Editing University of Florida (section)

=== Post World War II ===

[[File:Historic_Smathers_Library.jpg|thumb|[[Smathers Library]], University of Florida campus circa 1945.]]
[[File:Historic University of Florida Campus.jpg|thumb|[[Griffin–Floyd Hall|Floyd Hall]] and [[Leigh Hall (Gainesville, Florida)|Leigh Hall]], University of Florida campus in 1957.]]
[[File:UF SignatureShot.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Century Tower (University of Florida)|Century Tower]], begun in 1953, commemorates the 100th anniversary of origins of UF and memorializes students and alumni who died in the World Wars]]
Beginning in 1946, there was dramatically increased interest among male applicants who wanted to attend the University of Florida, mostly returning [[World War II]] veterans who could attend college under the [[GI Bill of Rights]] (Servicemen's Readjustment Act). Unable to immediately accommodate this increased demand, 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fsu.edu/about/history.html |title=About Florida State - History |publisher=Office of University Communications |date=September 23, 2009 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180107061306/https://www.fsu.edu/about/history.html |archive-date=January 7, 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> By the end of the 1946–47 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]]. These events also opened up all of the colleges that comprise the University of Florida to female students. [[Florida Women's Hall of Fame]] member [[Maryly Van Leer Peck|Maryly Van Leer]] became the first woman to receive from the University of Florida a [[master's degree]] in engineering.<ref name=FamilyPapers>{{cite web |title=Van Leer Family Papers (MS458) |url=http://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/repositories/2/resources/445 |website=Finding Aid |publisher=Archives, Library and Learning Excellence, Georgia Tech Library |access-date=March 29, 2018 |archive-date=March 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180330080148/http://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/repositories/2/resources/445 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=FWHF>{{cite web |title=Maryly VanLeer Peck |url=https://flwomenshalloffame.org/bio/maryly-vanleer-peck/ |publisher=[[Florida Commission on the Status of Women]] |website=[[Florida Women's Hall of Fame]] |date=October 31, 2017 |access-date=March 29, 2018 |archive-date=September 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927135120/https://flwomenshalloffame.org/bio/maryly-vanleer-peck/ |url-status=live }}</ref> African-American students were allowed to enroll starting in 1958.<ref>Nathan Crabbe, "[http://www.gainesville.com/article/20121011/ARTICLES/121019862 UF honors 50 years since first black law grad as black law enrollment drops] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150607112845/http://www.gainesville.com/article/20121011/ARTICLES/121019862 |date=June 7, 2015 }}," ''The Gainesville Sun'' (October 11, 2012). Retrieved May 28, 2013.</ref> [[UF Health Shands Hospital|Shands Hospital]] opened in 1958 along with the [[University of Florida College of Medicine]] to join the established [[University of Florida College of Pharmacy|College of Pharmacy]]. Rapid campus expansion began in the 1950s and continues today.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ufl.edu/history/1948.html |title=About the post-war expansion |publisher=University of Florida |access-date=December 11, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120805174014/http://www.ufl.edu/history/1948.html |archive-date=August 5, 2012}}</ref>

From its inception until 1958, only white students were allowed to attend.<ref>“White and colored children shall not be taught in the same school, but impartial provision shall be made for both.”  Fla. Const. of 1885, Art. XII, § 12 (superseded 1969); cf. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)</ref> In 1958, [[George H. Starke]] became the first Black student.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.gainesville.com/news/20181107/uf-celebrates-60-years-of-desegregation |title=UF celebrates 60 years of desegregation |first=Cleveland |last=Tinker |website=Gainesville Sun |access-date=September 5, 2020 |archive-date=February 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226155516/https://www.gainesville.com/news/20181107/uf-celebrates-60-years-of-desegregation |url-status=live }}</ref>