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VOLUME 119 - ISSUE 8 Not officially associated with the University of Florida

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Gainesville’s ‘homeless sisters and brothers’ banned from camping on public property NEW BILL SIGNED BY GOV. RON DESANTIS IN MARCH

By Kairi Lowery Alligator Staff Writer

Matthew Lewis // Alligator Staff

Christell and her dog Cupid shelter from the rain on Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024, in Gainesville, Florida.

One year later: Where do UF’s proIsrael, pro-Palestine communities stand?

Antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric has increased significantly on campus after Oct. 7, 2023

By Vivienne Serret Alligator Staff Writer

When a vigil for Israel descended into chaos after students perceived a loud noise as gunshots on Oct. 10, 2023, the only thing on Mordechai Krasnjanski’s mind was to run to safety.

The 26-year-old UF Jewish law student said his experience at future events related to Israel or Jewish solidarity has changed since the vigil. He’s become more

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Parker Valby’s long distance running journey.

Read more on pg. 11.

vigilant on a personal level, he said.

“It was almost like people were expecting or bracing themselves for something to happen,” Krasnjanski said. “Everyone was on edge, you know, I definitely remember that being a shared thing.”

The Israel-Gaza conflict has been a source of controversy for several decades , but was most notably amplified after Oct. 7, 2023, when the militant group Hamas

SEE OCT. 7, PAGE 3 Health

Breast cancer researchers use AI, pg. 5

The last week of September marked one year of homelessness for 36-year-old Lana Wise. She often struggles to find a private place to use the bathroom, sometimes going for more than 24 hours without relief.

Wise said she’s among 40 other homeless individuals that live off Southeast Fourth Place and around St. Francis House in downtown Gainesville.

Now, she said she struggles to come to terms with a new bill that went into effect Oct. 1 banning encampment on public streets and property like the ones Wise spends her days and nights at.

“If you don’t want us to sit on your sidewalk, and now all of a sudden it’s yours versus mine, where is it legal to?” she said through tears.

House Bill 1365, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 20, isn’t meant to eliminate homelessness, but instead ensure citizens feel safe and communities remain thriving, bill sponsor Rep. Sam Garrison (R11) said.

“When you have situations when encampments pop up, business owners see decreased foot traffic,” he said. “It hollows out those communities for businesses, which has cascading collateral consequences.

And as a result of that, you see parks being taken over and families don’t feel safe.”

Garrison said it took hours of debate and months of deliberation with city mayors to come up with the bill, which will allow Florida counties to enforce the provisions how they see fit.

Under the provisions, Florida counties can designate certain public places for encampment in a specific time period, to be approved by the

Department of Children and Families.

After Jan. 1, if citizens or business owners witness unauthorized public encampment or sleeping, they can submit an affidavit to the city.

The city will then have five days to take reasonable action to remove those publicly sleeping or encamping, Garrison said. If they fail to do so, citizens or business owners can sue their local government.

The bill does not outline penalties for those sleeping and encamping on public property.

If counties do not have sufficient shelter space for those suffering from homelessness, the bill will push officials to make sure there are designated, safe and sanitary areas for public sleeping and encampment, he said.

To prepare for the influx of homeless individuals in shelters, the Florida government increased the current year’s budget by nearly 300% for emergency shelter space, Garrison said.

“I don’t know that this bill honestly changes anything about how the city of Gainesville responds to this issue [homelessness],” said Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward.

Instead, Ward said problems from the new bill will lie within communities who do little to nothing to support their homeless population.

Gainesville does much more than little to nothing, he said.

The city focuses on sending resources and outreach teams to those in encampments, whether that be from the city or GRACE Marketplace, to support its “homeless sisters and brothers,” Ward said.

Along with resources, the Gainesville City Commission approved a budget including $2 million for GRACE Marketplace Sept. 30.

While Alachua County Commissioner Mary Alford said she’s concerned about the lack of affordable housing for homeless people, she said she’s more worried about the

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2 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024

Weather A voter’sToday’s guide to UF’s Fall 2024 Student Government elections

VOLUME 119 - ISSUE 8

NEWSROOM:

Students will cast their ballots this week

By Avery Parker Alligator Staff Writer

UF’s three Student Government parties — Vision, Change and Watch Parties — have set forth their Fall 2024 policies.

Now, students must decide if and for whom to vote Oct. 8 and 9.

This guide explains how to vote, where to do it and what the parties’ platforms entail.

How to vote

Voter qualification is simple: Every UF student with a valid UF ID can vote, including UF Online students. IDs can be in the form of a physical or an electronic card.

In order to cast a ballot, students must go to a polling location and present their student ID. After that, they will log on to UF’s voting platform at the polling station and cast their ballots, which will appear different depending on a student’s living location (e.g.

Infinity Hall, Honors Village, offcampus, etc).

During Fall elections, students select 50 new Student Senators, who represent the areas in which they live.

A student doesn’t need to vote at a polling location in their own district. For instance, an off-campus voter is free to vote at the Reitz Union polling location.

Where to vote

The Fall 2024 SG elections will be held at eight polling locations: • The Reitz Student Union 686 Museum Road • Norman Library 618 SW 12th St. • Broward Hall 680 Broward Drive • Southwest Recreation Center - 3150 Hull Road • Keys Complex 2191 Stadium Road • Heavener Hall 1325 West University Ave. • Corry Village 278 Corry Village • Health Science Center Library - 1249 Center Drive

of campus.

Vision canvassers suggested questions about the campaign should be directed to Vision Party president Gabriel Vargas. He did not respond to requests for comment.

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Watch Party platform

Watch Party, a new political party announced this election cycle, based its platform around fair elections via access, opportunity and representation.

Watch’s goal is for each UF satellite campus to have at least

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one polling location. It also advocates all parties and independent candidates be provided $250 so as to avoid wealth-based election advantages.

The party seeks to establish ranked choice voting, in which voters rank their preferred candidates. If their first-choice candidate loses, their vote will go to their second choice and so on until a candidate has a majority of the votes.

Watch Party chief of staff and co-founder Dominic Acosta Santoni said students should educate themselves in preparation for elections.

“I think you should read the Vision Party platform, I think you should read the Change Party platform, I think you should read the Watch Party platform,” Acosta Santoni said.

He encouraged voters to dive into the history of SG for context.

He called Watch “the party of accountability.”

Speaking on why students should vote Watch, he said, “I don’t think anything else really matters until fair elections are fully intact and until everyone has representation again.”

Elections will run from Oct. 8 to Oct. 9, and results will be announced around 9:30 p.m. Oct. 9.

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Vision Party platform

Vision Party, whose candidates currently hold a majority in the SG Senate, released a platform based on categories of academics, dorm life, DEI, wellness, service, sustainability and student ideas.

The party hopes to install a color printer in the Reitz Student Union’s printing lab; put ice machines in dorms; establish a forum for cultural organization leaders; create a mental health day on campus; organize nature trail cleanups; and extend bike lanes farther out from the center

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Change Party platform

Change Party, whose senators make up the second-largest Senate faction, centered its platform around student quality of life, health, wellness and safety, sustainability, transportation, DEI, graduate affairs and SG reform.

Notable goals include providing all students with $100 for utility bill relief; expanding contraceptive options at Student Health Care Center; planting pollinator plants on campus to increase biodiversity; supporting RTS funding; supporting the formation of a dining-hall workers’ labor union; providing graduate student-tailored SG events; and auditing SG Productions and ACCENT. Change Outreach Director Zoe Richter, 21, said students should make a plan to vote.

“That usually encourages people. If you make a plan, then you actually go do it,” she said.

