Monday, April 10, 2023

VOLUME 117 ISSUE 29

Editorial

Paging Dr. Sasse…

Ever since Ben Sasse, a former Republican U.S. senator from Nebraska, took office, there’s been a presidentsized hole left in much of the UF community.

For eight years, he dealt with national political reporters as a senator in the Beltway. Dr. Sasse, we promise we are far more humble than the D.C. press corps.

Whatever the president’s agenda, we can’t report on it clearly if he won’t talk to us. We tried emailing him, we tried calling him, we tried leaving him hand-written notes and we tried saying his name three times in the bathroom with the lights off. None of it worked.

The university is also behind on giving us Sasse’s schedule — despite our incessant weekly public records requests trying to locate his whereabouts.

We’ve all been ghosted, we’ve all felt crazy after not getting a response back, but we shouldn’t get that treatment from the university’s president.

Just two months into Sasse’s tenure, UF is primed for big moves ahead. The university is moving forward with a new graduate campus in Jacksonville. It will be looking for a new provost to replace Joe Glover as the chief academic officer.

Aside from attending some minor speaking engagements and baseball games and a surprise appearance at a Faculty Senate meeting, Sasse hasn’t been a visible leader on campus.

We aren’t blind — we understand why Sasse may be hesitant to interact with either the media or the study body at large. If hundreds of people piled into an auditorium to show us how much they hated our hiring, we would also be cautious.

On his first day, Sasse was met with a tamer protest than that of Oct. 10. Since then, the section of the UF community that opposed his appointment has begun to accept his role and move forward. We believe Sasse should extend a similar courtesy and build inroads with UF’s institutions.

But The Alligator is still firm in its request that it made Nov. 7 — it’s high time that Sasse sits down with UF and Gainesville’s student-run, independent newspaper.

President Kent Fuchs did. During his first semester, Spring 2015, he stopped by

SEE EDITORIAL, PAGE 8

Gators men’s golf sees three players in top 15 of PGA Tour University rankings

Biondi, Lin, Castillo lead Florida into SEC Championship Read more on pg. 11.

UF app ban explained

Emergency state bill mandated change

By Peyton Harris Alligator Staff Writer

As of April 5, UF students have been unable to use TikTok and WeChat on campus Wi-Fi, among other applications deemed a cybersecurity risk after UF complied with a Florida Board of Governors directive.

The applications have been banned from UF’s Eduroam and guest Wi-Fi and are prohibited from university devices. UF will also cease any marketing efforts on these apps, encouraging their deletion on personal devices, according to the statement.

UF’s FAQ page states university-affiliated accounts will not be deleted to retain the usernames, encouraging social media managers to transition to similar platforms such as Instagram Reels.

The university’s official TikTok account has over 110,000 followers and 1.6 million likes, featuring videos targeting potential students and showing off UF’s campus. But

SEE TIKTOK, PAGE 4

County Commission to allow free, unlimited jail phone calls

By Siena Duncan Alligator Staff Writer

When Emily Westerholm was incarcerated, hearing her mother’s voice was what kept her sane. But that sanity was a privilege — her mother could afford to pay for the phone calls.

The Alachua County Commission voted 4-1 April 6 to provide free and unlimited prison phone calls by Oct. 1, an idea proposed by a UF student group. Only Commissioner Chuck Chestnut was in dissent.

Currently, phone calls at the Alachua County Jail cost $0.21 a minute, making a 15-minute phone call around $3. The county takes a cut of $0.09 but will no longer do so starting as soon as possible, according to the vote. Area codes outside of

Gainesville are charged more. Often, families of prisoners are billed if a prisoner doesn’t have an account open. If the jailed person is found not guilty in court, the families aren’t refunded.

The county makes around $375,000 each year from jail phone calls, according to a county analysis.

Westerholm, 48, was incarcerated three decades ago in Virginia, and she now runs Gainesville-based nonprofit organization Released, a reentry program for people released from prison. Those phone calls were a lifeline for her and for the people she helps now, she said.

“Being incarcerated is so surreal,” Westerholm said. “It’s like another dimension. When

Emo Nites curate 2000s pop punk haven

Residents

you can’t imagine a world outside of being trapped in a cage and having no control, you just completely lose hope.”

Even more mundane conversations with her mother would make her feel like there was a life waiting for her to return to the outside, she said.

Westerholm worked as a counselor inside two Virginia county jails for about four years, and there she was able to offer inmates free phone calls over her office phone, but on speaker.

Though inmates didn’t get the privacy they needed in those situations, Westerholm still was able to observe how talking to loved ones affected them, she said. For her, it was easy to see it was creating a shift in real time.

“Their demeanor changed, their tone changed,” Westerholm said. “Their body is just so

much more relaxed. Their eyes — the focus got soft.”

But not all inmates are lucky enough to have the funds to make that connection.

Over a third of families with relatives in prison across the country go into debt trying to make regular contact, according to an Ella Baker Center for Human Rights study. Residents of Alachua County are no exception.

Thirty-three residents spoke during public comment during the April 6 meeting, and all were in favor of the plan.

Gainesville resident Katlyn Rawls, 25, was one of the speakers.

She spent a year and a half in a Georgia prison — which used the same phone service as Alachua County Jail — for failing to take court-ordered anger

SEE JAIL CALL, PAGE 4

UF ‘inject-in’ protesters demand support from administration Students injected themselves with hormones in front of the Student Health Care Center, pg. 5

and students alike have taken a liking to the dance parties, pg. 6

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff

UF Latin American studies professor Welson Tremura (right) claps with two lead singers of Jacaré Brazil at Bo Diddley Plaza Saturday, April 8, 2023. Read more on The Avenue on pg. 7.

Florida residents divided on calls for stricter gun legislation

PERMITLESS CARRY LAW, SCHOOL SHOOTINGS PROMPT MIXED VIEWS

By Claire Grunewald Alligator Staff Writer

Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Moises Cobo learned about universal background checks for a debate competition in ninth grade.

A year later, when a shooting in Parkland took the lives of 17 people at his school, Cobo’s perspective on life changed — but his stance on the right to bear arms didn’t.

“The shooting itself didn't really change the way I thought about guns, but it opened my mind into evaluating what was going on in the country a lot more than before,” said Cobo, a 20-year-old UF business sophomore.

Since the Parkland shooting in 2018, Florida legislators raised the legal age to buy a gun from 18 to 21, funded millions of dollars for school security efforts and created a red flag law that allows judges to take away someone’s guns in certain situations.

