder.

But some football fans felt distinctly disappointed toward Kitna’s allegations.

Finn Hanley, a 20-year-old UF math junior, said Kitna’s child pornography charges shouldn’t reflect the rest of UF football.

“I think he’s a sick man,” Hanley said. “I wouldn’t throw the rest of the football team in with that one.”

Between the initial Discord conversation and Kitna’s arrest, he appeared in four of Florida’s games — Eastern Washington, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Florida State.

Kitna was offered his scholarship Jan. 9, 2020. His recruitment was handled by the Gators’ previous coaching staff led by former head coach Dan Mullen. Kitna also fielded offers from Colorado, Tennessee, Arizona, Boston College, Oregon State, Cornell and Yale.

Kitna never saw the field during

his freshman year on the football team and was granted a redshirt — signifying the season didn’t count toward his overall eligibility. Now a redshirt freshman, Kitna saw increased playing time when called upon in relief of the Gators’ starting quarterback Anthony Richardson.

The state is required to be ready for trial by May 24, 2023, but the actual trial could be further out. As of Thursday afternoon, Kitna’s next hearing hasn’t yet been scheduled.

@aidandisto abush@alligator.org

Nationwide shootings prompt Alachua County school safety expansion

State legislation takes action against public school violence

By Sophia Bailly Alligator Staff Writer

About a month into the 2021 school year, Gainesville High School students evacuated to a nearby Lowe’s during the first of four false bomb threats that Fall.

Eliza Acharya, an 18-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology freshman, was a senior at GHS at the time of the bomb threats. All the threats were called in by students, causing schoolwide evacuations before police secured the area and determined the threats to be false.

“I was scared to go to school,” Acharya said. “Before you know it’s students that are doing that, it is terrifying. It happened for the first time in the four years that I went there.”

There have been 620 U.S. mass shootings as of Dec. 4, according to the Gun Violence Archives. With many shootings taking place on school grounds — like the May 24 Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that made national headlines — students like Acharya are reevaluating how safe they feel at school.

Acharya began her Alachua County public school education in 2015 and said the ALICE protocol has always been in place during her time. ALICE stands for “Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.”

The five-step process is reviewed during monthly classroom drills.

“Just like we have fire drills, they had ALICE drills,” Acharya said. “During those, in whichever classroom you end up in, the teacher goes over the procedures for the classroom we're in. They'll remind us where we go if you have to evacuate or how to barricade the doors.”

The school evacuated during the first two bomb threats of the school year. Based on the mass flood of students trying to get to safety, Acharya said, administration developed ways to limit crowding at evacuation sites.

“You could see the different faults in the actual systems,” Acharya said.

After police checked cars for weapons, bombs or dangerous substances, students who walked or drove to school would be released. Students who relied on busing would have to wait for transportation to arrive.

Acharya noticed a rise in on-campus violence and threats, including fights during lunch.

“I'm not quite sure why,” Acharya said. “Because of the pandemic we just started having to go back to school. Maybe it was because it was one aftermath of the pandemic in the big picture.”

The Center for Homeland Defense and Security found that there were 112 non-active shooter cases in the U.S. That number jumped to 240 in 2021. Law enforcement officials have cited isolation, remote learning, and struggles as pandemic-related reasons for an increase in on-campus violence, according to NBC 6.

For Idylwild Elementary School resource officer Cary Gallop, maintaining transparency, communication and relationships with students is key to keeping schools safe.

“When children first meet me, they ask me if I'm there to arrest them,” he said. “I always tell them ‘I'm here to protect you. I'm here to protect you from what we hope never happens.’”

Alachua County Public School’s Office of Safety and Security requires an SRO to be stationed at all schools and requires training for all employees and students to be prepared for an active threat on campus.

School resource officers can make oncampus arrests, but they primarily work with school administrators to maintain a safe learning environment for students. SROs also de-escalate conflict between students, teach law-related topics in classrooms and investigate potential crimes that exist on or around school grounds.

“Your primary role is to protect,” Gallop said. “We're there to help keep danger from hurting their children because of what we've seen progressively getting worse over the years across the United States.”

Since the Columbine High School mass shooting in 1999, school shootings have changed the trajectory of how school officers carry out their everyday jobs, he said.

“We're seeing the escalation in violence on campuses,” Gallop said.

Douglas Pelton was appointed the new ACPS school safety specialist Oct. 4. He previously worked for the Orange County Police Department, developing their canine and weapon screening programs.

Pelton began his Florida law enforcement career in 1995. Following the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, he decided to change career directions and focus on school safety, he said. When he saw the open position in Alachua County to oversee the entire school district, he said he took the leap.

“School safety has a lot to do with prevention and early intervention,” Pelton said. “Instead of a state of fear, we need to be in a state of preparedness.”

As the county safety specialist, Pelton works with the Alachua County Sheriff’s Department, Alachua County Police Department, Gainesville Police Department and High Springs Police Department to oversee the function and safety of charter schools and public schools. He’s been tasked with adapting safety standards in the wake of changing state mandates.

State mandates are evolving because of security concerns heightened in the aftermath of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting that killed 17 people, Pelton said. The MSD High School Public Safety Act has four years of legislative measures.

The legislative measures prioritize SRO protection for students, increase school counselor involvement in disciplinary measures, require de-escalation training for anyone armed on campuses and enforce

annual drug screening and psychological testing for anyone armed on campus.

Senate Bill 70, also known as Alyssa’s Law, went into effect July 2020, which requires schools to use an “Alyssa’s Alert” system that connects schools with emergency services and 911 dispatches.

“It basically creates another avenue for individuals who may be in a situation where they need assistance,” Pelton said.

The Florida Department of Education conducts evaluations throughout all districts to ensure school safety specialists are complying with Florida statutes, Pelton said. The Florida Safe Schools Assessment Tool is an online platform that provides school safety strategies and analysis for school districts.

Anntwanique Edwards, ACPS chief of equity, inclusion and community engagement, said she envisions school safety strategies that focus on more communication between schools and parents.

