ufl campus tour

Transcript with Alli on 10/15/2021, 3:17:10 PM

Group tours.

The University of Florida Office of Admissions offers group tours for high schools or community organizations with high school age students. Group tours include a brief admissions presentation and 90-minute guided walking tour. Group tours can accommodate 15 to 60 students. We require one (1) chaperone for every ten (10) students. Chaperones are required to stay with their groups at all times.

Summer 2024 Group Tour registration is now open! Group tours are scheduled on a first-come first-serve basis. Submitting a request does not guarantee that your request will be approved. Please complete the form at least three weeks prior to your requested visit. Once you submit the form, you will receive an email that your request is under review. The request will be reviewed by our office within 3-5 business days. You can expect to receive an email after we complete our review.

Group Tour Request Form

Helpful Information

Planning your day.

Please arrive at least 20 minutes early to allow your students to check-in and be seated. There is not a restroom break on the tour so students should use the restroom prior to the start of their group tour. Many groups enjoy dining on campus or visiting our bookstore. If this interests your group, please allow time for your students to do so either before or after their scheduled tour.

Buses must unload at the bus loop on McCarty Drive: 1822 McCarty Dr, Gainesville, FL 32611 . Buses are not permitted to unload in roadways, block traffic, or use the Reitz Union Circle Drive.

Buses and oversized vans should park in the large parking lot off of Memorial Road behind the Microbiology/Cell Science Building which is 1355 Museum Dr, Gainesville, FL 32603 .

Groups in vehicles or small vans should park in either the Welcome Center Garage or overflow Garage 5 (roman numeral V). There is a $8.00 charge for all-day parking in both garages. The parking garages have a clearance height of 8 feet and 7 feet respectively.

Welcome Center Garage: 737 Reitz Union Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611

Overflow Garage 5: 1108 Gale Lemerand Drive, Gainesville, FL 32611

Note that if you are parking in Garage 5, it is about a 10-15 minute walk to the Welcome Center. Please plan accordingly. (Directions to the Welcome Center from Garage 5: turn left when exiting the garage to go north on Gale Lemerand Drive. At the traffic light, turn right on Museum Road. The Welcome Center entrance will be on your left at 1900 Museum Road, Gainesville, FL 32611.)

If there is no driver to drop off your group and a chaperone is driving an oversized vehicle, you will need to contact Transportation and Parking Services in order to obtain a parking pass and specific parking instructions from them to be able to park closer to the Welcome Center.

Typically, groups may choose to eat in the dining hall or Reitz Union Food Court during their visit. All dining coordination is handled by our campus dining partner. Please reach out to them here: https://dineoncampus.com/uf .

Accommodations

If anyone from your group requires accommodations during your scheduled group tour, please contact the Welcome Center prior to your arrival at 352-392-2925 or by emailing [email protected] . We can provide non-motorized wheelchairs as well as sign language interpreters with at least 1 week notice prior to your scheduled visit.

Campus Wi-Fi

Free Wi-Fi is available for guests. Connect your device directly to the open "ufguest" network.

Our campus map and the Welcome Center location can be found here: https://campusmap.ufl.edu/#/index/0886

Chaperone Guidelines

Chaperones are an integral part of your group tour experience. We require one (1) chaperone for every ten (10) students and all chaperones are expected to remain with their group for the entirety of your visit. Chaperones are responsible for their group while visiting campus. We recommend having your student’s emergency contacts, allergies, and/or parental waivers on hand just in case of an emergency.

Delays and Late Arrivals

We understand groups may be delayed for numerous reasons. Please account for enough time so that you can arrive on time for your scheduled group tour. If groups arrive late, we cannot guarantee the full group tour experience. After 30 minutes, we reserve the right to cancel your group tour. Please contact our office to keep us aware of your expected arrival at 352-392-2959 .

Expectations

We expect students and chaperones to be respectful of our community and policies. We reserve the right to limit a group’s future participation in group tours in the event of extreme circumstances.

Self-Guided Tour

Groups interested in completing the self-guided tour can do so on their own at any time. It has audio and visual content recorded by our student tour guides and will lead your group along a tour route. The self-guided tour can be found in the GatorWay mobile app or by clicking the links below. Depending on the size of your group, you may want to consider downloading the app to multiple devices to use in smaller groups. There is no registration required for self-guided tours at this time. The self-guided tour may be offered to groups we are unable to accommodate.