Now, Gov. Ron DeSantis and many Florida lawmakers are working to decrease gun restrictions across the state.

DeSantis signed the permitless carry bill into law April 3, which will eliminate the required application and training to carry a concealed firearm. The new law and a recent school shooting at a Nashville private school has prompted mixed views from Florida residents on gun legislation.

Cobo isn’t a gun owner; some

of his relatives in Venezuela owned them while he was growing up for self defense. He believes owning firearms for self defense can be helpful but requires some regulations, he said.

Cobo thinks permitless carry could potentially help decrease crime, but a lack of permits could cause other issues, he said.

“Owning weapons for self defense, if needed, is important,” Cobo said. “But a level of proper regulations when being able to carry a firearm are needed.”

Resli Ward, an 18-year-old Gainesville High School senior, said she believes permitless carry could create more safety issues for high school students. Ward plans to hold a school walkout in April to advocate for stricter gun legislation.

Ward wants to walk out to show lawmakers students are fed up and have no other choice, she said. Students are effecting change by walking out of school and protesting, she said.

“This is life and death for us,” Ward said. “It’s not just policy.”

Students aren’t the only ones impacted by Florida’s gun legislation.

Lynn Van Susteran, a 69-yearold Gainesville resident, spoke at the Moms Demand Action Alachua County rally April 4 to urge lawmakers to protect students from guns. Moms Demand Action volunteers were prompted to hold statewide rallies because of permitless carry legislation and recent school shootings.

As a retired teacher with children, school shootings have become personal for Van Susteran. Van Susteran is upset children feel they must speak up for their safety because

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adults aren’t protecting them, she said.

“With each new horrific headline about children and teachers being gunned down in schools, I feel so much anger at what teachers have to face in America’s schools,” Van Susteran said.

Other Florida residents are unhappy with state gun legislation — not because there isn’t enough, but because it’s too strict.

Luis Valdes, the Florida director of advocacy group Gun Owners of America, is unhappy with the permitless carry bill. He thinks it’s a step in the right direction, but gun restriction should be looser, he said.

“It wasn’t the full constitutional carry the governor has campaigned on and promised us,” Valdes said. “But that’s the fault of the legislature.”

Valdes worked as a law enforcement officer for 15 years and considers himself a second amendment activist. From his experience, he knows law enforcement can’t immediately help in situations such as school shootings, and less gun restrictions can help, he said.

“Law enforcement tries to do the best they can with the circumstances, resources and the time,” Valdes said. “But still — even in Tennessee — it took those officers [a few] minutes to get there.”

@grunewaldclaire cgrunewald@alligator.org

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Protesters with the Alachua County chapter of Moms Demand Action march down University Avenue Tuesday, April 4, 2023.

State law to make all students eligible for private school vouchers

Legislation expands scholarship programs, parental choice

By Lauren Brensel Alligator Staff Writer

Living just above poverty level and behind a revolving door of family, Wendy Krzoska said she couldn’t afford private school growing up.

At 42, her door still swings open, raising her relatives’ children and a daughter of her own. But thanks to scholarship money, private school is a priority for the five kids she’s raised.

“Parents who can afford to pay for their child’s schooling, they should” Krzoska said. “But I think that it’s also good that there [are] foundations that can help to pay for those who cannot.”

More students, regardless of income, will now have that same opportunity.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed school choice legislation March 27 that expands the eligibility of state-funded scholarships to attend private schools to students who are Florida residents and in grades K-12.

Scholarship amounts for the 2023-24 school year depend on the level of funding provided by the legislature to each school district, Florida Department of Education spokesperson Cassandra Palelis wrote in an email. They won’t be set until the end of the legislative session when the state budget will be finalized.

Not all private schools in the state have to accept these scholarships.

Within Alachua County Public Schools, recipients of the scholarships were provided around $7,000 based on the amount of funding the district received per student for the 2022-23 school year.

A private school student who receives a scholarship but doesn’t need the money for tuition can place the funds into an education savings account or use it for expenses like tutoring.

Scholarship priority will be given to stu-

dents living in foster care or whose annual household income level is between 185% and 400% of the federal poverty level.

But not everyone sees the bill as financially reasonable.

Alachua County Public Schools spends 85% of its budget on staff, said Jackie Johnson, ACPS spokesperson. A certain number of students must leave a public school in order to eliminate a teacher position and save the district money, she said.

“If you’re not able to save staff or reduce the number of staff because kids aren’t leaving in those nice, neat bundles of 18 or 22 or 24, you’re not really saving, but you are losing money,” she said. “But we’ll have to see how all this shakes out.”

Nearly 2,000 ACPS students participate in the voucher program to go to private school on state funds, which are split between the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options and the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Unique Abilities, or special needs.

Krzoska’s kids go to private school thanks to funds from the Step Up for Students scholarship, a program that issues payment to the educational options scholarship.

Sending them through Living Springs Academy was a religious-based choice — Krzoska is a Seventh-day Adventist. But she said there are more benefits to private school than the Christian education her kids receive.

“When our Elizabeth was in second and third grade, there [were] a lot of public school shootings going on,” she said. “I’ve never had to once worry about school shootings.”

Still, there are some services, like a school nurse or counselor, that private schools don’t always offer, said Christina Miller, owner and head of school at Gainesville’s Millhopper Montessori School.

Because of the school voucher expansion, Miller said she has to be extra careful detailing what Millhopper can and can’t provide.

“It’s exciting to have something moving in this direction,” she said. “But it’s also important to watch how it morphs, for lack of a better word, into something that could be detrimental to private schools being independent.”

It’s also possible students will sign up for a private school, intending to receive a scholarship, but the money may not come through, Miller said.

“Some of those things, I’m just not sure,” she said. “I don’t have a crystal ball.”

Younger students have been less enrolled in private schools over the past few years, Miller said. But if the bill were to increase enrollment, she said Millhopper would have the room.

At the school her daughter attended on scholarship, High Springs’ First Christian Academy, ophthalmic technician Betty Radford said there are 43 people on the waitlist — all coming from public schools.

“It’s great to give the low-income families a chance that they may not have,” Radford

said, “But then again, just because you make more money doesn’t always mean you have more disposable money.”

On top of the Christian education and close relationships with faculty, Radford said she appreciated First Christian Academy because it allowed her input on her child’s curriculum.

The scholarship expansion is estimated to cost taxpayers $4 billion, according to the Education Law Center.

For ACPS, a loss of students to this program could cause a loss of funding from the district, Johnson said.

