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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2025
VOLUME 120 - ISSUE 3 Not officially associated with the University of Florida
Published by Campus Communications, Inc. of Gainesville, Florida
Who is UF’s new interim president?
FOOTBALL
A Columbia physician and longtime academic leader stepped into the role Sept. 1 By Swasthi Maharaj & Maria Arruda Alligator Staff Writers
Bayden Armstrong // Alligator Staff
Florida Gators wide receiver Vernell Brown III (8) makes a diving catch during a football game between the Long Island Sharks and the Florida Gators on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Fla. See more Gators football in Sports on pg. 11.
Cuts to Gainesville routes leave crowded buses, long waits UF DECREASED FUNDING FOR RTS BY 28%, LEADING TO LIMITED AND CROWDED BUS ROUTES
By Leona Masangkay & Alexa Ryan Alligator Staff Writer
During the first few days of school, student frustration with UF’s funding cuts for the Regional
Transit System was clear as people squeezed into crowded — and often late — buses. The number of available bus routes decreased just a few weeks before thousands of UF students arrived on campus, who are the first to see the effects of the funding cuts when the university is at its most crowded. UF reallocated funds from RTS, which serves a large portion of Gainesville with 39 routes, to campus-specific transportation,
SPORTS/SPECIAL/CUTOUT
Story description Alligator Gamesfinish with comma, pg#
Play The Alligator’s mini-crossword, pg. 11
mainly the Campus Connector, in May. Route adjustments went into effect June 30, eliminating four routes: Routes 16, 34, 35 and 711. Additionally, Route 126 will run with reduced service. Those routes provided almost 271,000 passenger trips — about 9% of RTS’s total trips — since October 2024 to March 2025, according to the bus service.
SEE RTS, PAGE 3
Administration
UF’s Board of Trustees has chosen a scientist to represent the school as interim president while it continues to search for a permanent hire. The board unanimously approved Dr. Donald Landry, a professor of medicine at Columbia University, on Aug. 25. He comes with support from both his former colleagues and Florida’s political higher-ups. Landry, a graduate of Columbia and Harvard University, served as the chair of Columbia’s Department of Medicine for 16 years, raised the Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s research rankings, and won the Presidential Citizens Medal under former President George W. Bush. During Landry’s tenure, the department of medicine saw a faculty growth spurt; the department’s National Institutes of Health funded research tripled. It also climbed in national NIH rankings from the top 15 to the top five, according to a Columbia Irving Medical Center staff announcement. Landry’s duties were set to
Office of Sustainability closed, responsibilities up in the air, pg. 4
begin Sept. 1, and his position is pending approval from the Florida Board of Governors, which is set to meet Sept. 10. Professional reputation Barry Honig, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia University, has known Landry for 20 to 30 years. He said Landry is a fitting choice for interim president, and UF is “lucky to have him.” “I think Columbia is losing somebody who, frankly, I wish was…our president,” Honig said. Honig said Landry has the highest possible standards in judging others’ accomplishments without political motivations. Landry is also president of the American Academy of Sciences and Letters, an organization recognizing scholarship and research. His work there demonstrates his ambition to apply high standards to university accreditation “independent of political views,” Honig said. According to Honig, Landry had been active in organizing a society at Columbia to help undergraduate students who were a minority at the school, and asked him to be an advisor for the club.
SEE LANDRY, PAGE 3
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Crime
ICE arrests spike in Alachua County, pg. 5
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