She helped create quarterly Parent Empowerment Summits, which allows parents to learn about different topics with ACPS administration. She met with ACPS’s Educational Equity Director and Title I office to discuss important topics for parents to learn about.

“I'm a believer in the village,” Edwards said. “I'm a believer that we should be working together, hand in hand, side by side. When we do that together, we're stronger as a community.”

ACPS’ first Parent Empowerment Summit in August focused on mental health.

On Oct. 25, Gallop gave a presentation on cyber safety at the second summit at Newberry High School.

The next summit will be held in the spring at Citizens Field.

“Parents should know that they have the support of the school district, and the school district should know it has supportive parents,” Edwards said.

Rae Riiska // Alligator Staff Florida quarterback Jalen Kitna runs the ball against the Florida State Seminoles Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. Kitna is dismissed from the Gators football team after being arrested on child pornography charges.

Student Government closes out Fall semester

SEMESTER HINTS TOWARD UNPREDICTABLE SPRING

By Alissa Gary Alligator Staff Writer

The Fall semester in Student Government — marked with budget controversies and calls for impeachment of the student body president — has set the stage for a contentious spring election.

The fall election saw the minority Change Party win 27 of the 50 available Fall Senate seats, leaving it with a stronger voice in SG than it had in the past and decreasing the Gator Party’s majority, despite Gator’s misconduct allegations on the Change side.

Minority Party Leader Faith Corbett (Change-District C) credited the Change win to students’ concern with Josh Richards’ $60,000 Accent speech, student organization funding challenges and a lack of 24-hour campus libraries.

“Students want to see senators who are willing to represent the purest form of students’ best interests — that being where we put their $19 per credit hour and how we engage with them outside of the election cycle,” Corbett said.

Student Body President Lauren Lemasters’ vote in favor of President-elect Ben Sasse caused students to confront Lemasters on her vote and drew condemnation from fellow SG officials, including in the executive branch.

Change introduced a resolution to impeach Lemasters, but it failed in the Judiciary Committee in mid-November.

Despite a mixed student sentiment on SG as a whole, the executive branch has sponsored freshman welcome events, a first gen-

eration student week and diversity workshops reaching more than 1,100 students, according to Vice President Daniel Badell and Students Taking Action Against Racism agency head Alejandro Ortiz.

Additionally, in the State of the Campus address, which revisited several SG accomplishments from the semester, Lemasters vowed to see through a 24-hour library initiative.

From Ortiz’s two years of SG experience, elected officials work for the students’ and

university’s greater good, he said.

“I am surrounded by people that are committed with the well-being of every single student in the University of Florida,” Ortiz said. “And we will keep working towards the improvement of our university through constant, tangible and plausible action.”

Looking toward the Spring, Ortiz, who previously worked as the Gator campaign treasurer, said the party hopes to make a diverse group of students feel welcome and valued on

campus — and its executive ticket should reflect that goal.

“Leaders are capable of bringing together people with very different opinions because our campus is a very diverse place,” Ortiz said. “We all deserve to move forward as a single student body, not as a fragmented student body.”

Corbett sees a spring Change win as a possibility, she said, though it’s not guaranteed. If Change were to win the executive ticket, it would remove Gator from its three-year control of the branch.

“I don’t think any Change senator is seeing the fall as something that was given to them,” Corbett said. “I think it was something that was worked for.”

Although Ortiz doesn’t know how the spring election will pan out, he remains certain the SG officials he works with remain committed to making the university more welcoming for students.

As the semester closes, SG is hosting a coalescence summit to bring together LGBTQ leaders, student organizations and faculty to discuss LGBTQ issues on campus Dec. 9. In the spring, agencies like STAAR are looking to expand ambassador programs to create more dialogue around diversity, equity and inclusion in student organizations and Greek life.

Ortiz advised all students to vote in the spring election no matter who they vote for.

“Student Government is a very complex structure,” Ortiz said. “They need to go out and vote. It’s important because that’s the base of our political system. I trust that every single student has the agency to make the right choice.”

@AlissaGary1 agary@alligator.org

UF law students build back student life after pandemic

Student organizations continue to improve culture

By Siena Duncan Alligator Staff Writer

For the tens of thousands of dollars some pay to attend the UF College of Law, the student experience was an integral part of getting the most out of their education — three years ago. Student life took a massive hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the walkways of UF Levin College of Law were lined with tables for over 50 student organizations and professional groups this September. It was the first club fair the college had put on since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.

As the semester comes to a close, this resurgence at one event has turned out to be part of a greater movement among UF law students, said M Smith, assistant dean for inclusion at the law school. The return of student life to the law school campus was sudden, but it was embraced with open arms by administration.

“It was like we opened the floodgates at the beginning of the semester,” Smith said. “Welcome back to the land of the newly engaged.”

When UF classes went fully online Fall 2020 during the pandemic,

student life was impacted across the board, Smith said. Many club meetings moved to Zoom, and some organizations fell stagnant without in-person events to rely on.

When campus reopened and classes, clubs and other events returned to in-person or hybrid options during Fall 2021 and Spring 2022, the law school was still quiet. As UF student life attempted to return to normalcy, law students remained cautious, Smith said.

They would head to classes and then go straight back home. It was rare to see someone stop by for lunch in the cafeteria, let alone go to an in-person club meeting. While undergraduate students attended club fairs and tabling events, the majority of the law organizations stuck to Zoom.

The caution was understandable, but the emptiness was saddening, compared to days when big picnics hosted by students were an everyday occurrence, Smith added.

“It was still a little bit of a ghost town around here,” they said.

For the law school’s 700-person population — which makes it small enough for some to call it “Levin High” — losing that sense of community was a blow. But when Andy

Garcia was elected president of the UF Student Bar Association this semester, he made it a goal to bring it back.

The UF SBA works similarly to UF Student Government with elected representatives from each class: first years, called 1Ls; second years, called 2Ls; and third years, called 3Ls. It puts on events for the student body and funds various student organizations.