“We have to assume this is going to have an impact on our budget,” she said. “Even if the scholarships go to somebody who was never in one of our schools or in any public school … that is a reduced amount of funding for public education in general in the state of Florida.”

@LaurenBrensel lbrensel@alligator.org

Minca Davis // Alligator Staff

Students wary of ban

TikTok’s cybersecurity threat outweighs the marketing benefits, UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldan wrote in an email statement.

“TikTok is but one tool in a robust and thriving social media ecosystem,” she said. “With the ever changing nature of social media marketing, we’re constantly pivoting and refreshing tactics. We will continue to share our story as we engage with our audiences on other platforms — and those yet to come.”

Students reacted to the announcement in a variety of ways, mostly opposing the ban.

Thomas Cusido, a 19-year-old UF political science sophomore, uses TikTok for one to two hours a day to stay tuned to current events and engage with activists, he said. Not allowing the app on the university network will stifle student activism.

“[The ban] will isolate us from other college students around the country who are organizing on TikTok,” Cusido said.

Alex Owens, a 19-year-old UF biochemistry sophomore, said while UF isn’t to blame for complying with the regulation, the ban is hypocritical because the same data privacy standards aren’t enforced for domestic platforms.

The most affected will be international students, he said.

“For those who rely on the university's Wi-Fi network and those who might be international students and need the Wi-Fi to use something like WeChat to contact family back home, I think that'll have a much bigger impact on them,” Owens said.

This announcement comes as the Digital Bill of Rights, a plan for data security heralded by Gov. Ron DeSantis, gains national attention. The plan bans all social media platforms with ties to China on state government devices and on public school campuses, including colleges and universities. In particular, TikTok has created controversy in the legislature and on campus.

A state education panel approved an emergency regulation March 29 mandating bans on apps on the State University System Prohibited Technologies list, created based on informa-

tion originating from threat intelligence sources such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Florida Fusion Center. The currently banned apps are Kaspersky, VKontakte, Tencent QQ, TikTok and WeChat.

WeChat is a messaging app with over 1.3 billion users, the majority of which live in China. Some international UF students fear they may lose connection with family overseas. Although most major messaging apps, such as WhatsApp and Facebook, are banned in China, WeChat isn’t.

“We are proud gators, but at this moment we feel excluded and targeted as if we do not belong here,” UF’s Chinese Student Association wrote in a statement April 5. “We are UF students as well, and it saddens us to see our school stand behind such a targeted piece of legislation.”

In a similar statement posted on WeChat, originally written in Mandarin Chinese, CSA took a more aggressive tone, saying it had reason to believe the ban was an act of racism against Chinese students, scholars and faculty members.

Jarvis Wang, a 20-year-old UF marketing sophomore, immigrated from China to the U.S. and uses WeChat and QQ to communicate with his family back home.

The TikTok ban didn’t surprise him, but he was shocked to learn WeChat and QQ were prohibited because of their primarily Chinese user base.

“I just want to continue using [WeChat] with my parents,” he said.

Alan Levine, chair of the BOG’s strategic planning committee, has encouraged the ban since the beginning of the year and emphasized the threat of TikTok to academic and intellectual property on Florida campuses at the board meeting.

“It gives [universities] the flexibility to adapt to whatever other dangers come down the pike,” Levine said, “But I’ve seen enough and heard enough to know that this is an immediate threat to our faculty in their research.”

Levine first became wary of Chinese efforts to steal research and technology from

academic institutions when he learned about the Thousand Talents program, which incentivizes members to steal foreign technologies to advance Chinese goals according to the FBI.

Participants receive financial and professional benefits for their cooperation and have aided China with military technologies, nuclear energy, wind tunnel design and advanced lasers.

As a BOG representative to the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Board of Directors, Levine became familiar with the Thousand Talents program when it was revealed the board’s CEO was involved, violating conflict of interest rules.

“He was one of the world's leading researchers in cancer, and had become ensnared with this program,” Levine said.

Levine ultimately chose to pursue the ban across the State University System because of the FBI director’s testimony before Congress March 8, he wrote in an email to The Alligator.

At the meeting, FBI Director Christopher

Calls bolster outside connection

management classes, she said. She heard from none of her family members during that time.

The price was $4 per 15 minutes when she was incarcerated; and in order to make a call at all, she had to have $20 in the account — a cost her family couldn’t afford, Rawls said. Her uncle and her cousin died while she was in jail, and she had no idea until she went home. Her mother also almost died in the hospital due to a health scare, another family event she didn’t know about.

“That was the worst year and a half of my life,” Rawls said. “I will never forget that.”

After Rawls was incarcerated, she lost her job because she didn’t have the money to pay for a phone call to let her manager know where she was, she said. Before she went to jail, she knew her mother was very ill — but she had no way of knowing whether she was getting better or worse, Rawls said.

“It was really hard,” she said. “I used to cry myself to sleep every

night. I didn’t know whether my mom was OK or not.”

On top of the unknowns, Rawls also experienced hardships inside the jail that she couldn’t talk about with anyone, she said. She experienced conflicts with inmates and guards, but she could have faced retaliation if she tried to report the issues.

“It just gave me a lot of anxiety I’ve never had before,” Rawls said.

If she had the chance to talk to her family at all, Rawls thinks it would have significantly improved her mental health while she was incarcerated, she said.

When she got home from the meeting April 6, she wept in relief.

Providing free, unlimited prison phone calls was originally brought to the commission’s attention by a UF student group called the Florida Student Policy Forum over a year ago. Students write proposals for legislation at a state level and ordinances at a local level.

The Florida Student Policy Forum and the Alachua County Labor Coalition coordinated to bring the proposal before commissioners

after the students were working on something similar in the Florida state government.

Graham Bernstein, who wrote the proposal, said it felt bizarre to see something he worked on for so long actually go through. His is the first proposal the organization has seen carry all the way through to implementation.

“All these different effects that were just on paper will now actually play out with real people’s lives,” Bernstein said. “I think that’s an extraordinarily peculiar thing because I’ve never been a part of something like that before.”

After reviewing materials from the Florida Student Policy Forum and several other activist groups, county staff came back to the commission with a few options.

Commissioners originally considered the concept of phasing in unlimited phone calls by starting with five free 15-minute calls a week. But after hearing from the public, Commissioner Anna Prizzia made the motion to implement free, unlimited calls as soon as possible.

Wray testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Chinese government could use TikTok to control American software.