When asked why students should vote for Change, Sen. Isha Khan (Change-Honors Village) said, “Change Party is the party that’s actually doing the actions behind what they’re saying.”

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024 ALLIGATOR 3

Oct. 7 attack, one year later OCT. 7, from pg. 1

launched an attack on southern Israel. The attack killed 1,200, mostly civilians, with 250 taken as hostages to the Gaza strip.

Israel began a full-scale invasion in retaliation, which is still ongoing.

Over 40,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in the past year due to the conflict, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

On UF’s campus, students have often found themselves divided on the issue. Protests, arrests and polarization have become the new normal for students to witness as they stroll through Plaza of the Americas or University Avenue.

Similarily, the rise of antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric increased significantly in Western countries after Oct. 7, 2023, according to an article by The Hill citing the AntiDefamation League and Tel Aviv University.

Pro-Israel sentiments

Over 1,200 were in attendance at a UF vigil for Israel held at Turlington Plaza Oct. 10, 2023, just three days after the Oct. 7 attacks. Nearly 30 minutes into the vigil, a noise had startled attendees, who then panicked and began running. About 30 students were injured in the panic.

Rabbi Berl Goldman, the director of the UF Chabad Jewish Student Center, said antisemitism and antiIsrael sentiments have been prevalent long before Oct. 7, 2023. He said

many Jewish students, faculty and community members feel vulnerable when expressing their support and solidarity with Israel.

“The answer is not to cower, the answer is not to be fearful,” Goldman said. “We are here to express our Judaism and our pro-Israel alliance proudly and in the open.”

UF holds the largest number of Jewish undergraduate students in the country at around 6,500. About 19% of UF undergraduates are Jewish, according to Hillel International.

Goldman said the Oct. 7 attacks only amplified and highlighted antiIsrael rhetoric, with incidents of vandalism and threats increasing over the past year. UF Chabad was vandalized November 2023 with antisemitic graffiti, as previously reported

by The Alligator.

Since Oct. 7, misinformation has spiked with the use of altered images, claims of crisis actors and false narratives, according to a report by PolitiFact. The report outlines claims circulating on social media sites, such as X, claiming violence in Israel and Gaza was “fake” or downplaying casualties of the conflict.

Goldman said misinformation on the conflict is rampant, and finding authentic and truthful sources of information is a complicated subject.

False information is being used to project lies and terrorism, he said.

“No one wakes up Oct. 7 in the morning in the Holy Land of Israel or anywhere and says, ‘Oh, let's kill Jews,’” Goldman said. “No one does

FREE ADMISSION

that. That has been nurtured and harbored since birth, that has been taught, that has been planned for, that has been trained for, that has been funded.”

Sara Beer, a 21-year-old UF public relations senior, is the president of the UF Jewish Student Union.

Also present at last year's vigil, Beer said she felt happy and prideful but nervous to be there. Every noise she heard made her turn her head, she said.

When the panic unfolded, Beer was stepped on and had lit candles fall on her.

“It was just an instantaneous feeling of being so scared,” Beer said. “I’ve never come into a Jewish space before feeling that way.”

When pro-Palestinian protests began on UF campus, Beer said many Jewish students were struggling to navigate their feelings. She said she understands people wanting to defend themselves, but it was scary to read signs targeting Jewish people.

Still, Beer said she never felt endangered because of campus police and UF administration's response.

She said she’s been able to attend meetings with Interim President Kent Fuchs and the Dean of Student Life where they could converse on how Jewish students were feeling.

As JSU president, Beer said she will continue to hold events and learning opportunities with her organization.

“I totally understand free speech,”

Gabriella Aulisio // Alligator Staff

Students attend a vigil on Oct. 10, 2023, to honor the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks.

Beer said. “But when you're putting another group in that position where they feel like they can't really even walk on campus, at a school that they choose to attend to, and they don't feel welcomed or supported, that's when things happen.”

Pro-Palestinian sentiments

On Oct. 10, 2023, UF’s Students for Justice in Palestine released a solidarity statement on its Instagram mourning “the loss of innocent Palestinian and Israeli civilian life,” noting that the “root of violence, apartheid and occupation under Israel’s far-right government must end for peace.”

The organization is among sev-

ART

eral, like the UF Divest Coalition, UF Jewish Voice for Peace and Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, who have opposed Zionism and called for the university to protect students.

Meir Schochet, a 21-year-old UF astrophysics junior, felt terrified as a Jewish student after Oct. 7 as their brother was studying in Israel. Yet Schochet has felt stuck and often isolated in the Jewish community as they’ve expressed support for Palestinians and Gaza.

Read the rest online at alligator.org. @vivienneserret vserret@alligator.org

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Thursday, October 31, 6 – 9 pm Dress to impress in your spookiest costume this Halloween night and enjoy complimentary desserts, wine and beer as you dance to spine-chilling beats provided by DJ Wax Atom from 6 – 8 pm.

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4 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024

A lesson in resilience: UF professor reflects on his experience in Ukraine AS THE WAR IN UKRAINE CONTINUES, GLOBAL MEDICINE ALLOWS DOCTORS TO TREAT VICTIMS IN A WAR ZONE

By Delia Rose Sauer Alligator Staff Writer

Dr. Riley Jones kept a running tally of community service hours in a pocket spiral notebook starting in high school. His goal was to complete 10,000 hours of community service, which he accomplished last year.

Community service is fundamental to the 41-year-old UF assistant professor of medicine. The day before 9/11, Jones was worried about applying to colleges. After the planes hit the Twin Towers, half of his high school class joined the military. He knew he had to do something to help, but he felt the military wouldn’t be his best option.

He decided to dedicate his life to community service.

“I wanted to be an expert in trying to make the world better,” Jones said.

He started simple with roadside cleanups and tutoring. He began learning languages like French and Spanish.

The scale of his service projects would only grow once Jones got to college.

Jones earned his bachelor’s degree at Western Kentucky University, where his roommate asked him to accompany him to Haiti as a translator. Once he arrived, he was taken aback by the amount of poverty.

He needed to determine his long-term goals. He still wanted to make the world a better place, but it was easier said than done. He had learned of conditions about the world that he found intolerable, he said. Medicine was his answer to do something about it.

Jones was accepted into the University of Louisville for medical school. He then decided to return to Haiti for a couple weeks after the 2012 earthquake that devastated the country.

The airport was closed, so the plane landed on a strip of road. Doctors had to operate on kitchen tables where his team had eaten breakfast. The homes made of tarp stayed upright after the earthquake while whole buildings collapsed.

“The re-entry syndrome that you get when you fly back into Miami, and there's all these beautifully manicured lawns, and not an hour and a half before that, there's just destitution everywhere,” he said.

It didn’t stop him from traveling to Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Venezuela and Ghana to continue his work in global medicine.

After medical school, Jones completed a master’s degree at King's College in London, where he studied post-conflict healthcare reconstruction after civil wars.

He eventually started at UF thanks to a global health fellowship program in 2018.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to stay in Florida and become a full-time attendant.

During a visit to Venezuela, he started working with MedGlobal, a non-governmental organization providing emergency response and support to victims of war and disaster, marginalized communities and refugees around the world.

Through MedGlobal, Jones gets to apply his expertise to see what the organization can offer during times of crisis. In 2021, a few days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he received a call. There was word that the Russian military would equip chemical weapons against the Ukranians.

Three days after the call, he purchased a plane ticket to Ukraine. A week later he crossed into Ukraine in the pitch-black night and arrived in Lviv. He met with representatives from the government under constant air raids.

“We’re not there to talk military strategy,” he said. “You’ve got a civilian workforce that doesn’t know what to do.

They’ve never seen a chemical weapon.”