As a second-year law student, Garcia’s 1L experience had been that dry spell of student involvement during the pandemic.

He wanted to provide a different experience for the incoming class, he said. So, he and the rest of his executive board met and decided to more than double the amount of 1L representative seats, from seven to 15.

The move was met with a wave of first-year law students eager to participate, he said. They had 30 candidates for the 15 seats, meaning none went uncontested. Elections were unexpectedly rigorous this semester for Garcia and the rest of the candidates, he said.

With a new set of 40 SBA members, Garcia said the ability for the association to start reaching out to

students became much easier. SBA organized a mental health awareness week with events like a field day and an arts and crafts day during October.

It’s now in the process of organizing a diversity week with other student organizations during Spring, something Smith said the law school hasn’t done since the pandemic. It also regularly organizes meet and greets with various faculty and administration to help students network.

“More ideas are floating around,” Garcia said. “There’s more synergy. There’s more happening.”

Improving student life is good for any university campus, but it’s especially important for law students, Garcia said. Each class has a fixed number of A’s, B’s and C’s to give out. For Garcia, that means the competitive aspect of his education can become overwhelming. It can be easy to get caught up in constant competition for grades and jobs, he said.

“That breeds some nasty things in law school,” he said. “And the only way to cope with that is that sense of community.”

Second-year law student Frank Gonzalez agrees, he said.

A friend of Garcia’s, Gonzalez has also been part of the boom in student life as the president of the UF Latino Law Student Association. Affinity groups like LLSA, the Black Law Students Association and OutLaw, the LGBTQ group for law students, have all seen a rise in student engagement this semester, Smith said.

For Gonzalez, a Latino law student, helping LLSA expand has been important to him. Often, the people he interacts with at meetings are first-generation students. Forging a community at Levin High with people who understand your culture and your experiences can vastly improve a UF Latino law student’s education, he said.

Now that LLSA’s presence has been solidified, Gonzalez hopes to improve outreach to UF’s pre-law Latino students as well. The executive board is currently organizing a mentor program for LLSA members to form relationships with undergraduate students.

“A lot of these kids are firstgeneration professionals, citizens, immigrants,” Gonzalez said. “They have to make their own strides. That requires experience that you’re not going to have until you meet someone that does.”

Minca Davis // Alligator Staff

Age no barrier to academic success for these Santa Fe College students

STUDENTS 25 OR OLDER MORE LIKELY TO ATTEND COMMUNITY COLLEGES

By Claire Grunewald Alligator Staff Writer

Dominic Perry isn’t your traditional Santa Fe College student. Unlike many of his peers, he started his degree in 2018 — at 33 years old.

Perry, now 37, is working towards earning his bachelor’s in information technology security, which will be his third degree from SFC. His motivation to start at the college was to have a better career and provide for his family, he said.

“My biggest concern was that I didn’t think I would be able to keep up with everything,” Perry said. “I did have worries about how I would balance schoolwork and family, but I was able to adjust and get it done.”

SFC welcomes students of all ages. Students older than 25 made up more than 20% of SFC’s Fall 2021 enrollment. This amount has remained consistent throughout the years at the college, according to the Santa Fe factbook. Nonetheless, older students have thrived in SFC’s diverse environment.

“Throughout my Santa Fe career, I’ve seen students as young as 17 and as old as 65,” Perry said.

Students ages 25 and older are more likely to enroll at two-year institutions over four-year institutions, according to the College Board, a not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity.

Bridging the gap for student parents is one priority of SFC’s resources, as they tend to be older. Three in five postsecondary education student parents are 30 and older, according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

The college offers lactation space, diaper changing stations, child care, a food pantry and more for students.

Sarah Blanc, SFC civic engagement and service specialist, sees students of all ages come to the college’s food pantry, Saints Food Share.

“I estimate that around 40% of Saints Food Share’s regular visitors are non-traditional students older than 25,” Blanc said. “Many of those non-traditional students are also caretakers for adult family members and children.”

Some students were even inspired to continue their college education because of their children.

Victoria Coggins, a 39-year-old SFC social work student, was signing her son up for his General Educational Development test at SFC and was motivated to finish her degree, she said. She started at the college in 2001 but never graduated.

“How better to show him that it’s possible than doing it myself,” Coggins said. “That has been a wonderful encouragement for my kids to be able to see that.”

At 17, Coggins attended SFC to study to become a teacher so that her schedule could align with her oldest child, who she said she had in high school. She didn’t finish her education until years later.

Then, Coggins’ therapist encouraged her to make a five-year plan, and she decided to add college to the list. It wasn’t until she was enrolling her son in 2019 that she realized she would go through with it, she said.

Coggins didn’t have many concerns about going back to school, despite not being the typical college student. The only challenge she faced was learning how to use a computer after growing up using paper and pencil, she said.

“Learning how to use the computer has been one of the most frustrating things, but it's also one of the things that I've been able to help other non-traditional students with,” Coggins said.

Coggins believes an advantage of being an older student is that she speaks more and asks questions in class, which encourages other students to open up in class as well, she said.

While balancing school and her family, Coggins also works at the SFC Davis Center as a program support specialist. She looks forward to graduating from SFC Dec. 9 and continuing her career at the center.

SFC alumni who attended college when they were older were inspired to continue their education in graduate schools.

Lavonia Merrell, a 57-year-old UF master’s of health administration student, graduated with her associate’s degree in 1993 and decided to go back and get her bachelor’s when she was 51 in 2016, she said.

Merrell was involved in a leadership program while working at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center and was motivated to continue her education.

As people get older, it’s definitely a concern that they might not fit in at a learning institution, Merrell said.

Merrell was worried about working with a team of students with an age difference, she said.

“At a younger age, they're learning and needing that experience, and it takes a lot of patience,” Merrell said. “Not that mother, father parenting patience [but] a real co-colleague patience to allow your colleagues to develop into a level where you may already be at.”

Merrell has come across many people who want to go back and finish their education like she did and encourages them to do so, she said.