Other government officials, such as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy and Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of John Plumb, testified China could use TikTok to collect American data.

“All we can do as a governing body is to make sure TikTok and other possible entities are unable to access our state technology,” Levine said. “[We will] do our best to ensure students are aware of the risks to themselves of hostile actors having so much access to their personal information, web history and very private data.”

The BOG will likely vote on a permanent regulation at its next meeting May 10, Levine said.

@peytonlharris pharris@alligator.org

“I’ve given this a lot of thought,” Prizzia said. “I didn’t go into this lightly.”

The county will now go through the process of renegotiating its contract with Securus Technologies, the company that owns and operates the prison phones. Because the company currently collects money directly from customers, the contract will need to be revised to allow for the county to subsidize the cost instead.

Several commissioners also discussed terminating the contract at the end of the year if they find a more competitive provider for the phones with better pricing.

Securus Technologies takes $0.12 of the cost per minute, while the county currently makes the remaining $0.09. However, the commission, in the same vote, ruled the county stop taking that money as soon as possible, lowering rates to $0.12 when the county can get a contract amendment with Securus Technologies to make that happen.

When Commissioner Ken Cornell realized the county was making so much money off the phone calls, it changed his perspective. He didn’t want a part of what several residents called “dirty mon-

ey,” he said.

“The cost, when it went from the backs of the families to the county overseeing it, went from $0.21 to a nickel,” he said. “There’s a lot of profit in that $0.12.”

Chestnut also supports unlimited phone calls but not in the swift way the commission is implementing it, he said. He wasn’t sure the commission had the funds to supplement the full costs of prison calls, so he didn’t vote in favor.

Established as a worst case scenario, the county could end up paying out $1.3 million if there is an upswing in prisoner phone calls once they’re free, according to a presentation from county staff.

Chestnut doesn’t want to make any rash financial decisions considering Gainesville’s growing debt, and he isn’t comfortable with the plan to make the phone calls free as it is now, he said.

“I’ve always been a guy that likes to do things by numbers,” Chestnut said. “Instead of being reactionary and emotional about it, I just want to be fiscally sound when we do it.”

Minca Davis // Alligator Staff

UF ‘inject-in’ protest shows support for gender-affirming care

PARTICIPANTS INJECTED HORMONES IN FRONT OF UF STUDENT HEALTH CARE CENTER

Cries for the protection of gender-affirming care echoed from the dozens of protestors clutching banners decorated with transgender symbols and flag colors as they marched down Stadium Road.

“F-ck DeSantis,” the crowd roared in unison as they passed the Chick-fil-A at The Hub.

UF’s LGBTQ+ community and allies swarmed the UF Student Health Care Center April 7 for an inject-in to protest the DeSantis administration’s gender-affirming care audit and legislation like House Bill 1421 and Senate Bill 254. During the protest, a group of demonstrators participated in an “inject-in,” where they injected themselves with hormone replacement therapy treatment.

The protest was organized by members of the student coalition UF Queer Liberation Front and featured speeches from UF students and alumni, UF grassroots coalition Gators for Gender-Affirming Care and Gainesville’s National Women’s Liberation chapter.

The inject-in portion of the demonstration was inspired by transgender activist Lindsey Spero, who injected testosterone in front of Florida’s Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine Feb. 10 in protest of the ban on gender-

affirming care for minors.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Jan. 18 audit mandated Florida public universities report the number of patients receiving different forms of gender-affirming care through UF Health facilities starting from Jan. 1, 2018. The audit reported a steady increase of gender-affirming care patients through UF Health.

HB 1421 seeks to ban genderaffirming care for minors, prohibit the use of private insurance coverage for the treatment and

bar a person’s biological sex from being changed on their birth certificate.

SB 254 would criminalize parents and doctors who provide minors with gender-affirming care and grant the state the ability to claim jurisdiction over children who have parents that allow them to receive gender-affirming care treatment. The bill would also ban the use of public funds to subsidize gender-affirming care through state-funded entities.

The protest’s organizers declined to comment to The Alligator.

During the inject-in, demonstrators stayed silent as each participant injected HRT. The crowd burst with applause and cheers once the participants finished and disposed of their supplies in a box attached to a cardboard cutout of DeSantis.

Jay Ferreira, an 18-yearold UF biology freshman, who identifies as trans, spoke at the inject-in about the hardships he’s encountered as a trans person. After his speech, he expressed gratitude for having a supportive community to turn to on campus as he navigates the disturbing political climate surrounding gender-affirming care.

“Being in a community whose anger is so shared is inexplicable,” he said. “[It] gives you some hope.”

However, Ferreira would appreciate a public condemnation of the legislative attacks against gender-affirming care from UF administration.

“All these protests against these bills are always student organized,” he said. “At the very least, some kind of acknowledgement and condemnation of it would be so appreciated.”

Morgan Averette, a 31-yearold fourth-year sociology doctoral student at UF, who identifies as trans and is one of the founding members of Gators for GenderAffirming Care, said the care she receives through UF Health

enables her to feel empowered and more comfortable with her appearance.

“Gender-affirming care is lifesaving,” she said. “Community members rely on the care.”

Averette believes public demonstrations like the inject-in are crucial in the fight to protect access to gender-affirming care because it informs those who may not understand the severity of the situation, she said.

“It disrupts the routine, and I think that’s good,” she said. “More people need to be paying attention to what’s happening at the state level and how it’s affecting students, faculty and community members.”

Averette is proud of her local community for mobilizing, she said.

“They’re doing everything in their power to make it seem like trans people aren’t valid,” she said. “The protest here today was a very strong rebuke of that.”

Gainesville resident Carolina Cotten, a trans woman and member of Gainesville’s National Women’s Liberation chapter, who was asked to speak at the protest, said she’s happy to see young trans people fighting to protect their rights to accessible health care.

“We are showing that we will not be intimidated by the [DeSantis] administration,” she said.

@amandasfriedman afriedman@alligator.org

Graduate Assistants United prepares for negotiations with new leadership

graduate assistants from $17,000 to $38,500.

UF is simultaneously bargaining with the United Faculty of Florida union for higher wages and better benefits for employees.

By Sophia Bailly Alligator Staff Writer

Graduate Assistants United’s bargaining sessions with UF are continuing after more than two months since its last session.

Now that there are three negotiation meetings on the calendar, upcoming bargaining sessions hold promise, said Eva Garcia Ferres, GAU’s newest co-president.

Ferres was elected March 24 and will assume Rachel Hartnett’s role, whose term as co-president ends April 15. She’ll work alongside co-president Bryn Taylor.