Everything had to be done quickly. In a Zoom call with 350 people, Jones and the MedGlobal team broke down how to treat chemical attacks — like chlorine attacks — while also taking note of what healthcare workers need.

“It's just like good old-fashioned medical school,” Jones said.

They used PowerPoints and research to identify different nerve agents and how to treat them. The instruction consisted of hands-on training on the decontamination process so healthcare workers wouldn’t get themselves hurt or killed when trying to help victims.

He adopted a train-the-trainer model so the information could be passed down to different doctors and healthcare workers as quickly as possible. MedGlobal archived information using QR codes to make their resources even more accessible.

“You prepare them as much as you can for personal resiliency and how to keep your head down and keep moving forward,” he said.

The chemical attacks are brutal. The most common chemical weapon used has been chloropicrin, a chemical usually used as a soil fumigant that is a choking agent when used as a chemical weapon.

According to Jones, the Russian military would launch canisters with chloropicrin into Ukrainian frontlines. It would burn soldiers’ skin and deteriorate the rubber on their gas masks. They would wait for Ukrainian troops to come up gasping for air and then attack them.

During his three visits to Ukraine, Jones adjusted to the sound of the air raid sirens.

His priorities were different. On a typical

Noah Lantor // Alligator Staff

University of Florida doctor Riley Jones stands proudly in UF’s Shands Hospital on Sept. 19, 2024.

trip abroad, he’d expect to worry about where the closest coffee shop is. There, he had to take note of the closest place to hide. He spent time in old Soviet bunkers where there was only room to stand and huddle.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine was a land and power grab, Jones said.

“With this conflict,” he said, “we have seen a systematic drawback of all those humanitarian and international relations achievements.”

The way war is fought was challenged for the worst in the Ukrainian conflict, Jones said.

“We knew that this was going to be big and it was going to be long,” he said. “I fully believe that Ukraine will fight to the very last person.”

Jones found Ukraine beautiful. The culture was vibrant, even as the war continues.

“These are good, normal people,” he said. “There's a nightlife, there's an economy, there's some amazing artists.”

While the war has been devastating, he’s glad the world is recognizing Ukraine’s rich history and the importance of keeping it alive.

He’s found a greater lesson from the depths of the bunkers and between each visit to Ukraine. He called it the “return of death.” You die once biologically, then you die a second time the last time someone whispers your name.

Ukraine won’t experience its first death, not with the perseverance he’s seen in the Ukrainian people. The country won’t experience a second death, either, because even with the war, its history won’t be lost anytime soon.

He mentors medical students often and

emphasizes the importance of what impact they can make on the world.

Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the co-founder and president of MedGlobal, was also in Ukraine alongside Jones. He’s been five times since 2021.

Sahloul was motivated to create MedGlobal after working in Syria between 2011 and 2016. He wanted to apply what he learned at the global level.

Sahloul first interacted with Jones when he volunteered with MedGlobal in Colombia, providing healthcare access to Venezuelan migrants and Colombian host communities near the border of the two countries. He noticed Jones’ commitment and eventually invited him to join MedGlobal’s board of directors.

“He’s [Jones] very methodological,” Sahloul said. “He likes to help.”

There were seven physicians and humanitarians on the first team sent to Ukraine a week after the war started.

Sahloul worked alongside Jones to gather the information to instruct healthcare workers on chemical attacks, also referencing his experience in Syria.

Sahloul wants to give driven doctors like Jones a platform for activism. He’s seen people go to war zones to convert others to a religion, to get an adrenaline rush or to brag. He wants more people like Jones who are committed to the mission of helping communities.

“War and disasters are the enemies of health,” he said. “Our mission is to improve access to healthcare in disaster areas, to reduce healthcare inequities.”

Dr. Nila Radhakrishnan, the division chief and professor for hospital medicine, has been at UF College of Medicine since 2011. She oversees a team of 68 faculty members and the care of 200 to 250 inpatients.

When she took over the division of hospital medicine, she interviewed Jones for a global health fellowship through UF, a program that no longer exists after the pandemic. After his fellowship was completed, Jones stayed on as a faculty member.

“He certainly has always been a superstar,” Radhakrishnan said. “I was struck and continued to be impressed by his sense of purpose.”

She values his strong work ethic and his sense of purpose, something that is reflected in how he cares for his patients at Shands Hospital. Jones has helped publish research and innovations UF developed during the pandemic so other centers could benefit from UF’s research.

“What I have learned from Dr. Jones and others is it’s very important not just to go in, do some work and then leave,” she said. @_delia_rose_ drosesauer@alligator.org

Homeless people, county leaders react to House Bill 1365 HOMELESSNESS, from pg. 1

bill’s lack of solutions for the reasons why some people end up homeless.

“My biggest concern, quite frankly, is the fact that this bill doesn’t provide the resources that we need to deal with mental illness, which is often the root cause of many folks that are on the streets and unwilling to go to shelters,” she said.

Legislators can’t create bills like this one without a solution on the other end of the legislature, she said.

“You can’t just say ‘You can’t be homeless,’” Alford said.

Alford said she thinks the new legislation will instead push the homeless away from safety and into more isolated camps.

For Isaac Butler, who takes residence across from St. Francis

House off of South Main Street, this structure of homelessness on public streets and property isn’t a bad thing, because it helps each individual get back on their feet, he said.

“Some people have never slept outside a day in their life…

They’re like ‘Oh no, what do I do?’” Butler said. “Well, you eat here at 7, you get your stuff there…this is how you come back from that [homelessness].”

In order to not displace others like himself, Butler urges for more thought on this bill.

“We should have more reflections on the legislation,” he said.

Mahadi Khan, a 41-year-old worker at Food Max Foodie Store, a convenience store homeless individuals often camp in front of, said he’s in favor of the new legislation because it will stop those encamping from disturbing individuals.

“Gainesville is a beautiful place for living, for study,” Khan said. “But when I see homeless people without shelter, I feel a little bit of shame because they are disturbing people.”

Despite his support of the bill, Khan urges the city to take action in favor of these individuals in front of his place of work.

While homeless individuals and business owners struggle over the new changes, the bill won’t be enforceable until Jan. 1, when citizens can submit affidavits to their local government if they see unauthorized public encampment.

“I want to say to the Gainesville community — please do something for all of them, they need shelter,” Khan said. @kairiloweryy. klowery@alligator.org

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024 ALLIGATOR 5

Elections are next month. What are organizations doing to register Gen Z? OCT. 7 WAS THE LAST DAY FOR NEW REGISTRATIONS IN FLORIDA

By Morgan Vanderlaan Alligator Staff Writer

Beyond clubs promoting their next meeting and DoorDash handing out free Crumbl cookies, another organization is tabling across campus this election season: voter registration drives.

Allison Minnerly, communications director for People Power for Florida, often hands out registration forms to students meandering between classes in Turlington, urging them to take two minutes to start the process.

People Power for Florida is one of many nonpartisan voter registration organizations popping up on college campuses across Florida.

While the organization doesn’t tie itself to any political party, it often advocates alongside “Yes on 4” abortion rights campaigners and also advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and other liberally aligned issues.

With the voter registration deadline swiftly approaching, Minnerly said she felt the urgency of getting the younger voting blocs involved.

Oct. 7 marks the final day for new voter registrations in Florida for the Nov. 5 general election.

Forms can be filled out in person with a voter registration organization or done through the Florida voter webpage.

Minnerly said she’s frustrated by recent Florida legislation that restricted voting access across the state, especially in younger populations. From contesting the eligibility

of on-campus polling locations to making organizations jump through hoops to accept registrations, Minnerly said there has been increasing difficulty surrounding civic participation.