“I said keep your dreams before you,” Merrell said. “You never know where things are going to go and where you’re going to end up.”

Merrell graduated from SFC in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in health services administration and plans to graduate from UF May 2023. She’s working toward becoming a health administrator in the elderly care industry.

LaTonya Middleton, a 50-year-old UF master’s of agribusiness student, attended SFC in 2010 and graduated with her associate's in 2017 and her bachelor’s in organizational management in 2019.

Middleton had previously attempted getting her education at SFC in the early 2000s, but it never worked out, she said.

While working full-time in the cosmetology business, she began thinking about seriously investing in her retirement and knew she needed to go to college to do so.

Middleton had no concerns about her age potentially being a barrier at SFC, she said.

“I didn’t have any reservations about that because I had a goal, and I knew what I wanted,” Middleton said.

Compared to younger students, she wasn’t as technologically savvy; however, she noticed younger students would make excuses when needing to get things accomplished, she said.

“There are many ways to get things accomplished,” Middleton said. “But when you're young, you don't really think outside of the box. So, in ways like that, I felt more advanced.”

With support from her mother and the rest of her family, Middleton graduated from SFC and will graduate from UF in Fall 2023.

Despite the odds, non-traditional students like Perry, Coggins, Merrell and Middleton continue to succeed in postsecondary education and encourage other students to do the same.

@grunewaldclaire cgrunewald@alligator.org

Tenure may not be guaranteed

TENURE,

from pg. 1

and incompetence. With a uniform, statewide system, Cerio said, it would be much easier to remove offending faculty members.

“It should not be easy to terminate a tenured faculty member,” Cerio said, stressing that faculty found to not be in accordance with the post-tenure review would be put on a performance improvement plan.

Faculty who fail to follow the plan's recommendations would be subject to termination, Cerio said.

Andrew Gothard, statewide President of the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) union, said he’s also concerned about language specifying faculty must follow state law as part of their tenure review.

It would allow the state to target faculty who violated laws that infringe on academic freedom, he said, and it represents an attempt to inject politics into tenure and higher education.

“This post-tenure review regu-

lation has a lot of very disturbing language in it,” Gothard said. “That indicates that the intention of the Board of Governors is not to improve tenure or to improve the higher education system, but it is to target and harm faculty.”

The state’s new post-tenure review was born out of Senate Bill 7044 in April.

Initially, the education bill was introduced into the Senate by Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, to regulate the accreditation policy of Florida public universities and to require information on textbooks and instructional materials from schools to be posted 45 days in advance to the beginning of class and kept public for five years.

But Diaz filed an amendment the day before the bill’s floor vote that would allow the BOG to mandate a uniform post-tenure review for the entire state — a process usually decided upon by the individual institutions.

In June, Diaz became Florida’s Education Commissioner after an appointment by Gov. Ron

DeSantis.

Gothard noted the bill only allowed the BOG to create a new post-tenure review; it didn’t mandate a new process. Institutions like UF already have a public SPEP-orequivalent process, he said, which are negotiated by local faculty and administrators according to the institution’s conditions and goals.

He pointed to language in the regulation that would give ultimate power in tenure to a university’s “chief academic officer,” rather than a traditional system of shared governance. This officer would be able to reject the recommendations of deans and department chairs.

Cerio wasn’t sure why the language in regulation doesn’t specify a provost, he said.

“When I think of a provost, I think of the chief academic officer,” Cerio said. “And I think that's the case at almost every university.”

Cerio, a supporter of the BOG’s regulation, said its primary purposes were to crackdown on faculty he said were serial nonperformers, or guilty of misconduct and incompetence. With a uniform, statewide system, Cerio said, it would be much easier to remove offending

faculty members.

A 10.003 draft was circulated to provosts and general counsels in the Florida university system, Cerio said. Through a UF spokesperson, the provost’s office declined to comment on its role in the final, proposed draft.

UFF plans to fight the proposal through public comment and coordinate with affiliates and allies at the university level, Gothard said.

“We know that faculty members across the state who have been involved in Faculty Senate and other sorts of shared governance, chaired governing bodies at institutions have been submitting their concerns and asking the Board of Governors to change direction,” Gothard said.

In an email to faculty on Nov. 30, Senate Faculty Chair Amanda Phalin said Senate leadership feels the best course of action for the BOG is to delay implementation of 10.003 until it has received appropriate input from faculty statewide and studied potential impact on recruitment and retention of faculty.

If implemented correctly, Cerio said 10.003 could actually aid in recruitment, whereby it rewards

good faculty members appropriately while firing incompetent ones.

“If we do this the right way,” he said, “I think it could be seen as a tool to recruit.”

The Faculty Senate will meet Dec. 6 to consider a resolution that states the redundancy of 10.003 and calls for the BOG not adopt it until four changes are made — the addition of a statement that supports academic freedom and tenure and identification of funding sources for post-tenure positive performance compensation.

While Phalin is glad the regulation includes language to additionally compensate faculty for their performance and of Cerio’s assurance that the intention of the new regulation is to reward faculty, she said she remains hesitant.

“The regulation itself, and the legislation that started that regulation, doesn't include any additional funding for this extra compensation,” Phalin said.

Read the rest online at alligator.org.

Namari Lock // Alligator Staff

Pictured from left to right: Dominic Perry, Victoria Coggins, LaTonya Middleton and Lavonia Merrell.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2022 www.alligator.org/section/the_avenue

Art fest encourages sex positivity, eliminating stigma among youth

5 local artists sold their work

By Lauren Brensel Avenue Staff Writer

Sex positivity means being 900% culturally conscious and 800% inclusive to Kai Christmas — at least according to the sex education nutritional facts T-shirt they wore Sunday at a Planned Parenthood art festival.

Paintings, embroideries and stickers were displayed outside The Bull from 2-5 p.m. when five artists showcased their work centered around body positivity, reproductive justice and sex education. The event, deemed the “Sex Positive Art Fest,” was hosted by Planned Parenthood of South, East and North Florida.

