Alana Gomez

My research will focus on the influence of Stephen O’Connell, president of UF from 1967-1973, and how his policies and actions affected and shaped the black student population at UF. As the first president to administer UF post-Civil Rights movement, O’Connell dealt with a huge shift in race relations, and his reaction to school disturbances created lasting effects. One significant event I will touch on is “Black Thursday,” where 66 students in April of 1971 were arrested for petitioning for the better treatment of black students and faculty. When O’Connell declined to provide these students amnesty, two black faculty members and 123 black students left UF. I think this research speaks to current attitudes toward UF’s racial representation, which received an F ranking from the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center study in 2018. Though seen as a problem of the past, racial equity is still a popular issue that’s shadow continues to hover over the University of Florida.