“It’s all by design,” she said, “but it’s so important that young people know that their vote is their voice, and if it didn’t matter, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to suppress it.”

The Gen Z cohort encompasses voters aged 18 to 27, though some members of Gen Z are still too young to vote. One trend Minnerly has noticed within the age group is a tendency to choose no party affiliation, or NPA, rather than electing to align with a political party.

In an April 2024 poll from the Pew Research Center, only 52% of voters under 25 reported they aligned with the Republican or Democratic party. In comparison, the same poll showed 77% of people 80 years of age or older had strict party affiliation.

Younger generations are more likely to be motivated by issues rather than partisanship, which may explain the gravitation toward NPA, Voters of Tomorrow deputy press secretary Jessica Siles said.

Voters of Tomorrow is a national organization focused on engaging young people in politics. Despite being non-partisan, the organization is anti-Project 2025 due to a shift in youth bases toward democratic-leaning policies, Siles said.

Ahead of the November election, the organization has done mail and phone campaigns in the Gainesville area, Siles said.

“I think Gen Z, we have so much empathy as a generation…being ex-

posed to so many different people of different backgrounds and different perspectives at all times,” Siles said.

Voter apathy among younger populations is a constant battle, Siles said. In presidential elections dating back to 1964, ages 18 to 24 have historically had the lowest voter turnout among all demographics, according to January 2024 data from Statista. However, Siles hopes that the November election will prove different.

Voter turnout has been increasing in younger populations, Siles said. The 2020 general election cycle showed the highest engagement of the century among the demographic. According to data from the UF election lab, the 2020 election brought 66% youth turnout, compared to turnouts of about 60% in 2016 and 59% in 2012.

“In the last few cycles, we’ve seen that [voter apathy] narrative kind of change in young people really showing up and understanding what’s at stake,” she said. “I definitely think we’re going to see more of that change and hopefully another record-breaking youth turnout this election.”

Voters of Tomorrow has contacted potential voters by mail, text, phone calls, on the ground, on campuses and online. The goal, Siles said, is to reach out in as many ways to as many different demographics as possible.

Beyond registration, other organizations on UF’s campus are trying to create an easier voting process during election season. GenVote Gators, a youth-led organization, is dedicated to defending the rights of voters in Gainesville, club member

Henry A. Moore // Alligator Staff

The Florida deadline for voter registration is approaching fast. As the 2024 election season comes to a close, here’s everything you need to know from Oct. 7 to Nov. 5.

Jake Roberts said.

The 19-year-old UF political science sophomore said the organization’s current goal is to recruit volunteers to make sure everything goes smoothly at polling locations.

GenVote assists people who might be confused about how to vote or Spanish speakers who need language translation assistance, Roberts said.

As a member of Gen Z himself, Roberts said he understands how some of his fellow students may feel politically disengaged. While many people feel like their vote doesn’t count, he said, each vote

does matter.

In the electoral college system, presidential races can be decided by margins of less than 50,000 votes in some swing states. When those states sway between parties, the entire election can flip, Roberts said.

“Our vote does, in fact, count,” he said. “So many people have worked for so long to try and protect that right to vote. I think it should be really something that we hold sacred to our democracy and to our values as Americans.” @morgvande mvanderlaan@alligator.org

What’s the newest step in AI? UF researchers say combating breast cancer.

AI to find cancer warning signs otherDesigning machine learning helps doctors detect and treat malignant tumors use wise overlooked. The technology can draw

By Natalie Kaufman Alligator Staff Writer

ChatGPT can draft a college essay, plan a tropical vacation or generate images of squirrels eating ice cream in outer space. Now, it may be a lifeline for those like Pamela Burnett.

When 63-year-old Burnett was diagnosed with breast cancer 23 years ago, artificial intelligence was a mere blip on the horizon.

It was not yet helping doctors detect tumors and prescribe tailored treatments.

Undergoing screenings, chemotherapy and radiation was a long, grueling slog, she said. At times, Burnett lost faith she would recover.

“I was numb. I shut down,” she said.

“My family, they could not handle me being sick, and so I pretended that everything was okay.”

In the early aughts, only those in white lab coats could formulate a cancer care plan for Burnett. Now, researchers at UF lean on chatbots and data algorithms to do part of the heavy lifting.

At UF’s Intelligent Critical Care Center,

machine learning and artificial intelligence are making diagnostics more efficient, enabling patients to undergo chemotherapy and radiation sooner than was once possible.

Pinkai Sarder, the center’s associate director for imaging, predicts AI will one day formulate a cure for cancer but said the technology won’t eclipse the role of medical professionals.

“AI can only be used as a way to assist doctors,” he said.

Radiologists can use computer algorithms trained on health data patterns to spot diseases with 20% more accuracy, cutting the detection workload by nearly half.

Dejana Braithwaite, UF’s associate director for cancer population sciences, said AI makes cancer diagnosis more efficient by automating screening and data processing tasks.

“Rather than having humans read the mammograms and other imaging, we use AI to help us speed up that process, which has been historically labor intensive and time intensive,” she said.

Braithwaite typically works with breast cancer patients in their 40s and 50s, using ar-

tificial intelligence to analyze their mammograms and tailor tumor reduction protocol to the results. She recommends young women — who are more likely to develop breast cancer than was traditionally surmised — practice healthy habits as preventive care and advises against those under 40 from routinely getting mammogram screenings.

Along with the risks of radiation exposure in mammography, ethical concerns abound with the use of AI in breast cancer research.

Jennifer Fieber, a surgical oncologist at UF Health’s Breast Center, said health data acquired in mammography is encrypted to protect confidential records.

Doctors must ask patients for consent to use the technology in health data analysis, she added.

“Right now, the focus is more on sort of personalizing care, improving accuracy of diagnosis and then making sure that we’re screening the right patients,” Fieber said.

“That’s the goal of AI: to, one, optimize who’s being screened when, and two, to optimize the actual screening so that it catches more stuff.”

At Fieber’s imaging clinic, radiologists

attention to areas that might be at higher risk for breast cancer so doctors can recommend biopsies, she said.

It can also help doctors tailor treatments to patients, accounting for their multidimensional risk factors, including age, body mass index and family history with disease.

“The risk calculators we have right now are good, but they’re not perfect,” Fieber said.

With the assistance of cutting-edge medical technology, she said doctors would ideally be able to funnel data from health charts into a large language model, which would spit out suggestions for medical intervention.

But the technology is still in its early stages. Matthew Disney, chair of UF’s chemistry department, said AI shows promise in precision medicine but is unlikely to put breast cancer in the rearview mirror.

“The misconception is [AI’s] going to be a panacea or a cure-all for everything,” Disney said. “It might help in some things, and we’ve got to figure out what they are.” @Nat_Kauf nkaufman@alligator.org

MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024 www.alligator.org/section/the_avenue

ART

Gainesville ceramics studio brings people together through clay and community CELEBRATING EIGHT YEARS, STUDIO T/M FOSTERS INCLUSIVITY, GROWTH AND A LOVE FOR CERAMICS

By Sabrina Castro Avenue Staff Writer

The soothing rhythm of whirring pottery wheels has become a regular part of Sara Truman’s daily life.

The 43-year-old ceramic maker and instructor owns Studio T/M, located at 1854 NE 2nd St. by Tom Petty Park, and has worked to expand and serve a unique need for relaxation through ceramic making in the community.

Studio T/M is the only one-stop ceramics shop in Alachua County. The studio provides clay, tools, materials, studio memberships, pottery classes, themed events, kiln firings and repairs.

Truman said her relationships with ceramic studios in other cities have allowed her to seek advice and grow Studio T/M over the past eight years.