Kids are curious about sex, said Christmas, the 26-year-old regional organizer of Planned Parenthood.

“It is only when we get the hesitations and uncomfiness of adults around us that teach us that maybe this isn’t something we’re supposed to learn about,” Christmas said.

Forty people attended the fest, including six children who painted canvases and shaded coloring sheets with abstract genitalia designs.

In addition to the artists’ tables, there was a Planned Parenthood table embellished with sex education pamphlets, coloring sheets and

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children’s books like “C is for Consent” and “Sex is a Funny Word.”

When Christmas was the community health educator for the branch in 2017, they said, they tried to bring more sex education into public schools, but the attempts were unsuccessful.

“That doesn’t mean we aren’t doing sex ed in the community,” Christmas said. “It just looks a little bit different — It’s in after-school programs like your Boys and Girls Clubs; the Girls Place; your library.”

The fest was planned by Mal Lea, a 21-year-old Planned Parenthood intern. As a public health junior taking online courses at the University of South Florida, Lea said the Gainesville art scene was the perfect medium to help destigmatize sex.

It’s a need identified by the increasing number of people with sexually transmitted diseases in Florida, Lea said.

Alachua County had a higher rate of people with STDs than the state of Florida each year since 1970, according to data from the Florida Department of Health. In 2021, for every 100,000 people in Alachua, 1,370 had an STD.

Other counties that home universities have similar data. Leon, where Florida State University and Florida A&M University are locat-

ed, and Duval, where the University of North Florida is located, are two examples. For every 100,000 people in their counties, 1,659 in Leon and 1,326 in Duval had STDs in 2021. The 2021 state rate was about 754.

“A lot of these younger, college-town counties have higher rates of infection because they are so population dense,” Lea said. “Fifteen through 24 year olds – they’re starting life. They’re getting out in the world and making decisions for themselves, but some-

times they don’t have an educated decision.”

The festival’s artists ranged in experience selling their work.

Eva Garcia-Ferres, a 26-year-old UF psychology graduate student, said this was only her second time selling art in person. Her art, usually prints and stickers, centers around body positivity — depicting figures of all races and body types.

“I’ve caught myself making figures that rely on white standards of beauty, and I don’t share that value,” Garcia-Ferres said. “I want my art to reflect what I value and my ethics.”

Ally Esteban, a 20-year-old UF industrial and systems engineer junior, also focuses on body positivity in their art. They’ve dabbled in embroidery and printing since starting to sell art two years ago, they said.

Sex education is important for young people, especially in the queer community, Esteban said.

Though this was the first sex positive art fest the regional Planned Parenthood hosted, Christmas said they hoped it would become an annual affair.

“Art is so important to every facet of our lives,” they said. “It is also another area that is constantly put down and disregarded, so I guess in that way, these two things make sense when you put them together.”

@LaurenBrensel lbrensel@alligator.org

Sports editor says goodbye

Joseph Henry looks back on his time at The Alligator. Read more on pg. 11

Lauren Brensel // Alligator Staff Kai Christmas, regional organizer of Planned Parenthood, paints at the Sex Positive Art Fest Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022.

Thanks for taking a chance on me

Inever had a solid plan for when my time at The Alligator would come to an end.

Some people come in knowing they’ll only spend a semester to add to their portfolio. Other people know they can’t leave this newsroom until they’ve become editorin-chief.

I came in wanting neither — I just wanted to learn.

I came across the application for joining The Alligator almost exactly two years ago. I knew how prestigious and important the paper was. I wasn’t even a journalism major, so I didn’t expect much. I had fully come to terms that my Alligator career had come to an end before it even started.

Why would they take a chance on me?

A phone call offering me the opinions editor position changed that. For the next three semesters, I jumped to a new desk: opinions, university, socials and The Avenue.

Then, this Fall, another chance was taken on me to become editor-in-chief. After seeing various talented editor-in-chiefs step up to the plate, it was hard to imagine I’d be next.

Sure, there were moments that tested me. But there were so many more big moments to be proud of. Our staff took on midterm elections, Student Government elections, a couple hurricanes, Sen. Ben Sasse’s presidential rise to and a special abortion edition.

However, what I’ll truly miss are the little moments that made this semester special.

I’ll miss our eclectic newsroom. I’ll miss the Wah Ha Ha dinner breaks and the after-print night Wawa outings.

I’ll even miss what feels like constant knocking on my office door during print night, because behind that door is the face of someone on staff who I admire.

It could’ve been Jiselle coming with an update on a feature or Aurora saying a weeklong investigation was just wrapped up.

There’s a chance it would be Nora coming in with one of her enterprise reporters or Lucy returning from a trip around town looking for sources with a metro reporter. It could’ve even been Veronica just coming in to chat and “be a girl.”

Best of all, the people sitting right beside me would be Alan and Isabella, who were the best team I ever could have asked for. With them, I always felt steadfast in any decision. More importantly, I laughed more than ever with them, even when times were rough.

I was warned Week 16 would come quicker than I’d like. When you stare 16 long weeks in the face, that warning seems silly. But it’s true.

Over this semester, I’ve watched so many staff members — some I took a chance on — grow exponentially. There’s so many bright futures ahead in the Fall 2022 staff.

Unfortunately, I’ll have to cheer them on from afar. But I know they’re in good hands for future semesters because that’s the nature of The Alligator.

That’s a chance I’m willing to take.

Makiya Seminera was the Fall 2022 editor-in-chief.

Ajournalistisborn—fromherbedroom

I learned how to be a journalist in my sophomore year bedroom. I typed up breaking news briefs, missing gecko mysteries and protest recaps under my collaged poster wall. It was almost a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, and The Alligator staff was forced to work from behind computer screens and double masks.

It was tough covering the Gainesville community while mostly restricted from venturing into it. I spent hours combing through social media trying to reach community members and communicate my humanity through a short message:

“Hi, my name is Lucille Lannigan, and I’m a reporter for The Alligator. I’m writing a story, and I would like to talk to you about it.”