UF GatorWay App

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Campus attractions at the university of florida.

By Florence Beth Snyder

The University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville is a preeminent research institution, but visitors can be forgiven for thinking they’ve stumbled onto a soundstage for one of those 1930s college musicals.

With its Gothic Revival architecture and 20 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, UF’s 2,000 acres are a movie location scout’s ideal of what a university should look like. More than 50,000 students from more than 130 countries and all 50 states complete the picture of a campus straight out of central casting. Any day is a good day for a self-guided walking tour of the university’s Historic District . A good place to start is the 157-foot-tall Century Tower, a moving tribute to UF alumni and students who perished in the World Wars of the 20th century. One of only four carillon towers in Florida, Century Tower's 61 bells can sing a five-octave range. The carillon sits at the top of 194 steps and weighs an astounding 57,760 pounds. You can enjoy the Tower’s rendition of “Florida Chimes” on the quarter-hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and listen anytime on YouTube . The Plaza of the Americas is the focal point of the Roaring 20s-era landscape design by Frederick Law Olmsted’s sons, John Charles and Frederick Law Jr. It’s a great place to picnic and people-watch.

Just west of the Historic District is Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the 88,548-seat venue where UF’s football team plays its home games.

- Brad McClenny for VISIT FLORIDA

Just west of the Historic District is Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, the 88,548-seat venue where UF’s football team plays its home games. UF’s national reputation as a football school dates back almost a century, and the stadium is practically a shrine for those who wear the orange-and-blue of the “Gator Nation” and T-shirts bearing pictures of Albert, the school’s alligator mascot. When the stadium is not occupied with practices and home games, visitors are welcome to jog around the concourse, run the steps, or just hang out in the stands and enjoy the Florida sunshine.  On your way in, check out the life-size bronze statues of Heisman Trophy winners Steve Spurrier, Danny Wuerffel and Tim Tebow, as well as the Heavener Football Complex , which houses a museum highlighting Gator football history. Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is nicknamed The Swamp, and not just because of UF’s alligator theme. The stadium’s bowled-in architecture is notable for steep stands that put spectators close to the field, and acoustics that amplify crowd noise to eardrum-shattering levels. None of this bothers rabid Florida alumni, whose seats on the west side are shaded by the press box. The visiting team’s supporters have no place to hide from a broiling game day sun. It all adds up to a notorious home-field advantage for UF fans; they have the statistics to back up their brag that "ONLY Gators get out alive." Tourists in search of more cerebral pursuits can always find interesting ways to pass the time at the UF Cultural Plaza, home of the Curtis M. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts , the Florida Museum of Natural History and the Harn Museum of Art . The Florida Museum has been, since 1891, the official curator and champion of the Sunshine State’s rich and diverse natural history. In recent years, it has evolved in to an internationally recognized institution committed to “Inspiring people to care about life on Earth.”

A pair of butterflies search for nectar in the Butterfly Rainforest at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.

Highlights include the Butterfly Rainforest , a live-action exhibit filled with free-flying butterflies and birds from around the world, along with up-close-and-personal looks at turtles and fish amidst an appealing tropical landscape. If you dare to explore the darker side of nature, visit the Museum’s Bat Colony , home to 300,000 residents of the Bat House and Bat Barn. Every night is Halloween in that 15- to 20-minute window just after sunset and before total darkness, when temperatures are above 65 degrees, as they almost always are.  An observation area is provided, but bring your own plastic protective gear because you never know what might fall from the sky. The bats and butterflies are best appreciated in person, and once you meet them, you’ll want to see them again soon. Thanks to UF’s “ Critter Cams ,” you can, 24/7. The Harn Museum of Art collection includes thousands of pieces of African, Asian, modern and contemporary art, as well as photography with significant representations of Ancient American and oceanic art. The 40,000-plus square feet of exhibition space is surrounded by five peaceful garden spaces, and the Harn’s Camellia Court Cafe is a relaxing lunch spot for Museum-goers, or those stopping by the Phillips Center to buy tickets for an upcoming show. When the Gators wish to commune with real ‘gators, they head to Lake Alice, a small and beautiful body of water where alligators allow people to watch and be astounded ... from a distance. The Baughman Center at Lake Alice is a 96-seat miniature medieval cathedral built from Florida cypress, yellow pine and copper, featuring three shades of travertine marble flooring. Weddings, funerals and small musical performances bring guests to the pavilion, but most of the traffic comes from individuals who stop by to think and meditate in a serene and splendid setting.