“For us, really having this meeting place, this place you come

for community, this place you can come for education, I think that is the difference in what we provide that’s so different from other businesses in town,” she said.

In 2016, Truman began Studio T/M in a 900-square-foot personal studio while she taught ceramics part-time at Flagler University and Gainesville High School. Truman said the studio began as a “happy accident” after she wandered into GHS and found a job posting for a ceramics teacher.

The high school’s ceramics program began with a broken kiln, no clay and no pottery wheels. By the time Truman was done with it, the studio was left with a brand new kiln, ware carts, multiple pottery wheels and over 200 daily students.

Students could enroll in the ceramics class without prior art experience or prerequisite courses.

“I was like, ‘Just give me warm bodies that are willing to stay in the room,’” Truman said. “For them [students], by the end of the year to understand so much about this material, but also not realize how much learning they had in the middle of that, that was so powerful.”

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought massive change to the GHS ceramics class, which catered to 55 students, with half

of them in person. Managing the pandemic chaos and a new baby, Truman decided it was time to open her own studio.

The following year, Truman hired one of her former high school students as an apprentice and began teaching out of Studio T/M. She spent the next two years expanding the staff and equipment before upgrading to a 5,000-square-foot facility in July 2023.

According to Truman, Studio T/M’s expansion highlights the community’s growing demand for ceramic making. What began as a modest space with four pottery wheels and three weekly classes has evolved into a vibrant studio boasting 21 pottery wheels, 18 classes a week, 11 employees and six trade students.

As an LGBTQ+ and family-owned studio, inclusivity lies at the heart of Studio T/M’s identity. Truman proudly said its community spans ages 2 to 100 and is committed to creating a safe space for creativity.

Read the rest online at alligator.org/section/the_avenue. @sabs_wurld scastro@alligator.org

FOOD

Mochiry offers desserts and Korean cuisine to Gainesville residents THE NEW BRAND OPENED ITS FIRST LOCATION SEPT. 29 AND HOPES TO APPEAL TO A COLLEGE CROWD

By Juliana DeFilippo Avenue Staff Writer

Mochiry’s Sept. 29 grand opening was a combination of anticipation and anxiety for co-founder and owner Main Alqwasmi.

After promoting the opening on social media for three months, Alqwasmi said he was eager to see the community’s response.

“We had at least 600 customers coming over to try us, to see what we were,” he said. “[It was] exciting and scary at the same time.”

Mochiry — located at 3822 Newberry Road Suite D, just west of UF campus — offers a Korean-inspired menu with mochi donuts, ice cream, boba tea, Korean hot dogs and coffee drinks. The grand opening drew in about 500 orders, Alqwasmi said.

The dessert shop replaced Relish’s Newberry Road location, he said.

Alqwasmi and Yousef Shaban, his business partner, formerly worked for a similar company in Tampa, where Alqwasmi served as a manager until deciding to start his own

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brand in Gainesville.

“We could have made the same franchise, but for us, it was more valuable to make our own brand,” Alqwasmi said. “Instead of taking people’s ideas, we can make our own idea and improve it for the customers.”

Alqwasmi and Shaban expanded their menu’s selection to include coffee drinks, like cappuccinos and lattes, and more boba flavors, like mango and strawberry jelly. Mochiry also offers a wide variety of Korean rice hot dog flavors, including Hot Cheetos and ramen noodles.

While searching for the right location for Mochiry, Alqwasmi con-

sidered major cities like Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers but ultimately landed in Gainesville because of its student population. He said he didn’t see other establishments offering the same food items and customer experience.

To reach its target audience, Mochiry advertises on social media and offers giveaways and competitions for free menu items. This weekend, Mochiry prompted its Instagram followers to comment predictions for the UF vs. UCF football game score, with the correct guess winning a free boba.

Alqwasmi hopes to expand to other social media platforms as the

brand grows and views social media marketing as a crucial way to draw people into the store.

“If you want to have more audience, you will have to spend more and more so you can attract people to come over here, especially when it’s not a franchise, it’s just a small startup business,” he said. “You would need to do much more than a franchise so you can succeed in the market.”

Read the rest online at alligator. org/section/the_avenue. @JulianaDeF58101 jdefillipo@alligator.org

Caimán

Los ataques del siete de octubre, un año después. Read more on pg. 8.

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MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024 www.alligator.org/section/opinions

Column

Despite concerns, AI is a win for education

I

t’s easy to focus on the possible dangers of artificial intelligence, whether it’s taking jobs, destroying creativity or even ending the world.

However, one of the biggest potential benefits of AI is in education.

For over 40 years, the solution to improving education has been clear.

It’s not a secret teaching method or an innovative curriculum, but something much simpler: one-on-one tutoring.

Originally demonstrated back in 1984 by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom, Bloom found that students who received one-on-one tutoring showed a two standard deviation improvement in academic performance compared to peers in a control group.

This approach has long been a privilege reserved for wealthy families. Most children simply don’t have access to this undeniably powerful educational tool. But AI has the potential to change that in a way that was never possible before by bringing forth what could be the most significant leap in education effectiveness in human history.

The primary barrier to widespread one-on-one tutoring has always been cost. It’s simple economics: for a teacher to instruct a class of 20, 30 or even hundreds of students, the cost per student is far lower than if a teacher’s full attention is dedicated to just one. And even if money weren’t an obstacle, there likely wouldn’t be enough teachers to provide individual tutoring for every student.

This is where AI presents a unique new solution. Machines — which can operate at a fraction of the cost of human labor and can be easily multiplied to meet almost any demand

— are capable of breaking down the traditional barriers of cost and availability.

While machine tutors have Ethan Niser been around opinions@alligator.org for some time, they were previously limited by their inability to handle complex or dynamic content.

Today’s large language models, or LLMs, have changed the game entirely.

The key advantage of LLMs is their ability to interact with students through language — just as human teachers do. Students can ask any kind of question, and the AI can provide relevant and effective responses.

Initially, early LLMs were only capable of tutoring on basic subjects.

However, the intelligence of these models has exponentially increased in just the past year. For example, OpenAI’s new “o1” model recently scored a 95 on the LSAT and outperformed an “expert human” on doctorate-level science questions, as reported by OpenAI itself. This means that even advanced university students can now benefit from AI-driven one-on-one tutoring.

AI is posed to bring this tutoring benefit to every child in a way never possible before. I can think of no greater societal benefit than providing better education for all children, and AI could play a crucial role in making that vision a reality.

Ethan Niser is a UF computer science freshman.

Column

Calling All White Activists

W

e all remember the black screens in 2016 that symbolized solidarity for the Black lives lost at the hands of abusive police officers.

In a way, it allowed large groups of people to sympathize with their Black counterparts and show solidarity without ever having to leave the comfort of their own homes. It was the height of performative activism. While Black communities and allies alike banded together to sign petitions, share their stories and protest in spite of massive retaliation, the rest of passive white activists were posting black screens with the BLM slogans followed by useless hashtags and emojis.

We even saw major influencers put the logo of the BLM movement as their profile pictures and create singular videos canonizing their support for the movement.

But most of these attempts to support the movement stopped there.

It quickly became a way to ease personal guilt and make oneself appear morally virtuous to their followers. But at what point did activism become washed out by a collective disconnect between racial disparities in America and the historical context that cultivated the systemic issues we see today?

What occurred in 2016 has occurred through numerous movements that gained mainstream traction, most recently those in support of Palestinian people and the lack of activist movements throughout social media. A common pattern that characterizes white activism within these movements is a gen-

eral theme of superficial engagement. As we’ve seen with the popularity of the black screens, there is an overall lack of commitment when it comes to addressing the deep-rooted systemic issues that have impacted marginalized communities for decades, occurring mainly due to a general disregard among white Americans to address the historical atrocities committed to Black and brown communities.