What I was trying to say was: Hi, I am a person just like you. I care about your views on this. I’m trying to learn about our community, and I need your help in doing so. Please trust me.

Some heard this message and some didn’t, but for everyone who did: I feel extreme gratitude. They’re the reason I keep reporting and writing. They’re the reason I love storytelling.

Most nights, I went to bed with a stressed knot in my stomach. I lay awake with concerns that I wasn’t doing enough or that I was letting people down.

Twice a week, I sat on staff Zoom calls, squinting at my screen trying to glimpse the faces of my peers. Were they as stressed as me? Were they doing okay?

It was isolating for sure. But at the same time, I had never felt more connected to Gainesville. Through countless phone calls and Zoom interviews, and the occasional in-person visit, I began to unearth an entire community. The people and subjects I wrote

How to sprint through a marathon Column

When you’re crouched at the starting line and the signal to run sounds off, I imagine you only have two options — freeze or fly.

I’ve never run in a competitive race, but I worked at The Alligator. That’s close enough.

A year writing arts and culture stories at the Avenue — my forever home — evolved into a desk editor stint, and after a quick semester reprieve, I flung myself into the managing editor seat for one terrifying, perfect summer. The return of the legendary enterprise desk and a last-minute application led me to elections reporting, where I could finally put my political science degree to good use and go out with a bang.

And for six incredible semesters, I ran. That’s the name of the game here. We’re all racing against the news — an opponent that never stops — and to sprint is to survive.

The news is cyclical. It’s a four-time New York City Marathon winner that takes 20 miles a day like a champ. It runs round and round the track, and it’s always ahead of you. The best bet is to lace your Nikes and try to keep up.

The Alligator is cyclical, too. Staff switches out every semester, and the revolving door of reporters and editors never stops spinning. The Alligator is a mechanism that moves on its own, and you have to move with it to stay on your feet.

Beloved headlines and ledes get cut. Sources ghost. Editors grovel. Friends become footnotes.

The people you looked up to in your first days fade into a collection of bylines in the archives, just like you will. But you’re on Alligator time, and you’ve got to motor.

Alligator time is tricky. The clock moves too slowly on a print night until it doesn’t. Deadline is days away until it isn’t. It’s time to apply again, and again, and again until your time is up.

That’s the blessing and the curse of this paper. It lets you in on its little secrets, shows you all the possibilities that journalism offers in a town like Gainesville, introduces you to some of the most wonderful people you’ll ever meet, and then it takes it all away. And it doesn’t let you stay angry about that — not when you’re running too fast to hold onto any grudges.

Of all the invaluable lessons I learned at The Alligator, that might be the most important one: When you’re full speed ahead, there’s not much time to mourn what you left behind.

I’ve got a cap to toss, a job to land, another race to run. The Alligator cycle will churn on without me, and I’ll be nothing more than a name in stories of past semesters. But as The Alligator moves, I’ll move with it. We chase the elusive news together, and never far behind me is the staff that inspired me every day and the musty old basement that taught me to sprint.

At The Alligator, I ran for my life. Now, it’s time to run toward the rest of it.

The views expressed here are not necessarily those of The Alligator.

Don’tforgetthebestparts

For those unfamiliar with the structure of the Alligator newsroom, here’s an explanation. First, there’s what we call “Big Three.” These are the three highest-ranked editors, running the newsroom and inspiring fear in the hearts of underclassmen. Then, there are desk editors. These editors are responsible for managing a team of reporters focused on covering various sections. And then, reporters.

It seems like a clear hierarchical system — but there’s a catch. The editor yelling at you to do better on a Friday at 11 p.m. is the same girl who had a fact error in your reporting class. The managing editor berating you over a grammatical error is the same kid who won’t do his part for your multimedia group project. The dynamics of a student newsroom are messy, to say the least.

It’s easy to accept the newsroom hierarchy, and it’s even easier to forget that your editors aren’t that far ahead of you. It’s hard not to think that the “congrats!” comment on a personal news thread is condescending when it comes from someone who once said you weren’t good enough for that very role.

I’ve spent five semesters at The Alligator, three of those as a desk editor. And recently, I’ve noticed a shift. Managing editors who used to seem terrifying are now my friends. Freshman reporters I used to see hurry home after meetings are now sticking around to chat. The best part of The Alli-

about became a part of me — their stories permanently housed in my mind.

Through the words I wrote, Gainesville came alive in a colorful array of history and culture.

I think UF students often enter and leave Gainesville without ever truly getting to know it. However, The Alligator showed me that Gainesville is so much more than just the university and the outskirts of its campus.

Gainesville is its historically Black neighborhoods, its activists and its business owners. Gainesville is acres of rich, green conservation lands buzzing with wildlife. It’s the people who care so much about their community and who work so hard for Gainesville to be a place suitable for all of its residents — even the ones, like me, who will only be here for four short years.

Now, as I say goodbye to the paper that shaped me as a journalist, I am grateful to be sitting, in-person, at the newsroom despite its moldy ceiling and sunken, dusty couch. I am grateful to no longer be squinting at my peers in their tiny Zoom boxes and instead be surrounded by their passion and their light as they diligently type away at their stories.

I love The Alligator for making me fall in love with Gainesville and storytelling — especially the local kind. I’m honored to have learned so much and to have been surrounded by such wonderful people while doing so.

Without that stressed Alligator stomach knot, I think I’ll feel a bit empty. I’ll carry the paper, and the stories I’ve been lucky enough to share in it, with me forever.

gator — besides its phenomenal coverage — is the community it creates.

Young journalists become professionals in this newsroom. Freshmen make their best friends and write their best stories. Seniors stay up until 1 a.m. editing flats and complaining about exams. The newsroom has shaped me, too, into the journalist and person I am today. I am forever grateful to the phenomenal Fall 2022 Big Three; Makiya Seminera, Alan Halaly and Isabella Douglas for leading an excellent semester with grace and patience, and I have the utmost faith in Halaly, Veronica Nocera and Aurora Martinez to continue and expand upon this legacy. I also want to thank Heather Bushman for just being her.