When you go… University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611 (352) 392-3261

places to remember

Gainesville

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Campus protests live updates: Camps cleared out, arrests made as schools crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrations

The latest on pro-palestinian campus protests.

• University of Southern California police arrested 93 people after they warned protesters to disperse. The university said protests devolved into vandalism and confrontations.
• USC announced Thursday that it was canceling its main graduation commencement ceremony on May 10, citing safety concerns.
• Columbia University said Wednesday that student protesters had agreed to take down "a significant number of tents," but protests will continue.
• Police said 108 people were arrested in protests around Boston's Emerson College on Wednesday night.
• Protest encampments are now in place on more than 40 college campuses across the U.S. and in Canada, including the University of Texas at Austin, Harvard, Brown, the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

Protest on George Washington's campus continues after deadline to move

WASHINGTON — Organizers at the protest rally at George Washington University were directing students to move to the center of the encampment and for outside community members to form a perimeter around them.

Protesters had until 7 p.m. to disperse and break down their tents, but that deadline came and went with no sign of campus or Washington, D.C. police action. The rally is ongoing and the crowd appears to have increased in size.

Ahead of the deadline, the university and its police department said there was no changes in plans and no negotiations happening to allow the protest to continue their encampment.

Earlier today, the university said it had requested the assistance of Washington, D.C., police to “relocate” the protesters after they did not heed instructions to relocate to another site on campus.

In a statement tonight after the deadline, the university said the encampment was “an unauthorized use of university space and violates several university policies,” and that it was working with police to determine “how to best address the situation.”

University of Florida sets up Gaza solidarity 'liberation zone'

Rebecca Cohen

Colin Sheeley

Students at the University of Florida have set up their own liberation zone in solidarity with Gaza and other universities across the country.

UF Divestment Coalition, which describes itself on Instagram as students calling for the school "to protect students and end complicity in the ongoing occupation of Palestine and genocide in Gaza," posted today encouraging students to join the encampment at UF Plaza of the Americas that was set up last night and maintained overnight.

The group said it "successfully maintained occupation of the grounds in Plaza of Americas through the night, and activities will continue today."

"This is our space," the group wrote on Instagram. It encouraged students to bring water and snacks, laptops to study for exams and chairs and mats.

It said yesterday it launched the encampment "to express our concerns with the institution’s repression of student voices and unfair discrimination, as well as to demand divestment."

UCLA monitoring encampment protest; access to some parts of campus restricted

Marlene Lenthang

UCLA said today about the Royce Quad encampment protest: “We’re actively monitoring this situation to support a safe and peaceful campus environment that respects our community’s right to free expression while minimizing disruption to our teaching and learning mission. “

Access to Royce Hall and Powell was restricted, and Bruin Cards are required for entry. 

Classes and campus actives will continue as usual, the school said. 

UT Austin says 26 people unaffiliated with the school were arrested yesterday

Phil Helsel

Twenty-six people who were unaffiliated with the University of Texas at Austin were arrested yesterday, the university said in a statement.

"Wednesday’s protest organized by the Palestine Solidarity Committee sought to follow the playbook of the national campaign to paralyze the operations of universities across the country," the statement said. "Like at each of those universities, and confirming our serious concern, there was significant participation by outside groups present on our campus yesterday."

Today, the Travis County Attorney's Office said cases against 46 people arrested last night in connection with the protests at UT have been dismissed because of "deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits" after defense lawyers raised legal concerns. The county attorney's office did not say whether those 46 people were affiliated with the school.

The university statement said that since Oct. 13, pro-Palestinian free speech events have occurred "largely without incident."

"In contrast, this one in particular expressed an intent to disrupt the campus and directed participants to break Institutional Rules and occupy the University, consistent with national patterns," the statement said.

Columbia increases patrol ahead of counterprotests outside of campus

Jasmine Cui

Columbia University sent an email alerting students and faculty and staff members of enhanced security measures ahead of a counterprotest, the United for Israel march, scheduled for tonight outside of the school.