Ferres, a 26-year-old second-year social psychology graduate assistant, said her new role will be all-encompassing, particularly in the case of bargaining.

Bargaining sessions begin with a meeting in which GAU presents concerns and an outline for change to UF’s bargaining team. UF’s bargaining team can call a caucus during the meeting and go to a separate room for discussion. They often have meetings outside of official bargaining sessions to discuss a counteroffer for GAU, which the UF team then delivers at the next bargaining session.

“I think a lot of people get caught up with the word bargaining,” Ferres said. “But it’s just basically negotiation.”

Each bargaining session typically lasts

about an hour. Meetings used to be scheduled on a case-by-case basis depending on members of both bargaining teams’ schedules, but with three meetings on the calendar for the next three weeks, Ferres is hopeful about making more progress.

“This is the moment for graduate assistants to stand united and collectively demand protection, better employment and better benefits,” Ferres said.

Rachel Hartnett, GAU’s outgoing co-president, said although the change she sought two years ago was never fully realized during her term, she sees promise in the next wave of bargaining negotiations with UF.

“It’s been a struggle, especially over the past few years, because UF has not had a chief bargainer,” Harnett said.

Before Patrick Keegan was hired as UF’s chief bargainer in the Fall, the role didn’t exist. Instead, Ryan Fuller assumed the primary bargaining role. However, Fuller’s role was not limited to being a chief bargainer for UF unions, so his focus was not strictly tied to GAU.

Hartnett, a 35-year-old doctoral candidate in the English department, said Keegan seems dependable. Keegan declined an interview request from The Alligator.

Keegan has started meeting with GAU members outside of negotiations to discuss issues and potential changes for graduate as-

sistants. These informal discussions aren’t part of bargaining sessions, but they help bridge a gap between GAU and UF’s representatives, Hartnett said.

“We’re able to work on issues and have open conversations about things that are affecting GAs,” Hartnett said. “Not bargainingrelated, but the accessibility of him is a lot better. It just was not possible before that.”

In the past, scheduling and sticking to a timeframe was difficult without a designated chief bargainer, whose sole role was to handle union negotiations. Now, UF and GAU have three negotiations scheduled for April 11, 18 and 25.

The new year kicked off to a rocky start, with one bargaining session held Jan. 30 followed by silence, Hartnett said.

“It’s sort of like playing racketball,” Hartnett said. “You’re playing against a side that doesn’t want to participate.”

Another bargaining session scheduled for March 24 was postponed after GAU’s bargaining chair fell ill. GAU proposed a Zoom bargaining session, which was how negotiations were handled during the coronavirus pandemic, but Hartnett said UF’s bargaining team championed waiting until the team could all meet in person.

GAU is continuing its goal to negotiate Article 10 in its 2021-2023 collective bargaining agreement to raise the minimum stipend for

Tom Kelleher, the graduate school representative on UF’s bargaining team, said he champions helping the graduate assistants but works to understand what is feasible.

UF bargainers need to take into account UF’s finances alongside the demands of unions, Kelleher said. Coordinating plans and bargaining sessions among all unions could help create a more equitable balance.

“That’s another interesting dimension because the faculty has their own contract,” he said. “I think that might be one of the benefits if we can get the GAU and the faculty in sync.”

A key factor behind UF’s inability to budge on increasing graduate assistants’ stipends is based on budgetary restrictions. Grants, donations and state funds are earmarked for specific purposes, which makes dispersing higher stipends to graduate assistants difficult, Kelleher said.

“I could go in and be like, ‘Sure. Let’s double everybody’s salary,’” Kelleher said. “But [Keegan’s] the one who is like, ‘Where’s this money going to come from?’”

GAU’s next bargaining session with UF is 2 p.m. April 11 at the Reitz Union room 3320. @sophia_bailly

Alex Winn // Alligator Staff

Protestors for transgender access to health care gather at the corner of University Avenue and 13th Street to begin a march toward the Student Health Care Center where some will perform an “inject-in” of hormones Friday, April 7, 2023.

Three bargaining sessions are scheduled this month

‘Saddest party in The Swamp’ fills emo niche

Monthly Emo Nite moved venues to accommodate increasing demand

By Loren Miranda Alligator Staff Writer

After three hours of screaming early 2000s melancholy tunes to a stand-up microphone surrounded by inflatable skeletons, laser lights and fog machines to the jam-packed crowd at Vivid Music Hall, Jade Meadows slips on a pair of designated post-show slippers for the night.

“Usually, the day after, I’m pretty immobile,” Meadows, 28, said. “It’s very much a release for me.”

Meadows works as a freelance digital specialist and is a photography drone pilot on the side — but they’re also the current host of Gainesville’s Pop Punk and Emo Nite. Heavily eyelined regulars who frequent the event might recognize Meadows more easily by their stage name, “SaddyDaddy.”

Gainesville’s Pop Punk and Emo Nite, a monthly event hosted at various venues like The Wooly and the new Vivid Music Hall, has now become a hallmark of Gainesville’s nightlife scene.

The angsty night originally began on a random Tuesday in 2017, while co-founders Vijaya “VJ” Seixas, 36, and Sean O’Brien, 38, were both working at the time at the now-defunct Atlantic Nightspot. The pair got into the habit of building a Spotify queue for cleaning up after closing.

“Me and the rest of the staff started screaming at the top of our lungs,” O’Brien said. “It just started picking up from there. It filled the gap… these people have nowhere to listen to this type of music.”

When a line eventually started forming outside of the onceintimate group hangout, O’Brien became the first unofficial host of Emo Nite.

The pair were inspired by a similarly gothic-themed party in Los Angeles in 2015, Seixas said. Once he decided to begin contacting his sources in the area, the initial casual hangout session was amped up to a ticketed event.

Seixas’ DJing curates the angsty vibe that pumps through the room and into the crowd’s black hearts. Punk-rock classics like Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Green Day always make the cut, Seixas said.

More popular current-day punk songs are also included in the line-up to engage the younger crowd that was brought in with the wave of TikTok music, Seixas said. But no Emo Nite would be complete without successfully head-banging to classics like “Misery Business” by Paramore before the night ends.

Around 1,000 people attended March’s Emo Nite alone, Seixas said. Former emo kids wishing to relive their middle school days enthusiastically savor the chance to get out on Gainesville’s scene and listen to music they genuinely enjoy.