My advice to Alligator staff to come is this: Reporters, don’t forget that your editor is on your side. Editors, don’t forget that less than a year ago, you were that reporter running late to the city commission meeting. I have seen The Alligator change before my eyes, and it will continue to do so. Just don’t forget the things that make The Alligator so special.

If I could, I would relive my time at The Alligator all over again — tears and all. Instead, I’ll have to settle for reliving the best memories in my head, and living as the person the paper has shaped me to be.

Nora O’Neill was the Fall 2022 enterprise editor.

32604-2257. Columns of about 450 words about original topics and editorial cartoons are also welcome. Questions? Call 352-376-4458.

Lucille Lannigan was the Fall 2022 metro editor.

Heather Bushman was the Fall 2022 enterprise elections reporter.

Heather Bushman @hmb_1013 hbushman@alligator.org

Lucille Lannigan @LucilleLannigan llannigan@alligator.org

Nora O’Neill @noroneill noneill@alligator.org

Makiya Seminera @makseminera mseminera@alligator.org

Cancellations:

Cancellations:

CASH FOR UNWANTED CARS / TRUCKS Running or Not. Top Dollar Paid Call 352-259-2020 12-5-16-13

The American Cancer Society Road to Recovery

VOLUNTEER

Volunteers Needed!

DRIVERS

NEEDED to transport cancer patients to treatment. Flexible schedule. Training and liability insurance provided. Please call 800-227-2345 if interested.

St. Francis House is a homeless shelter located in downtown Gainesville. Our mission is to empower families with children to transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency by providing case management, housing, food, training and educational resources in a secure environment.

If interested in volunteering please contact the volunteer coordinator at 352-378- 9079 ext 317 or sfhcoor@stfrancis.cfcoxmail.com

St Francis House depends on monetary support from individual donors and community businesses in order to provide meals to the homeless and the hungry.

To make a donation by mail, please send checks payable to St. Francis House P.O. Box 12491 Gainesville Fl 32604 or our website at Stfrancishousegnv.org

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2022 www.alligator.org/section/sports

VOLLEYBALL

Fans fill O’Dome for Florida victories in NCAA Volleyball Tournament

UF POSTS IMPRESSIVE TURNOUT FOR WINS OVER FLORIDA A&M, IOWA STATE

By Ethan Eibe & Brandon Hernandez Sports Writers

Faces painted in orange and blue led the chants of the Florida student section to rally the crowd into a ball of vocal fire. The rowdy spectators provided an electric atmosphere for two crucial postseason matches.

Across Dec. 2 and 3, Gators volleyball felt the push of nearly 5,500 fans packed into the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. For the last time this season, Florida fans gave UF home court advantage.

The Gators hosted the first and second rounds of the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament over the weekend, welcoming Florida Gulf Coast, Florida A&M and Iowa State to Gainesville. No. 12 Florida rammed through FAMU and Iowa State in straight sets to advance to the round of 16.

The atmosphere was electric for many avid followers of the team, including Dianne and Dan Vermillion, volleyball season ticket holders of 20 years.

“We had a lot of fans, a lot of the student population showed up,” Dan said. “We were loud and we did a good job, as far as the fans are concerned, doing their part supporting the team.”

Almost 400 more spectators showed up for the Dec. 3 second-round clash with Iowa State. Cyclones fans adorned in red and gold, who made the nearly 1,300mile trip from Ames, Iowa, to Gainesville filled the seats adjacent to the student section, prompting many backand-forth exchanges.

Kirk and Amy Hatch, who traveled from Arizona to

Ryan Friedenberg // Alligator Staff

Senior outside hitter Marina Markova attempts to kill the ball past Iowa State defenders during Florida’s round of 32 win Saturday Dec. 3, 2022.

watch their daughter, Iowa State senior outside hitter Annie Hatch, said they spent time at the UF Bat Houses and Lake Alice before heading to the game.

Amy described the atmosphere of the weekend as exciting and optimistic.

Iowa State beat FGCU through five nail-biting sets Dec. 2. Facing Florida in the O’Dome, Amy voiced confidence in the Cyclones’ ability to compete in such a hostile environment.

“[We have] nothing to lose,” she said.

Chants of “Cyclones” and “Gators” fired between the two sections, but it would be the Florida faithful who enjoyed the last laugh.

SEE VOLLEYBALL, PAGE 12

Aleapoffaith

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2019, I sat in the Reitz Union eating Panda Express.

I had my usual order of orange chicken and white rice. I was there with two friends. It was the second day of my second semester at UF. I was an architecture major.

World Cup celebration

with a big crowd at the Reitz felt like home.

“I kind of miss the World Cup feeling at home because it's crazy, but to see everyone is watching here, also Americans, it’s like a really nice atmosphere,” Roelofsen said. “I like [having] the World Cup feeling back.”

Roelofsen believed the American supporters really showed out for their team, he said. It’s nice to see U.S. soccer getting more support from fans in the nation, he added.

“I hope Americans will be more interested in soccer because you're supposed to be one of the best countries,” Roelofsen said. “It’s just a bit weird that America’s never caught onto it.”

Students and Gainesville residents were just as busy supporting the team off-campus as they were in the Reitz.

Grayson Walter, a 21-year-old manager at The Social, said people have been very active in rooting for their teams throughout the World Cup.

Turnout at The Social was primarily in support of the USMNT, he said. The bar opened its rooftop at 9 a.m. — an area that usually wouldn’t open until 3 p.m. — and provided drink specials for the occasion.

“It's definitely exciting to get everybody rooting for the same thing,” Walter said.

Attendance for the U.S.’ matches is higher than for the other team, he said, but customers still come to support other teams like Argentina. Places around Gainesville have been busy, including The Social and The Swamp Restaurant, he said.

