University of Florida - Tower / Seminole Yearbook (Gainesville, FL)

minority seeks full All students are known to have varying degrees of difficulty adjusting to college life. Black students, in addition to facing the same problems that white students face, are also confronted by certain problems which are uniquely the result of being Black. By attending an integrated university, for the first time the Black student is thrown into an environment in which his peer group is overwhelmingly white and the community is much different from the one in which he was socialized. Racial issues at UF spurred controversy throughout 1969-1970. Black students asserted beliefs that Florida was a racist university while President O ' Connell denied the accusations. Argument s supporting both sides of the controversial subject crowded issues of the ALLIGATOR. President O ' Connell repeatedly stated that every effort was being made to meet demands, yet few changes were actually instituted. Spokesmen for the minority ' s view repeatedly stated that the social mores of the overwhelmingly southern white university and the social environment of the institution combined to create a social system in which Black students are made to feel alienated, or in other words, made to feel like Black students, rather than simply students. There is a difference between prevailing social norms and stated university policy. Even if the university does not actively support social discrimination against Black students, it is still neglect in its duties by not actively opposing it. Black Panther affiliate and local JOMO leader, Charles Fullwood expresses the radical ideas of black power. 242