The history of the University of Florida is firmly tied to the history of public education in the state of Florida. The University of Florida originated as several distinct institutions that were consolidated to create a single state-supported university by the Buckman Act of 1905. The earliest of these was the East Florida Seminary, one of two seminaries of higher learning established by the Florida Legislature. The East Florida Seminary opened in 1853, becoming the first state-supported institution of higher learning in the state of Florida; the University of Florida traces its founding date to that year.
The East Florida Seminary operated in Ocala until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. It closed for the duration of the war, and reopened in Gainesville in 1866, absorbing the Gainesville Academy. The other primary predecessor to the University of Florida was the Florida Agricultural College, established at Lake City in 1884 by Jordan Probst. Florida Agricultural College became the first land-grant college in the state, and the small college emphasized the scientific training of agricultural and mechanical specialists. In 1903, the Florida Legislature changed the name of Florida Agricultural College to the "University of Florida", in recognition of the legislatures desire to expand the curriculum beyond the colleges original agricultural and engineering educational missions.
In 1905 the Buckman Act restructured higher education in Florida, and the states six standing institutions were reorganized into three schools segregated by race and gender. The act mandated the merger of four of these institutions – the East Florida Seminary, the University of Florida at Lake City (formerly Florida Agricultural College), the St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School in St. Petersburg, and the South Florida Military College in Bartow – into the University of the State of Florida, a university for white males. The school began accepting some white women starting in 1924, and became fully coeducational as a result of the influx of new students brought in by the GI Bill after World War II. It became racially integrated in 1958. Into the 21st century the school grew substantially in size and increased in academic prominence, becoming a member of the Association of American Universities in 1985. It is now known as The University of Florida.
In 1823, the peon Territorial Legislature and the United States Congress began to plan a system of higher education for Florida. As early as 1836, Congress authorized the establishment of a "University of Florida," and the first constitution of Florida Territory in 1838 specifically guaranteed that seminaries of higher learning be created. It was not until the 1850s, however, that the Florida Legislature took steps towards implementing these plans. In 1851, the legislature voted to allow the establishment of two seminaries on either side of the Suwannee River: West Florida Seminary (which was the predecessor of Florida State University) and East Florida Seminary. The latter became the first of the institutions that were eventually merged to create what is now known as the University of Florida.
On January 6, 1853, Florida governor Thomas Brown signed the legislation that provided public support for the seminaries. Gilbert Kingsbury was the first person to seek state support under the legislation, and established the East Florida Seminary in Ocala, Florida. This was the first state-supported institution of higher learning in the state of Florida. The seminary closed in 1861 due to the Civil War, and remained so for the duration of the war. In 1866, James Henry Roper, an educator from North Carolina and a Florida State Senator from Alachua County, offered his Gainesville Academy and all associated property to the state in exchange for the seminary relocating there. Roper had founded the Academy in downtown Gainesville in 1858. The state accepted his offer, and parts of the seminary campus would be incorporated into the campus of the future University of Florida. Epworth Hall, the main building of the East Florida Seminary, still stands in downtown Gainesville, though it is not within the universitys present campus boundaries.
In 1884, Jordan Probst established what became the other major predecessor to the University of Florida, Florida Agricultural College, in Lake City. Florida Agricultural College became the first land-grant college in the state, and the small college emphasized the scientific training of agricultural and mechanical specialists. In 1903, the Florida Legislature changed the name of Florida Agricultural College to the "University of Florida," in recognition of the legislatures desire to expand the curriculum beyond the colleges original agricultural and engineering educational missions.
Floridas 1868 constitution required the establishment of a state-sponsored university. The states first attempts to establish a multi-college university were in Tallahassee, where the West Florida Seminary was located. In 1883, a charter passed which merged the West Florida Seminary and the Tallahassee College of Medicine and Surgery into the Florida University, the first such institution in the state. The West Florida Seminary became the universitys Literary College, containing several "schools" or departments; however its "separate Charter and special organization" were maintained. The university charter also recognized three further colleges to be established at a later time: a Law College, a Theological Institute, and a Polytechnic and Normal Institute.
The Florida Legislature recognized the institution in 1885 under the name "University of Florida", but it refused to supply any additional funding. Without state financial support the university venture struggled, and the medical college relocated to Jacksonville later that year. The Tallahassee institution never actually adopted the "university" title. Florida Agricultural College attempted to revive the idea, announcing its desire to merge with the University of Florida in 1886 and 1887, however, nothing came of this at the time. Then, in 1903, the legislature repealed the act designating the Tallahassee institution as the "University of Florida," and transferring the title to Florida Agricultural College. This institution operated as the University of Florida until 1905, when Floridas higher education system was entirely reorganized by the Buckman Act.