Gate access is still restricted to Columbia University ID holders, and patrols will be increased for enhanced security on the campus perimeter. Members of the university the community may call to request escorts if they feel unsafe.

"The safety and security of our Columbia community and Morningside neighbors are paramount," the email said. "Please take care of yourselves and each other."

Prosecutor dismisses 46 UT Austin protest cases for 'legal concerns'

Dozens of cases have been dropped against protesters who were arrested yesterday during the University of Texas at Austin demonstration, a spokesperson for the Travis County prosecutor confirmed in an email.

"Legal concerns were raised by defense counsel," the spokesperson said. "We individually reviewed each case that was presented and agreed there were deficiencies in the probable cause affidavits."

A vast majority of the 57 arrests that were made when Texas state troopers were brought in to break up the pro-Palestinian demonstration have been dismissed.

Additional details were not provided. The spokesperson said the office would review all cases "to determine whether prosecution is factually and legally appropriate."

University of Pennsylvania students begin encampment protest

Doha Madani

A group of students at the University of Pennsylvania has set up tents on the College Green, the student-run newspaper reported today.

According to The Daily Pennsylvanian , in addition to demands that Penn divest from Israel and companies they say are benefiting from the war, student activists demanded that "Penn defend Palestinian students." That includes reinstating the student group Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine, whose status was revoked.

Penn's interim president, Larry Jameson, said in a statement today that the school held a panel of Muslim, Arab and Palestinian students earlier this semester. Officials heard "loud and clear" that those students felt unacknowledged by the university's anti-hate statements as they experience Islamophobic slurs and see trucks near campus with anti-Islamic imagery.

"I want to make clear that all Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian members of our community are welcome and belong at Penn. It has been a painful and difficult time for many students, faculty, and staff," Jameson wrote.

"For some, the tragic loss of life in the Middle East has included family and friends," the statement continued. "And the growing unrest in cities and on other college and university campuses across the country is deeply unsettling."

'There's no deadline; it's a timeline,' Columbia students say of negotiations

Student organizers at Columbia University are working with administrators on a "timeline" for negotiations, but no police action is threatened at this time, student Mahmoud Khalil told reporters today.

Columbia officials initially told students they would have to leave the encampment at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday before the school would look into alternative options. The deadline was then extended as students were told they would have 48 hours to continue conversations.

"There's no deadline; it's a timeline for negotiation," Khalil said. "It's not a deadline to bring police enforcement or any other law enforcement."

Khalil, who is Palestinian, is an international student who is not a part of the encampment protest but is participating in the negotiations. The talks were suspended for roughly 30 hours after the ultimatum was first given to clear out, Khalil said, and students are working to gain more clarity about what the university means.

Pro-Palestinian protests continue to grow at campuses in New York and Texas

Violent clashes between police and protesters opposed to the Israel-Hamas war have taken place at campuses across the country, along with multiple arrests.

Protesters gather again at UT Austin a day after police arrested demonstrators

Suzanne Gamboa

AUSTIN, Texas — A large crowd of protesters has gathered again at Main Plaza in front of the UT Tower on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, where chants of “Free, Free Palestine” were heard.

About a dozen school police officers were visible at the base of the tower.

The South Lawn, where arrests took place at yesterday’s protest, was largely empty save for students walking to class. 

One protester, who didn’t want her name used because she is employed at UT, held a sign that called for occupying all campuses. She was at yesterday's protest.

“I wasn’t afraid to come back out, because at the end of the day, this is something that’s important, and they say what starts here changes the world. So we are starting here,” she told NBC News.

She said her presence was also in protest of the university’s ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and firing dozens of faculty and staff members, which she said she saw as connected, adding, “It’s a fight for simple civil liberties.”

USC cancels main graduation commencement ceremony

The University of Southern California canceled its main graduation commencement ceremony today, citing new safety measures involving those who come to campus.

In a commencement update posted this afternoon, USC said that "we will not be able to host the main stage ceremony that traditionally brings 65,000 students, families, and friends to our campus all at the same time and during a short window from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m." for the event originally scheduled for May 10.

The new safety measures include issuing tickets for all commencement events and allowing campus access only through specific points of entry, the school said. It said it canceled the main ceremony because it would take too long to process the large number of guests who would come to campus for the event.

