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Diversity Through the Decades: How the University of Florida Has Changed

Story by Taylor Lockett

Photos by Lauren Boyett

Seventy students sat outside Stephen O’Connell’s office. The Black Student Union organized the sit-in on April 15, 1971. When the students marched into Tigert Hall, they wanted the University of Florida to address the low numbers of Black faculty and students. Instead, 66 Black students faced arrests and suspension.

The sit-in occurred about 65 years after the school opened its Gainesville campus in 1906. Officially, the school began allowing Black students into graduate programs in 1958. Black undergraduate students followed in 1962. Seven men made up the Black student population that same year. “It was very difficult for those early students. They suffered a lot of abuse from some members of the student body. The general climate here was still very much a southern institution,” said Carl Van Ness, the University of Florida’s official historian. Over time, the University of Florida grew to be a pillar of the Gainesville community. Today, it ranks in the top public universities of the country as it continues to strive for excellence. However, along with the institution’s deep historical roots come connections to racism and prejudice. The school traces its origins back to the Buckman Act of 1905, which established the University of Florida, and Florida State University, as the leading public colleges in the state. The state respectively designated each school for men and women separately. The two schools became coeducational 52 years later.

When the two universities were established, they did not allow Black students to enroll. The state established the State Normal College for Colored Students to meet the federal guidelines in providing institutions for Black students. That college later became Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU).

“It wasn’t until the 1970s that the University of Florida began an affirmative action program,” said Van Ness.

Photos courtesy of the UF Archives

As Florida’s population began to change, so did the student body of the university. Population changes resulting from World War II and generations of movement from the Cuban migration brought diversity to Gainesville, according to Van Ness.

Today, the University of Florida boasts a diverse student population, according to the university’s enrollment and demographic statistics from 2020. Hispanic students make up 15.36% of the population, Asian students 7.38% and Black students make up 6.9%. However, the majority of the student population is white at 56.62%.

While the university has grown in diversity, it continues to work toward making the school a place for all students and faculty, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality. The University of Florida responded when the government forced its hand in the past, but Van Ness believes the university is making a change.

"While the symbolic changes may seem unimportant, it makes minority students feel as though they are being heard. It serves as a small gesture in which the university can acknowledge its racist past."

university decreased, according to Van Ness and Steven Noll, a history professor at the University of Florida.

“President Fuch’s response to Black Lives Matter, and the responses he has had since then, reflect that we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the past,” said Van Ness. “We’re learning.”

In response to the racial tensions of the summer, the University of Florida sent out a statement outlining plans to become a positive force of change in the community. This included establishing task forces to look into the racial injustices within the university by removing monuments and building names associated with the confederacy and putting an end to the “Gator Bait” cheer, among other things.

While these steps seem to be moving in the right direction, time will tell if the student and faculty population continue to grow in diversity. In the past few years, the number of Black students at the “Action versus posturing matters,” said Noll.

Symbolic moves matter, too, according to Noll. While the symbolic changes may seem unimportant, it makes minority students feel as though they are being heard. It serves as a small gesture in which the university can acknowledge its racist past.

“Maybe it is a telling sign that, yes, we are somewhat concerned about your needs and wants. But does that make it any better for Black students? Probably not,” he said.

The university continues to make plans to address deep racial divides established in the foundation of the school. As Nelson Mandela said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”