Beckett Hamilton, a 21-year-old UF political science senior, played soccer in middle school, and his U.S. soccer fandom grew simultaneously. He bounced around from bar to bar

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as the USMNT progressed through the tournament, he said.

The U.S.’ qualification and advancement to the round of 16 was a huge step in the right direction, he said. The team attracts a lot of attention to itself, Hamilton said, so its inclusion in the World Cup was promising for the future.

“We’ve been behind our European, South American and Asian counterparts for so long,” Hamilton said.

Aidan Gulla, a 20-year-old UF sports management junior, said he’s supported the USMNT for more than a decade and since the team’s 2010 World Cup appearance. The U.S.’ team is trending upward following this year’s appearance, he said.

Despite the loss, the U.S. improved its reputation in the eyes of the rest of the world, he said.

“They made England bend the knee,” Gulla said. “We made other teams respect us.”

@BranH2001 bhernandez@alligator.org

@BumpersKyle kbumpers@alligator.org

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Joseph Henry @josephhenry2424 jhenry@alligator.org

That fateful Tuesday, as it turns out, my two friends had a class together. Jokingly, I went on my computer and saw there was a single seat still available in the course. I had nothing to do, so I picked it up and tagged along. It was drop-add week, so what difference did it make anyway.

In retrospect, I underestimated the significance a one-hour class could have on the rest of your life.

Introduction to Media and Sports showed me there might be something at UF I’d love to do after all. It took months of wandering about campus, but I finally felt like I might have a sense of direction.

Two days later, I waited almost seven hours in the J-School advising office to change my major. It was crazy and impulsive — a pair of things I never have and never will be known for.

Now, nearly three years later, I’m staring at my computer writing my farewell to The Alligator. My leap of faith got me this far, and I don’t think I could ever find the proper words to express how glad I am that I took the jump.

From the moment I heard goodbye columns were an Alligator tradition, I knew if I ever wrote one I’d start it with that story. I never gave much thought to the words that would need to follow, but five hectic semesters filled in the gaps for me whether I liked it or not.

My time as a writer showed me I could do this. From churning out an obscene number of golf recaps and covering the volleyball team, I learned the ropes. I enjoyed what I was doing, but I didn’t truly love it until my first men’s basketball game.

Florida ended a seven-season losing skid to Florida State while I sat in the media corner of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center for the first time. My recap of that game went in the paper. That clip still hangs on my wall today — I guess I’m sentimental. It’s kind of hard to explain, and it sounds cheesy, but there’s just an undeniable high to covering a good game.

Eventually, as I became an editor, those fond memories became more scarce.

I struggled to manage my time. I couldn’t find the joy as easily. Work started to feel like, well, work.

After a grueling 16-week Spring, I felt like I needed a break. Yet, when opportunity came calling, I reluctantly responded. It was in my penultimate semester I fell in love with The Alligator again.

To the people who made Summer so special — you know who you are. Thank you for creating a culture where spending hours at the office almost never felt like a task. That semester wasn’t without its stresses, but they all led to growth.

As I turned toward my final run, the one now drawing to a close, I wanted to leave an impact on the desk where I got my start. My time as sports editor, in all honesty, didn’t go as I envisioned.

I consistently felt overwhelmed. I had plans that never came to fruition. From the midpoint on, I struggled to tread water. Burn out became my biggest adversary. Yet, I survived.

Writing this is cathartic. It feels like a solidified ending to an era of my life that will probably impact me just as much when it’s over as it did when I was living through it.

If only that 19-year-old idiot, who spent hours on end gluing together sticks and drawing cubes, could see where we are now.

Joseph Henry was the Fall 2022 sports editor.

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For updates on UF athletics, follow us on Twitter at @alligatorSports or online at www.alligator.org/section/sports.

Gators' home-court advantage

and waved to the students, smiling ear-to-ear.

dents and the band — they've been great all year,” Wise said.

One member of the UF student section brought with him a large dry-erase board, writing messages to taunt the Cyclones and their fans. Jeers of the all-too-familiar “nah nah nah, hey hey, goodbye” chorus rained down on the court as a Florida sweep appeared imminent.

After UF secured the win, the passionate student section remained for several minutes to savor the final moments of volleyball in the O’Dome in 2022. Gators head coach Mary Wise walked across the court

“You could feel the energy,” Wise said. “When [Elli McKissock and Merritt Beason] were going back on service runs, you can just feel how they get all the Gator fans in the O’Dome and their energy behind them.”

Historically, student support at UF postseason games hasn’t been strong, Wise added. To see such a large turnout pleased the veteran coach, who’s searching for her first national championship in her 32nd season in Gainesville.

“That whole section with the stu-

Frank Didsbury and Mary Craig, long-time friends who separately moved to Gainesville to take advantage of attending UF sporting events, said they enjoy attending most of the marquee Gators sports: football, baseball, volleyball and women’s basketball.

“[Attendance] has been pretty good all year, to be honest with you,” Didsbury said. “You're not going to get 10,000 people on a Tuesday night or something like that, but for the most part it's been pretty decent.”

Craig has followed the development of Wise’s young team and appreciates how dedicated each player

is to chasing a national title.

“They want to come to Florida,” Craig said. “They want to play for these coaches that we have. It’s very exciting.”

Craig highlighted UF freshman setter Alexis Stucky as a player to keep an eye on, saying she had “big shoes to fill” with former setter Marlie Monserez departing after the 2021 season ended in the round of 16.

“It seems like every year we have these types of players,” Didsbury added. “Mary does a good job recruiting and placing people where they can excel.”

The Gators top players gave their fans plenty to cheer for over the course of the weekend, with Beason and senior outside hitter Marina

Markova recording 18 kills to pace a Gators team that never lost a set.

With UF’s home schedule concluded, the Gators will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers in the round of 16 Dec. 8. If the Gators pull out the win, they will face either No. 2 Wisconsin or No. 11 Penn State in the Elite 8.

Thursday’s match will be broadcast on ESPNU, with first serve scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

@EthanEibe eeibe@alligator.org @BranH2001 bhernandez@alligator.org