The school acknowledged that the decision is "disappointing" but added that "we are adding many new activities and celebrations to make this commencement academically meaningful, memorable, and uniquely USC, including places to gather with family, friends, faculty, and staff, the celebratory releasing of the doves, and performances by the Trojan Marching Band." It did not offer more detail about those events.

The release said the school will still host the dozens of smaller individual school commencement ceremonies, "where students cross the stage, have their names announced, are photographed, and receive their diplomas."

Doctoral hooding ceremonies, special celebrations and departmental activities and receptions will all still be held, the school said.

Columbia officials resume negotiations with protesters, students say

Emilie Ikeda

Student organizers at Columbia University told reporters today that negotiations with university officials about clearing out the campus protest encampment have resumed after a 30-hour pause.

Students said they left the table Monday evening. Negotiations resumed this morning and are currently ongoing.

Student organizers said at a news conference the 48-hour deadline issued earlier this week from the university is unclear and they are seeking clarification.

One organizer who spoke at the news conference also said she was attacked by someone posing as a member of the press yesterday. She did not elaborate further on the nature of the attack.

Reports of pepper bullets, tear gas and stun guns used at Emory protest

Activists behind the Gaza solidarity encampment at Emory University in Atlanta said in a news release that demonstrators were “attacked” with “pepper bullets, tear gas, and tasers for the simple act of camping out on a school lawn.”

The encampment was established on the Emory Quad at 7:30 a.m. today in a protest launched by Emory Students for Justice in Palestine and local activist group Stop Cop City .

Footage from the protest taken by NBC affiliate cameras showed uniformed officers on campus, some in helmets and gas masks and holding guns that appeared to hold pellet bullets.

One video shared on social media showed a demonstrator handcuffed on the ground by multiple officers, one of whom deployed a stun gun on the protester's leg.

The person who filmed the video, who did not share their name, said police officers flooded in the peaceful protest with tear gas, pellets and what appeared to be stun guns. The individual who was hit with the stun gun was already pinned down by officers when the weapon was deployed.

School paper The Emory Wheel also reported that irritant gas was used on protesters and at least one protester was hit with a stun gun. An officer told detained protesters they were being taken to the DeKalb County Jail, the paper reported.

Activists said in a news release that Georgia State Patrol, Atlanta police and Emory police responded and confronted students and a faculty member.

“As protestors collectively retreated from streams of pepper bullets, hundreds more students have taken their place, calling for an end to the police’s brutality and the immediate release of all activists arrested,” the release said.

NBC News has reached out to local law enforcement for comment.

Earlier today, a university spokesperson said several dozen protesters "trespassed" onto campus and set up tents on the Quad, not all of whom were members of the university, and Emory police ordered the group to leave. 

3 arrested as Ohio State University encampment protest is cleared

An Ohio State University encampment demonstration by students and community members was dismantled and resulted in at least three arrests.

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said that “longstanding university policy prohibits camping and requires a space reservation for gatherings.”

As a result, individuals were asked to clear the area. Three refused “after multiple warnings” and were arrested and charged with criminal trespass, Johnson said. Of those arrested: One is not affiliated with the university, one is an employee, and one is a graduate student. 

“There is no ongoing encampment or continuous demonstration at Ohio State,” he said, noting university police and staff are on-site for all demonstrations and will remain there tonight.

The arrests come after two students were arrested, also on a charge of criminal trespassing, on Tuesday at a protest on campus, school paper The Lantern reported. 

Sen. Bernie Sanders to Netanyahu: 'It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions'

Sen. Bernie Sanders rebuffed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement yesterday in which he called criticism of Israeli government policies antisemitic.

“No, Mr. Netanyahu. It is not antisemitic or pro-Hamas to point out that in a little over six months your extremist government has killed 34,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 77,000 — 70% of whom are women and children,” Sanders said today .

Sanders pointed out that Israeli government bombings have devastated much of Gaza’s infrastructure like water, electricity and hospitals, and destroyed the homes of nearly half of Gaza’s population. 

"Mr Netanyahu. Antisemitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people," Sanders said.

"But, please, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government," he continued. "Do not use antisemitism to deflect attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts. It is not antisemitic to hold you accountable for your actions."