It’s interesting how the American curriculum instills within us the atrocities of the Holocaust and the historical impact on Jewish peoples, yet fails to address their own. While it becomes a historical example of colonialism, ironically enough, there is major pushback on the teachings of Black and brown history that are characterized by marginalization, assault, death and enslavement. In Germany, the Holocaust has become mandatory to the class curriculum, yet in our very own Sunshine State it’s been decided that we must ban African American studies and the teachings of critical race theory in the name of sanitizing America’s reputation, and more specifically white Americans.

A manifestation of this guilt is in the complete disregard for any form of reparations. “Oh, it happened years ago,” “Why should they get free money,” “It’s not my fault” and “I’m not raci-blah blah blah.” The legacy of slavery and colonialism puts forth a disgusting reality and it makes white Americans uncomfortable because in enacting reparations that also means

admitting to the atrocities of slavEriel Pichardo ery as a opinions@alligator.org country.

In other words, an admission of guilt. Yet while reparations can be a check, it can also look like funding for low-income schools, grants for Black start ups, funding for HBCUs and Black scholars. But the white “liberal” superficial thinking that has characterized modern-day activism has halted the types of action we’re collectively willing to take.

However, I do believe there is major truth in how while white guilt has its purpose in cultivating activists, whether superficial or not, it can also deter activism. While these innate racial differences that we cling to so much are simply not real and were created to further divide humankind, there is a major difference in this context between Black and brown people and white people in America. While the former is currently idealistic at best, in not addressing the major racial differences we are choosing to ignore the disenfranchisement of Black and brown communities rooted in complex systemic issues that are based in a racial divide. It isn’t until we as Americans unite in the name of liberation for all Americans that we will ever see actual strive for change.

Eriel Pichardo is a UF English senior.

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El Caimán

LUNES, 7 DE OCTUBRE DE 2024 www.alligator.org/section/elcaiman

Un año después: ¿ Dónde se sitúan las comunidades pro-Israel y pro-Palestina de la UF?

La retórica antisemita y antimusulmana ha aumentado significativamente en el campus tras el 7 de octubre de 2023 Por Vivienne Serret Escritora de El Caimán

Traducido por Isabela Reinoso Esritora de El Caimán

Cuando una vigilia el 10 de octubre de 2023 para Israel se convirtió en un caos después de que los estudiantes percibieron un fuerte ruido como disparos, lo único que se le pasó por la cabeza a Mordechai Krasnjanski fue correr hacia la seguridad.

El estudiante judío estudiando derecho en la UF, de 26 años, dijo que su experiencia hacia futuros actos relacionados con Israel o la solidaridad judía ha cambiado desde la vigilia.

Se ha vuelto más vigilante a nivel personal, dijo.

“Era casi como si la gente estuviera esperando o preparándose para que pasara algo”, dijo Krasnjanski. “Todo el mundo estaba al límite, ya sabes, definitivamente recuerdo que era algo compartido”.

El conflicto entre Israel y Gaza ha sido fuente de controversia durante varias décadas, pero se amplificó notablemente tras el 7 de octubre de 2023, cuando el grupo militante Hamás lanzó un ataque contra el sur de Israel. En el ataque murieron 1.200 personas, en su mayoría civiles, y 250 fueron tomados como rehenes en la franja de Gaza.

Israel inició una invasión a gran escala como represalia, que aún continúa. Más de 40.000 palestinos han perdido la vida en el último año a causa del conflicto, según el Ministerio de Salud de Gaza.

En el campus de la UF, los estudiantes se han encontrado a menudo divididos sobre el tema.

Las protestas, las detenciones y la polarización se han convertido en la nueva normalidad para los estudiantes que pasean por Plaza de las Américas o University Avenue.

Del mismo modo, el aumento de la retórica antisemita y antimusulmana aumentó significativamente en los países occidentales después del 7 de octubre de 2023, según un artículo de The Hill que cita a la Liga Antidifamación y a la Universidad de Tel Aviv.

Sentimientos pro-Israel

Más de 1.200 personas asistieron a una vigilia de la UF por Israel que tuvo lugar en la Plaza Turlington el 10 de octubre de 2023, apenas tres días después de los atentados del 7 de octubre. Casi 30 minutos después de iniciada la vigilia, un ruido sobresaltó a los asistentes, que entraron en pánico y empezaron a correr.

Unos 30 estudiantes resultaron heridos a causa del pánico.

El rabino Berl Goldman, director del Centro de Estudiantes Judíos Chabad de la UF, dijo que el antisemitismo y los sentimientos antiIsrael han prevalecido mucho antes del 7 de octubre de 2023. Dijo que muchos estudiantes judíos, profesores y miembros de la comunidad se sienten vulnerables al expresar su apoyo y solidaridad con Israel.

“La respuesta no es acobardarse, la respuesta no es tener miedo”, dijo Goldman. “Estamos aquí para expresar nuestro judaísmo y nuestra alianza pro-Israel con orgullo y abiertamente”.

La UF cuenta con el mayor número de estudiantes universitarios judíos del país, alrededor de 6.500. Cerca del 19% de los

estudiantes universitarios de la UF son judíos, según Hillel International.

Goldman dijo que los ataques del 7 de octubre sólo amplificaron y destacaron la retórica anti-israelí, con incidentes de vandalismo y amenazas en aumento durante el año pasado.

UF Chabad fue vandalizado en noviembre de 2023 con graffiti antisemitas, como se informó anteriormente por The Alligator.

Desde el 7 de octubre, la desinformación se ha disparado con el uso de imágenes alteradas, declaraciones de actores de crisis y falsas narrativas, según un informe de PolitiFact. El informe destaca las afirmaciones que circulan en las redes sociales, como X, afirmando que la violencia en Israel y Gaza era "falsa" o restando importancia a las víctimas del conflicto.

Goldman dijo que la desinformación sobre el conflicto es rampante, y encontrar fuentes de información auténticas y veraces es un tema complicado. La información falsa se está utilizando para proyectar mentiras y terrorismo, dijo.

“Nadie se levanta el 7 de octubre por la mañana en Tierra Santa de Israel o en cualquier otro lugar y dice: 'Oh, vamos a matar judíos'”, dijo Goldman. “Nadie lo hace. Eso se ha alimentado y albergado desde el nacimiento, eso se ha enseñado, eso se ha planeado, eso se ha entrenado, eso se ha financiado”.

Sara Beer, de 21 años, estudiante de último curso de relaciones públicas de la UF, es la presidenta de la Unión de Estudiantes Judíos de la UF. También presente en la vigilia del año pasado, Beer dijo que se sentía feliz y orgullosa, pero nerviosa de estar allí. Cada ruido que oía le hacía girar la cabeza, dijo.

Cuando cundió el pánico, pisaron a Beer y le cayeron encima velas encendidas.

“Fue una sensación instantánea de estar muy asustado”, dijo Beer. “Nunca había entrado en un espacio judío sintiéndome así”.

Cuando comenzaron las protestas propalestinas en el campus de la UF, Beer dijo que muchos estudiantes judíos estaban teniendo dificultades navegando sus sentimientos. Dijo que entendía que la gente quisiera defenderse, pero que le daba miedo leer carteles contra judíos.

Aún así, Beer dijo que nunca se sintió en peligro gracias a la respuesta de la policía del campus y de la administración de la UF. Dijo que ha podido asistir a reuniones con el Presidente Interino Kent Fuchs y el Decano de Vida Estudiantil donde pudieron conversar sobre cómo se sentían los estudiantes judíos.

