Editing University of Florida (section)

==="University of the State of Florida"===
In 1905, the [[Florida Legislature]] passed the [[Buckman Act]], which reorganized the state's publicly supported institutions of higher education. Under the act, Florida's six  state-supported institutions were merged   to form the [[State University System of Florida]] under the newly established [[Florida Board of Control]]. Four institutions were combined to create a new "University of the State of Florida" for white men: the '''University of Florida at Lake City''' (formerly Florida Agricultural College), the '''East Florida Seminary''' in Gainesville, the '''St. Petersburg Normal and Industrial School''' in [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]], and the '''South Florida Military College''' in [[Bartow, Florida|Bartow]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.capolicycenter.org/florida/florida5.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060826015404/http://www.capolicycenter.org/florida/florida5.html |url-status=dead |title=Florida 5 |archivedate=August 26, 2006 |website=capolicycenter.org}}</ref>

The Buckman Act also created two other institutions segregated by race and gender: Florida Female College (later the Florida State College for Women and eventually [[History of Florida State University|Florida State University]]) for white women and the State Normal School for Colored Students (later [[Florida A&M]]) for African-American men and women, both in Tallahassee.<ref name="State Library and Archives of Florida - The Florida Memory Project Timeline (see 1905)">{{cite web |url=http://www.floridamemory.com/Timeline |title=State Library and Archives of Florida - The Florida Memory Project Timeline (see 1905) |access-date=June 5, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080611171253/http://www.floridamemory.com/timeline/ |archive-date=June 11, 2008}}</ref>

The Buckman Act did not specify where the new University of the State of Florida would be located. The City of Gainesville, led by its mayor [[William Reuben Thomas]], campaigned to be the site of the new university, with its primary competitor being [[Lake City, Florida|Lake City]].<ref>Hildreth, Charles and Merlin Cox, History of Gainesville, Florida 1854-1979, Alachua County Historical Society (Gainesville, 1981) at 102.</ref> After a brief but intense period of lobbying, the Board of Control selected [[Gainesville, Florida|Gainesville]] on July 6, 1905, and funds were allocated for the construction of a new campus on the western edge of the town. However, because the facilities in Gainesville would not be ready to accept students for several months, the new university was housed in the former campus of Florida Agricultural College in Lake City during the 1905–1906 academic year. Former FAC president [[Andrew Sledd]] was chosen to be the first president of the University of the State of Florida.

The University of the State of Florida's first semester in Gainesville began on September 26, 1906, with an enrollment of 102 students. Two buildings had been completed at the time: [[Buckman Hall]], named after the primary author of the law that created the university, and [[Thomas Hall (Gainesville, Florida)|Thomas Hall]], named after the mayor of Gainesville who had led the successful effort to bring the school to town.<ref>University of Florida, Department of Housing, [http://www.housing.ufl.edu/housing/Facilities_TourPages/buckman.htm/ Buckman Hall Quick Facts] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060825052217/http://www.housing.ufl.edu/housing/Facilities_TourPages/buckman.htm |date=August 25, 2006 }}. Retrieved April 18, 2012.</ref> Both structures were designed by [[William A. Edwards]], who designed many of the university's original buildings in the [[Collegiate Gothic]] style in his role as lead architect for Florida's Board of Control.<ref>{{cite web |title=A History of UF Buildings 101 |url=https://ufsasc.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/language-hall-leads-the-way-a-history-of-uf-buildings-101-ufspecialcollections/ |website=UF Special Collections Blog |publisher=University of Florida Smathers Libraries |language=en |date=27 February 2018 |access-date=May 5, 2022 |archive-date=May 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531000801/https://ufsasc.domains.uflib.ufl.edu/language-hall-leads-the-way-a-history-of-uf-buildings-101-ufspecialcollections/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his term, first university president Andrew Sledd often clashed with key members of the Board of Control over his insistence on rigorous admissions requirements, which his detractors claimed was unreasonably impeding the growth of enrollment. Sledd resigned over these issues in 1909.