Separating Fact from Fiction
by PJD3883
It would be difficult to fully comprehend the struggle that Florida State University endured to schedule a football game verses the University of Florida without first explaining the birth of the animosity between the two schools.
The Beginning...
House Bill No. 361, commonly know as the Buckman Act, condensed all state universities into three schools.
Florida State College, in Tallahassee was renamed the Florida State College for Women, and would remain in Tallahassee.
Florida A&M School for Negroes, as it was known in those days, was established and it also was located in Tallahassee.
The University of Florida was moved from Lake City to Gainesville.
The Schools operated in their segregated modes for the next thirty-eight (38) years, but World War II began to make Florida Lawmakers rethink their stance on gender segregation.
The war had created a gender imbalance. The University of Florida, had empty buildings and half-empty classrooms, while FSCW was experiencing over-crowded conditions.
The idea of establishing coeducational institutions first officially came up for debate when the State's Board of Control met in March of 1945. There was ample justification to make such a move, but the Board tabled the matter.
The State Legislature remained concerned, but they likewise failed to act on the matter.
The end of World War II changed all of that.
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