Como presidenta de la JSU, Beer dijo que continuará organizando eventos y oportunidades de aprendizaje con su organización.

“Entiendo perfectamente la libertad de expresión”, dijo Beer. “Pero cuando pones a otro grupo en esa posición en la que sienten que ni siquiera pueden realmente caminar por el campus, en una facultad a la que eligen asistir, y no se sienten bienvenidos o apoyados, es cuando suceden las cosas”.

Sentimientos propalestinos

El 10 de octubre de 2023, Estudiantes por la Justicia en Palestina de la UF publicó una declaración de solidaridad en su Instagram lamentando “la pérdida de vidas civiles palestinas e israelíes inocentes”, señalando que la “raíz de la violencia, el apartheid y la

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Gator victory

ocupación bajo el gobierno de extrema derecha de Israel debe terminar por la paz.”

La organización se encuentra entre varias, como la UF Divest Coalition, UF Jewish Voice for Peace y Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, que se han opuesto al sionismo y han pedido a la universidad que proteja a los estudiantes.

Meir Schochet, estudiante de tercer año de astrofísica de la UF, de 21 años, se sintió aterrorizado como estudiante judío después del 7 de octubre, ya que su hermano estaba estudiando en Israel. Sin embargo, Schochet se ha sentido atrapado y a menudo aislado en la comunidad judía, ya que han expresado su apoyo a los palestinos y a Gaza.

Schochet, cofundador de la organización antisionista UF Jewish Voice for Peace, dijo que UF JVP se ha mantenido en 10 miembros o menos desde que comenzó en 2022. Dijeron que la organización tiene pocos miembros porque organizaciones como UF Hillel y UF Chabad han podido hacer más alcance.

“Como judío, si no aceptas la hegemonía, te quedas atascado”, dijo Schochet. “Que es donde he sentido que he estado durante un tiempo”.

Schochet estaba celebrando Rosh Hashaná con su familia en una organización del campus cuando un donante de la UF comenzó a instar a los estudiantes judíos presentes a que denunciaran a los miembros de la facultad y a los profesores que compartieran sentimientos propalestinos, dijeron.

Aunque Schochet no consiguió el nombre del donante, se sintieron descorazonados al oír semejante retórica en un espacio judío, dijeron.

Algunos de los mayores problemas que rodean al conflicto en el campus de la UF son la apatía y la propaganda, dijo Schochet. La cultura judía estadounidense hace que los estudiantes judíos crean que tienen derecho a la tierra en Israel, dijeron, mientras que desprecian las vidas palestinas.

“Si estás en las redes sociales y no tienes a los niños muertos en tu página de 'para ti', entonces estás ciego ante el sufrimiento que está ocurriendo en el mundo, porque es un sufrimiento que ha estado ocurriendo durante décadas”, dijo Schochet.

A medida que ha aumentado el número de muertos en Gaza, también lo han hecho los llamados internacionales a poner fin a la ocupación.

En septiembre de 2024, la Asamblea General de la ONU exigió que Israel pusiera fin a su ocupación en un año y “que Israel debe rendir cuentas por cualquier violación del derecho internacional en los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados”, según el informe de la reunión.

Malini Johar Schueller, profesora del Departamento de Inglés de la UF, es la asesora docente del SJP de la UF y de la Voz Judía por la Paz de la UF. Dice que se asegura de que los estudiantes de estas organizaciones tengan reuniones y orientación, pero no les dice lo que tienen que hacer.

Schueller dijo que 2024 marca su segundo año como asesora docente del JVP de la UF, y que la organización cuenta con muchos estudiantes judíos y no judíos dedicados.

Dijo que es alentador ver los rituales que los estudiantes del JVP de la UF han asociado con el judaísmo, que invocan cuando hablan de los derechos de los palestinos.

UF holds off UCF in the Swamp. Read more on pg. 11.

Aunque reconoce que no es una experta en Oriente Medio, Schueller afirmó que la situación actual en torno a Israel y Gaza tiene una larga historia, y cree que la gente debería leer el derecho internacional y consultar las resoluciones de la ONU, concretamente las que se remontan a 1948, tras la guerra árabe-israelí.

“Una cosa que la gente no sabe es que hay importantes historiadores judíos-israelíes que han escrito sobre los derechos de los palestinos”, dijo Schueller. “La gente cree que se trata de una cuestión totalmente dividida étnica y religiosamente. No es así”.

El incremento de las protestas en el campus llama a la desinversión

El 23 de abril, Estudiantes por la Justicia en Palestina de la UF convocaron una protesta de emergencia para pedir que la universidad “de invirtiera del apartheid” y mostrara su solidaridad con Gaza. Finalmente, seis días después, nueve manifestantes propalestinos fueron detenidos en Plaza de las Américas de la UF. Las detenciones de abril se produjeron después de que la policía del campus distribuyó folletos con una lista de actividades de protesta permitidas y prohibidas. Las tres actividades permitidas eran hablar, expresar puntos de vista y llevar pancartas. Entre las 13 actividades prohibidas eran dormir, el sonido amplificado, las pancartas desatendidas y la violencia, informó anteriormente The Alligator.

Desde entonces, los manifestantes han sido suspendidos del campus y muchos han aceptado acuerdos con el Estado para aplazar el juicio. Un estudiante aún se enfrenta a un posible delito grave tras ser acusado de escupir a un agente.

Las detenciones fueron de las primeras en Florida, aunque varias universidades del país han sido escenario de protestas propalestinas que han resultado en arrestos.

Recientemente, el condado de Alachua se desprendió de todas las empresas, incluidas las que apoyan la producción de armas, de su cartera de inversiones, pero la ciudad de Gainesville no lo ha hecho, informó anteriormente The Alligator.

Cuando se le preguntó sobre la desinversión, el alcalde de Gainesville, Harvey Ward, dijo que las leyes estatales impiden a la ciudad desinvertir por razones “no pecuniarias”, es decir, políticas e ideológicas.

Aún así, Ward dijo que Gainesville tiene una larga historia de apoyo a las protestas y apoya la capacidad de todos para hacerlo. Dijo que hay planes para 2025 para remodelar el área en frente del Ayuntamiento para que sea más fácil para que los grandes grupos se reúnan, pero esos planes no son a causa de las protestas propalestinas que suceden.

Ward instó a quienes tuvieran dudas sobre la desinversión a que se pusieran en contacto con los legisladores de todo el estado.

“No tomamos esas decisiones a nivel local, eso es lo más importante que hay que entender”, dijo Ward. “Que cuando hay estatutos que rigen cómo podemos hacer inversiones, que hay una manera de cambiar esos estatutos, pero no es en el Ayuntamiento”.

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FOOTBALL

Florida football determined to keep improving following statement win over UCF AFTER A DEMORALIZING START TO THE 2024 CAMPAIGN, THE GATORS ARE NOW 3-2

By Jack Meyer Sports Writer

Just three weeks ago, the Florida football program was seemingly on the brink of a lost season. Boos rained down across Ben Hill Griffin Stadium following UF’s 33-20 loss to Texas A&M, rumors emerged that Florida boosters secured enough money to fund head coach Billy Napier’s buyout and the team’s locker room was all but dead silent following the game.

Fast forward three weeks, and it’s almost like Florida’s struggles never happened. Almost.

Since their loss to the Aggies on Sept. 14, the Gators have won back-to-back games and are seemingly hitting their stride at just the right time. Two weeks ago, Florida’s offense dominated in a 45-28 win over Mississippi State.

The Gators had their first bye week of the season prior to a Sunshine State matchup against UCF Saturday, which redshirt junior edge rusher George Gumbs Jr. credited for getting the team back on track.