Chelsea Schafer, a 28-year-old snake caregiver, convinced her friend to look back on their middle school days together. Schafer had previously attended some Emo Nites while they were still held at The Wooly, and the pair agreed nostalgia was a big sentiment for why they decided to return to the event’s latest instance.

“It’s about living our childhood and what we’re familiar with,” Schafer said. “The darkness, the blackness of it all.”

Other attendees echoed similar sentiments of finding comfort in the niche-specific night. Viridian Flores drove from Valdosta, Georgia to attend last month’s emo night with his brother and said their biggest draw was the ability to express themselves without judgment.

Flores, a 21-year-old legal assistant, said they enjoy the non-conformity of emo culture, where they’re able to experiment with androgynous clothing styles and find their roots by expressing themselves.

“I’ve always felt comfortable in the punk and emo scene,” Flores said. “Trying to find my identity feels nice … And not just in a material sense, but the

spiritual sense of being myself.”

This year, the event has transitioned to Vivid Music Hall to accommodate for increasing demand.

With over 10,000 square feet of room, the larger venue allows the black-clad attendees more flexibility in their night’s trajectory. If they want to bask in the joy of moshing amongst other emo-minded people, they can. Or, they can catch a break from the intensity of the dance floor by taking a trip to the balcony to get some fresh air.

Stage manager Brett Howells previously worked as a DJ for Neon Liger, a local EDM dance party. Having met Seixas in 2014, Howells was asked in 2018 to take over some of the Nite’s responsibilities. Howells, 33, entertains the early crowd before the host takes the stage, runs the @poppunkemonight Instagram story and ensures there is enough water for audiences to stay hydrated amidst the huddled masses.

Howells commutes from Jacksonville, where he works for a software company, to Gainesville once a month to see old friends and help produce the event. It’s important to Howells that Emo Nite attendees have a good time, he said, and he’s willing to stop the show if needed to ensure the moshers’ safety.

“If you haven’t been in this scene, it can be very scary, but our mosh pits are actually some of the most friendly,” Howells said. “Which kind of sounds crazy, but there’s an unspoken rule of mosh pits where if somebody goes down, you pick them up.”

There’s a core group of devoted sad-music lovers who attend Emo Nites so frequently the events staff now recognize them, Howells said, and the same familiar faces who make consistent appearances in photographs of the Nites online are the lifeblood of the show.

Howells runs the Instagram story and sets the mood for the early crowd before SaddyDaddy takes the stage.

Meadows had to fight for the right to their Instagram title for at least two years, filing requests to the app to deactivate inactive accounts, ensuring they could use the official @saddydaddy handle. They originally began their screaming career at age 15 when they entered their first metal band. From there, the love for despair-filled music followed them until their early 20s, when they worked at Guitar Center for six years.

Now, Meadows said they feel lucky to be given the privilege of providing Gainesville’s emo community with the opportunity to feel the force of all their emotions — especially the sad ones.

“I’m astonished that this has been built to what it is,” Meadows said. “I’m blown away and just overwhelmed with happiness.”

@LorenMiranda13 lmiranda@alligator.org

Florida baseball wins fourth SEC series Gators earn first road series win against Tennessee since 2018.

Courtesy to The Alligator Emo Nite DJs use the DJing software MPS to curate the angsty vibe that pumps through the room Saturday, March 25, 2023.

Afro Roots Festival returns to Gainesville

African music fills Bo Diddley Plaza

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff UF School of Music and Center for Latin American Studies students play alongside their professor, Welson Tremura, at Afro Roots Fest at Bo Diddley Plaza Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff

UF Brazilian musical ensemble Jacaré Brazil sways while Welson Tremura sings a solo during their performance at Bo Diddley Plaza Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff Solo violinist and percussion, featuring the shaker, drums and triangle, play an African song at Bo Diddley Plaza Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff

Violinist Aaron Colverson plays a duet with Welson Tremura at Bo Diddley Plaza Saturday, April 8, 2023.

Interview request: The Alligator

EDITORIAL, from pg. 1

The Alligator’s office and posted his first tweet: a selfie with the editorial board. He knew it was important to build rapport with the newspaper that would be covering his presidency with a critical eye.

Eight years later, we’re still here, but Sasse hasn’t even given us the courtesy of declining interview requests.

The Alligator would like to report on Sasse. We would like to be able to report on his events, his initiatives for the university and his interactions with students, faculty, administration and staff. We would like to hear the new UF president’s perspective on matters important to our coverage and community.

Last semester, Sasse couldn’t escape our paper’s front page. But now, it’s difficult to incorporate Sasse into our coverage when he and his office refuses to communicate with us in any way. This makes it difficult to report on the university as accurately as our readers expect.

But Sasse likely hasn’t spent as much time talking to the student body as we have. We can report the silent majority range from apathy to open-mindedness. The best way for the student body to get to know its new president is if he’s willing to speak to the campus newspaper.

Alas, the problem isn’t unique to The Alligator: Sasse hasn’t granted an interview to any of the dozens of outlets that want to speak with him. But as UF’s oldest and most trusted news source, we urge him to reconsider his silence.

Come on over, Dr. Sasse. We may be Gators, but we promise we won’t bite.

Halaly EDITOR -INCHIEF

In 1972, a group calling itself the Graduate Student Union published its first newsletter.

GSU applied for recognition as a labor union and voted to affiliate with the United Faculty of Florida and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in 1975. And, in 1980, the union voted to become Graduate Assistants United. As the co-president of Graduate Assistants United, I’m proud to say that our mission is the same as when we started. We are committed to protecting the rights of all graduate student workers at UF.

At this moment, GAU is fighting for the first amendment rights of students and workers and for UF’s core values. We will continue to fight, regardless of the standards set before us.

We will fight for queer students, faculty and staff who should be free to marry whomever they choose, despite President Ben Sasse’s claims that “marriage brings a wife and husband together so their children can have a mom and dad,” including calling attempts to codify same-sex marriage in federal legislation an attempt “to divide America with culture wars.”

We will fight for trans students who have faced multiple attacks and were recently the target of a blanket request for information on individuals who receive gender-affirming care at Florida universities.

We will fight for Chinese students, faculty and staff whom Sasse has implied are coming to US universities as tools of espionage and have now been effectively banned from com-

Is Florida where higher education goes to die?

Florida is exceptional, different, sometimes a bit quirky.

This is apparent in its vibrant diversity and celebration of its many cultures. However, in recent years, the Florida legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis have made the state exceptional through a political agenda that is detrimental to the people of Florida — bills that have already been enacted.