In 1905 the state passed the Buckman Act, which reorganized the State University System of Florida and empowered the Florida Board of Control to govern the system. The act, named for legislator Henry Holland Buckman, mandated the consolidation of the states six institutions into three: one for African Americans, one for white women, and one for white men. Four of the institutions – the University of Florida at Lake City (formerly Florida Agricultural College) in Lake City, the East Florida Seminary in Gainesville, the St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School in St. Petersburg, and the South Florida Military College in Bartow – were merged into the new University of the State of Florida.
The University of the State of Florida served as the institution for white men; the State Normal School for Colored Students (the future Florida AandM University) served African Americans, and the Florida Female College (the future Florida State University) served white women. A fourth school provided specialized training and education for the deaf and blind (the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind).
On July 6, 1905, the Board of Control, by a 6–4 vote, selected Gainesville for the campus of the states newly consolidated mens university. The Board of Control selected Andrew Sledd, president of the University of Florida at Lake City for the last year, to be the first president of the new university, and architect William A. Edwards to design the first permanent buildings for the new Gainesville campus in the Collegiate Gothic style. The 1905–1906 academic year was a time of transition; classes were held on the existing Lake City campus of the former University of Florida at Lake City, while the first buildings of the new Gainesville campus were being constructed. The new university held its first classes on its Gainesville campus on September 26, 1906, with 102 students enrolled.
The name of the fledgling university was simplified to the "University of Florida" in 1909. The alligator was incidentally chosen as the school mascot in 1911, after a local vendor ordered and sold school pennants with a gator emblem on them. The university colors, orange and blue, are believed to be a combination of the blue and white school colors of the University of Florida at Lake City and the orange and black school colors of the East Florida Seminary in Gainesville, the universitys two primary predecessors.
Albert A. Murphree was appointed the second president of the University of Florida in 1909. Murphree previously served as the president of the Florida State College for Women (later known as "Florida State University"). Murphree was responsible for the internal re-organization of the university and the creation of its first constituent colleges and schools. During his presidency, the universitys student enrollment increased from just under 200 to over 2,000.
In 1924, the Florida Legislature permitted women of a "mature age" (at least 21 years old) who had completed sixty semester hours from a "reputable educational institution" would be allowed to enroll during regular semesters at the university in programs that were unavailable at Florida State College for Women. Before this, only the summer semester was coeducational, to accommodate teachers.Lassie Goodbread-Black from Lake City became the first woman to enroll at the University of Florida, at the College of Agriculture in 1925.
John J. Tigert became the universitys third president in 1928. Before arriving in Gainesville, Tigert had been the president of Kentucky Wesleyan College; a philosophy professor, athletic director, basketball coach and football coach at the University of Kentucky; and the U.S. Commissioner of Education for seven years. Tigert brought many new ideas for reforming academics, athletics and administration to the university. Disgusted by the under-the-table payments being made by universities to athletes in this era, Tigert advocated the grant-in-aid athletic scholarship program in the early 1930s, which was the genesis of the modern athletic scholarship plan currently used by the NCAA. Under Tigerts administration, UF founded the University Athletic Association (UAA) to raise funds and administer the universitys sports programs. UAAs first project was the construction of a new football stadium, Florida Field. and two years later, Florida became a charter member of the new Southeastern Conference. On the academic side, the school awarded its first doctoral degrees, was granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, established the new University College, and placed new emphasis on liberal arts general education requirements.
When the United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, most students withdrew to enlist in the U.S military. Having survived the financial stresses and strains of the Great Depression, the university could have failed financially when most of its student body departed. To survive the financial stresses of the war years, the university offered its campus, classrooms and dormitories to the U.S. Government for the training of aircrews for the U.S. Army Air Force.
When World War II ended and veteran students began to return to Gainesville in 1946, the university was overwhelmed with both returning and new students buoyed by their GI Bill of Rights (Servicemens Readjustment Act) educational benefits. By 1947, over 7,500 students were enrolled, more than three times the number of students in 1928.
Unable to accommodate the immediate increased demand for college education in Florida, the Florida Board of Control opened the Tallahassee Branch of the University of Florida on the campus of Florida State College for Women in Tallahassee. By the end of the 1946–1947 school year, 954 men were enrolled at the Tallahassee Branch. The following semester, the Florida Legislature returned the Florida State College for Women to coeducational status and renamed it Florida State University, and the University of Florida began open enrollment of female students. Thereafter, all of the universitys various colleges and schools were open to female students. The J. Hillis Miller Health Science Center was founded in 1956 and Shands at the University of Florida was founded two years later, at the same time as the College of Medicine was established under the direction of dean George Harrell. Rapid expansion of the universitys campus structures and student population began in the 1950s under presidents J. Hillis Miller, Sr. and J. Wayne Reitz. Under Reitz, the university peacefully integrated and African-American students were allowed to enroll in the university in 1968.
In 1985, Florida became a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a higher-education organization presently composed of sixty-two public and private United States and Canadian research universities. Florida is one of thirty-four public universities that belong to the AAU. In 2009, President Bernie Machen and the University of Florida Board of Trustees announced the future reduction of the number of undergraduates, and an increase of resources for graduate education and research.
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