“The bye week was a time where we, those three practices… We changed some things,” Gumbs Jr. said. “We got our mojo, we got some swag. We [were] running around, having some fun, and we all came out like, ‘OK, we all feel better.’”

With a fresh set of legs and a seemingly bolstered mindset across the locker room, the

Gators rolled the Knights over in a 24-13 victory at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Florida’s defense carried the load, holding one of the top rushing attacks in the country to just 108 yards on the ground.

All of the newfound momentum points back to one question: What changed for the Gators between now and their loss to Texas A&M three weeks ago?

For starters, Florida has had an admittedly easy slate over its last two games in comparison to the rest of its schedule. Both of the Gators’ losses came against teams ranked in the latest AP Top 25 poll. Texas A&M jumped to No. 15 following a win over No. 21 Missouri this past weekend, while Miami clocked in at No. 6.

But the Gators’ newfound momentum goes beyond any strength of schedule assessments.

Since their win over Mississippi State, Florida has found a new energy. With their backs against the wall and seemingly the entire country counting them out, it was solely up to the guys in UF’s locker room to either right the ship or let it continue to sink.

“The guys were just ready to compete today,” UF redshirt senior quarterback Graham Mertz said. “When you’re in that locker room before the game, looking around at the guys, you can kind of get a sense after you’ve played five years of college football of how the team’s feeling, and they’re ready to go.”

Florida has also started to put all the right pieces together to find its rhythm on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Gators adopted a two-quarterback system against Texas A&M that saw both Mertz and freshman quarterback DJ Lagway under center.

Initially, this system drew ire from fans and analysts alike, namely due to the lack of cohesion in the offense with the constant back-andforth between the two signal callers. Since then, however, Napier has made adjustments to this rotation, giving Mertz the majority of snaps, while Lagway relieves him on every third drive.

The results have spoken for themselves, with the duo combining for 506 yards on 49-for55 passing over the last two weeks. Mertz has also thrown four touchdowns in that time span.

“I’m having fun, man,” Mertz said. “I think for me, it’s just something different. Something I’ve never done. It’s forced me to really be in the moment.”

Meanwhile, Florida’s defense had a breakthrough performance against UCF on Saturday.

Through the first four games of the season, the Gators surrendered 27.3 points and 425.5 yards per contest.

But in their matchup against the Knights, Florida looked like a totally different squad. The Gators came away with five sacks against UCF (Florida only recorded eight sacks in its first four games of the season) and stifled the Knights’ rushing attack, all while holding a Power Four opponent to less than 20 points for the first time this season.

With all of this being said, Napier and his squad are still well aware of the unpredictability within the landscape of college football. Just ask the four teams that were ranked in last week’s AP Poll Top 10 before losing to unranked opponents in a rather unceremonious fashion.

Florida is still a long way from returning to the Top 25, but the Gators have a lot riding on what happens in the next few weeks. Just like

these back-to-back wins have seemingly stirred up some new momentum in the locker room and across the fan base, that energy can be just as easily crushed on any given weekend as the team enters the back half of its schedule.

“Lots of things happen early in the season,” Napier said. “The key is, can we stay focused on improvement? Can we bring the right attitude, focus, urgency and mentality to how we prepare, how we practice?... Sure, we have some momentum, but you have to have the right mix of humility and enthusiasm.”

Things won’t get any easier for the Gators from here. Up next, the team is slated to travel to Knoxville this week for a road SEC showdown against No. 8 Tennessee, who are coming off a 19-14 loss to Arkansas. Safe to say, the Volunteers will be hungry and desperate to avoid back-to-back losses, which puts the Gators directly in the crossfire of a potential Tennessee bounce back.

Additionally, Florida is still slated to face three other teams in the latest AP Top 10 this season- No. 1 Texas, No. 5 Georgia and No. 9 Ole Miss.

Nevertheless, Napier has made it abundantly clear that he believes in his squad, no matter what the rest of the year may bring.

“This is a group that has worked extremely hard, and obviously, they were disappointed with some of the early performances,” Napier said. “Ultimately, this group is consumed with getting better… I have a ton of respect for the players on our team. We’ve got a good group.” @jackmeyerUF jmeyer@alligator.org

TRACK & FIELD

From six-time NCAA champion to U.S. Olympian: Parker Valby’s long- distance journey FORMER GATOR CONTINUES TO IMPRESS IN HER PROFESSIONAL CAREER

By Max Tucker & Rae Weinstein Sports Writers

In her pre-collegiate career at East Lake High School in Tampa, Parker Valby always thought she would go on to play lacrosse in college. However, her vision changed in her sophomore year when she injured her ankle, leaving her on crutches for two months.

Valby ran cross country for East Lake to stay in shape for when lacrosse season came around, but she never took it too seriously.

However, when she entered her starting lane for the women’s 10,000m race at the Paris 2024 Olympics, it was as serious of a competition as a long-distance runner could

ever find themselves in.

“No one really expected me to make the Olympics,” Valby said. “I didn’t think I’d make the Olympics.”

The former Gator is an SEC Female Athlete of the Year, a six-time NCAA champion and the all-time NCAA record holder in the indoor 5,000m, outdoor 5,000m and outdoor 10,000m events.

As Valby recovered from her injury, East Lake track and field head coach Britt Taylor approached her with the idea to join his program.

Upon hearing Taylor’s pitch, she was initially reluctant to put forth a substantial effort into long-distance running.

“No, I’m not running,” Valby said.

“Running is our punishment [in lacrosse].”

Despite Valby’s hesitance, her transition from lacrosse to the track was seamless, Taylor said. Without a substantial background in long-distance running, she found herself having more fun with the sport compared to the veteran runners on her team.

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However, Valby’s newfound enjoyment of running never infringed upon her willingness to improve.

“I love running with my whole heart,” Valby said. “I enjoy waking up and revolving my entire day around training and being the best athlete I could be.”

After rapidly excelling as a distance runner for East Lake, she was recruited by Chris Solinsky, an American 10,000m record holder and assistant coach for UF’s track and field program.

Throughout her recruiting process, UF track and field coaches emphasized what their historic and illustrious program could offer Valby.

Though, by the time she finished her final race for the Gators in the Spring, she drastically exceeded expectations.

“That was the whole reason I came to UF. I didn’t come here because it was a distance school,” Valby said. “I came here because it was a track school, and I wanted to be a part of a bigger track program overall.”

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As a Gator, Valby won six SEC championships, was named to 15 AllAmerican honors from the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and eight SEC awards.

“Winning individual national titles, that’s cool and all,” Valby said.

“But I had the most fun winning the national title as a team my sophomore year with our track team. We had the dream team.”

Following her junior season at Florida, Valby had the opportunity to take the next step in her career at the world’s biggest stage for an athlete: the Olympics.

Valby ran in the Olympic Trials June 30, where she qualified to run for Team USA in Paris.

At 22 years old, Valby was one of the youngest runners on Team USA at the Olympics.

Valby felt like she wasn’t ready to win a medal yet; instead, she focused more on enjoying her experience and taking in the atmosphere of the stadium.

With her parents and coach Tay-

lor there to support her, she made the most of her time in Paris, both on and off the track.

“I think the experience was super cool,” Valby said. “I was able to go to opening ceremonies, travel around. I just did things a normal tourist would do.”

The attention and expectations that come with the amount of success Valby has achieved would be difficult for anyone to manage. But as uncomfortable as it was in the beginning, Valby learned to embrace it.

“Pressure is a privilege,” Valby said. “You’ve got to learn that people are gonna say things regardless, so just be you and just be yourself, and it's all gonna work out.”

Read the rest online at alligator. org/section/sports.

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12 ALLIGATOR MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2024