These include laws such as the Stop W.O.K.E. Act (House Bill 7) and the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill (House Bill 1557), which limit free speech and balanced teaching throughout the public education system in Florida.

Oliver Grundmann UF Clinical Professor opinions@alligator.org

While older people may see Florida as their ideal retirement state, younger adults who still have their working days ahead of them see the recent political environment as a disadvantage to remaining in or relocating to Florida.

Now, a new bill is supposed to take limiting higher education to a new level by erasing any initiatives at public state universities that teach students or educate faculty and staff about diversity and inclusion in and outside the classroom.

The new bill, House Bill 999, which will become law by July 2023 if the legislature and DeSantis approve it, proposes that each constituent university “remove from its programs any major or minor that is based on or otherwise utilizes pedagogical methodology associated with Critical Theory.”

It also proposes that the Board of Trustees be responsible for hiring faculty for the university, and that university presidents may provide hiring recommendations, without consideration of recommendations or opinions of faculty of the university or other individuals or groups.

It also prohibits universities from using diversity, equity and inclusion statements, “Critical Race Theory rhetoric” or other forms of “political identity or ideology” as part of the hiring process.

Let’s be clear about what this and other bills are aiming to accomplish: They seek to create an environment that is hostile to free and open speech, and will suppress Florida’s ability to attract the best and brightest minds, regardless of their sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity.

municating with family in China.

We will fight to protect tenure for UF faculty, a system Sasse destroyed during his time as the president of Midland College.

Graduate assistants are the backbone of UF.

At UF, the current equity resources like the Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement, Office for Accessibility and Gender Equity, Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and the Presidential LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee are in danger of elimination.

Even whole departments and majors such as the departments of gender, sexuality and women’s studies and African-American studies are at risk of disappearing.

Several students at our university have majors and minors that are offered by these departments and are currently enrolled in classes that satisfy requirements for their chosen area of study. They will be at a disadvantage if they cannot take these classes; their ability to think freely and learn about concepts that interest them are essential elements of their college experiences.

By attempting to limit students’ options for their studies, any lawmaker who supports HB 999 is doing a tremendous disservice to academic freedom and the greater pursuit of education.

This attack will recklessly move Florida’s secondary education system backwards, causing underrepresented identities to feel as if their sheer existence is a political debate, especially since they would be prevented from conducting their own independent research regarding these subjects should this bill be signed into law.

These bills are meant to eradicate historically underrepresented groups across the board, eliminate hard truths about American history and instill a fear in staff and faculty at public institutions of higher education that they will lose their job if they speak up.

If this ongoing, clearly political, reshaping of the Florida education system continues, then, as a contributor on television recently stated in response to HB999, “Florida will be the place where higher education goes to die.”

Oliver Grundmann is a clinical professor in the UF College of Pharmacy. UF students and professors Madeline Flint, Damon Veras, Brent C. Christner and Ryan F. Need also contributed to this column.

been invited to have a conversation with President Sasse.

He has met with the Student Body President Lauren Lemasters. He’s met with the Faculty Senate, including Faculty Senate Chair Amanda Phalin. He has met with Mori Hosseini, Chairman of the UF Board of Trustees, including having his first speech as UF’s president be at the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce to celebrate Hosseini’s daughter becoming the chamber's board chair.

Rachel Hartnett UF Graduate Assistants United opinions@alligator.org

We teach a significant number of the lower-division courses required for general education credit. We conduct a significant amount of the research that has helped UF rise to becoming a top five public university and has brought in over $861 million annually in research awards. None of that is possible without graduate assistants.

Nevertheless, we remain criminally underappreciated and underpaid.

GAU’s expectations are simple. We expect Sasse to act in the best interest of UF and its community.

This means protecting queer students from political attacks. This means protecting Chinese students and faculty from claims they are spies. This means protecting academic freedom and tenure, essential elements of a top five research university.

This means ensuring all UF workers can afford to live in dignity. This means resisting political overreach and attempts to destroy public education within the state.

Most importantly, this means creating an environment where the entire UF community can thrive.

We would love to have the opportunity to relay these expectations to President Sasse himself. Unfortunately, GAU hasn’t

At this event, he will also meet with Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez, despite his own vow of political celibacy as UF president.

GAU has now emailed Sasse twice to set up a consultation to discuss graduate assistant issues. No response from his office or any representatives.

Apparently, Sasse isn’t interested in hearing from the elected representatives of the over 4,000 members of the graduate assistant community.

Has Sasse met with any student groups at UF?

He didn’t attend the Women’s History Month event the evening of March 20. He skipped the Presidential Service Awards ceremony on March 21. Why become the president of a university if you are completely unwilling to engage with any of its students?

In his first official communication with the UF community, Sasse stated: “We're a community, and to do this well, we need a wide range of perspectives and voices.”

Too bad he only seems to be interested in listening to a few.

Rachel Hartnett is the co-president of UF Graduate Assistants United

Aurora Martínez DIGITAL MANAGING EDITOR

Veronica Nocera ENGAGEMENT MANAGING EDITOR

Selin Ciltas OPINIONS EDITOR

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MEN'S GOLF

Three Gators crack top 20 of Professional Golfers Association TOUR University rankings

THERE ARE NEW BENEFITS FOR AMATEURS WHO MAINTAIN THEIR HIGH RANK

By Madilyn Destefano Sports Writer

Gators senior golfers have a chance to make it to the big leagues through the Professional Golfers Association Tour University for the first time.

Three seniors from the Florida men’s golf team are ranked in the top 20 of the PGA Tour University rankings. As of April 5, Fred Biondi is ranked third, Yuxin Lin sits at ninth and Ricky Castillo at 15.

The stakes were raised Nov. 14 — becoming and maintaining a high rank is more crucial than it was in past years. Division I golfers now have a direct path to tour membership through the new PGA Tour University, an association for college amateur golfers.

The program is “designed and administered to identify the best college golfers in the United States and to provide such players with playing

BASEBALL

Florida baseball secures fourth conference series

win

Gators win first road series against Tennessee since 2018

opportunities on tours operated under the PGA Tour umbrella,” according to the PGA TOUR.

National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I golfers who meet certain criteria and are ranked based on winning, competitiveness and season-long performance are eligible for PGA Tour University. Since 2020 — in partnership with the World Amateur Golf Ranking — PGA Tour University ranks players based on their average performance in eligible tournaments.

Players competing in these tournaments will earn points equivalent to the amount awarded by WAGR until May 29, when the ranking period for the class of 2023 ends.

The eligible player who finishes ranked first nationally will earn complete PGA Tour membership and be eligible for open, full-field events following the NCAA Division I National Championship.

Players finishing first through fifth will automatically advance to the final stage of the PGA Tour’s Qualifying

By Topher Adams Sports Writer

Florida junior left fielder Wyatt Langford came to the plate in the fourth inning against the Tennessee Volunteers April 7.

The Trenton product hammered a leadoff homer into the bleachers. Sophomore first baseman Jac Caglianone followed it with another hammer out of the park. The Gators’ back-to-back jacks helped secure a series win in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The No. 3 Florida Gators (27-6, 9-3 SEC) took two out of three against the No. 11 Tennessee Volunteers (22-10, 5-7 SEC) to win their fourthstraight series in Southeastern Conference play. UF won a series in Knoxville for the first time since 2018. Florida scored 17 runs against one of the top-rated pitching staffs in the country. The Volunteers boast the second best earned run average in the nation with 2.8, but the Gators found enough offense to take the series.

“To our hitters’ credit, they're facing a really good pitching staff,” said UF head coach Kevin O’Sullivan after Florida’s April 7 win. “Every guy they've run out there has a good arm.”

Junior shortstop Josh Rivera led the offense with a handful of big moments. The Gators’ cleanup hitter went just 3-11 at the plate for the series, but he changed the game with his hits.

Rivera blew the game open April 6. He crushed a threerun shot in the fifth inning to give UF a four-run lead that helped open the series with a win. The Avon Park native added a second homer April 7 to help the Gators get out to an early lead.

Rivera, Langford and Caglianone delivered big moments, but Florida received contributions from up and down the lineup.

Sophomore outfielder Matt Prevesk batted in a career-high four runs April 7. Freshman second baseman Cade Kurland had his third multi-hit game in conference play April 6.

Florida’s pitching staff worked well to hold Tennessee to just four runs through the first two games. Junior righty Brandon Sproat started April 6, and he posted a strong outing. The Gators’ ace pitched 5 2/3 and allowed just one run with nine strikeouts.

UF’s bullpen posted a strong performance to see out the win. Sophomore lefty Philip Abner and sophomore righty Brandon Neely combined to throw 3 1/3 shutout innings to close out a victory.

“That's what you need to do on the road,” O’Sullivan said of his bullpen. “Philip was great again. Neely ran into a little bit of trouble but made some pitches when he needed to.”

Junior right-hander Hurston Waldrep delivered one of his best performances as a Gator to help secure a series victory April 7. The Southern Mississippi transfer pitched seven innings, and he allowed just three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts.

“Hurston was incredibly good today,” O’Sullivan said. “This is what we've been waiting for with Sproat and Hurston to put together a couple of back-to-back really good starts.”

Freshman lefty Cade Fisher sealed the series with two shutout innings. He allowed just one hit and struck out five of the seven batters he faced.

Florida cruised in the first two games; they won by a combined 11 runs. The Gators had a chance to complete their second road sweep in SEC play, but the Volunteers crushed UF 14-2 April 8.

Caglianone started on the mound in the loss, and he

struggled in a brief outing. The two-way lefty pitched just 2/3 of an inning. He walked six of the eight batters he faced and allowed three runs before O’Sullivan put redshirt sophomore Tyler Nesbitt in the game.

Nesbitt and four other Florida relievers combined to allow 11 more runs. Tennessee ended the game in the eighth inning with a walk-off three-run homer to trigger a run-rule defeat for the Gators.

“We just got off to a rough start today on the mound, and everybody we turned to after that had a tough time finding the strike zone,” O’Sullivan said.

UF has now won all four of its series in conference play but is only 2-2 in the final game of each of its past four SEC series. Caglianone is the nominal third starter, but he’s been inconsistent on the hill. He has the fewest innings pitched but has walked the most batters.

Despite the inconsistent play, the loss to Tennessee is Caglianone’s first defeat as a starting pitcher this season.

“We need to figure out this third starter situation,” O’Sullivan said. “This is a long season, and the goal is to win the last game of the year. In order to do that, you have to have three starters.”

The Gators will start their week with a rivalry showdown against the Florida State Seminoles. Florida took the first game of the series March 21 and will have the opportunity to clinch a series victory on home soil April 11.

UF continues conference play on the weekend when it hosts the Georgia Bulldogs. The teams will play a three-game series starting April 14 and ending Sunday. First-pitch Friday is set for 7 p.m., and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

@Topher_Adams tadams@alligator.org

SEE MEN'S GOLF, PAGE 12

Ryan Friedenberg // Alligator Staff Florida senior Yuxin Lin drives the ball at the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.

Gators’ golfing guys

MEN'S GOLF, from pg. 11

Tournament and earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for that season. They will also be exempt into all open, full-field Korn Ferry Tour events.

Those finishing sixth through 10th will earn conditional membership for the Korn Ferry Tour and an exemption into the final stage of the current season’s PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament. These players will earn membership to PGA Tour Canada or PGA Tour Latinoamérica for the following year.

Players ranked 11th to 20th will receive membership on PGA Tour Canada and PGA Tour Latinoamérica along with an exemption into the second stage of the current season’s PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Biondi, Lin and Castillo have each been recognized this season for their successes. Biondi was named Southeastern Conference Golfer of the Week twice this season — making it four times in his career. He took the title in week seven and 15; Lin earned it in week 10; and Castillo

took the title in week eight.

The seniors snagged titles and awards all season long. The most recent was awarded to Biondi in the 15th week of the season.

He earned his second individual win of the season in the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational; he was named SEC Golfer of the Week and earned an exemption into the PGA Tour's 2023 3M Open Championship.

Biondi is the second Gator this season to secure an exemption into a PGA event.

Lin won the Southern Highlands Collegiate for a spot in the Shriners Children’s Open. He’s also on the Haskins Award Watch List, which is one of the highest honors in college golf that goes to the best college golfer of the season.

“It’s a dream for every college player,”

Lin said. “It’s an honor to be on the list.”

In November, the PGA announced the new exemption category, meaning Division I golfers could earn an exemption into a PGA event. Any player who wins a PGA event can claim the prize money and forfeit their amateur status and turn professional. Their other option is to deny it and remain an amateur.

All three seniors finished in the top 10 of their final regular season tournament — the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational. They will next compete along with the rest of Florida’s men’s golf team in the SEC championship that starts April 19.

@DestefanoMadi mdestefano@alligator.org