The Independent Florida Alligator - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Independent Florida Alligator is the daily student newspaper

Student newspaper

A student newspaper is a newspaper run by students of a university, high school, middle school, or other school. These papers traditionally cover local and, primarily, school or university news....

of the University of Florida

University of Florida

The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...

. The Alligator is the largest student-run newspaper in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, with a daily circulation of 35,000 and readership of over 52,000. It is an affiliate of UWIRE, which distributes and promotes its content to their network.

The paper prints every weekday during the spring and fall semesters (mid-August to early May) and on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer semesters. The Alligator has been financially and editorially independent from the university since 1973. The Alligator has been owned by non-profit

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

, student-controlled 501(c)(3) Campus Communications Inc. since its independence. Students from both UF and Santa Fe College, also located in the city of Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...

, are allowed to work at the paper. Only college students are allowed to work in the editorial

Editorial

An opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...

department or be advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

representatives or intern

Intern

Internship is a system of onthejob training for white-collar jobs, similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. They may also be as young as middle school or in...

s.

The Alligator is distributed free

Free daily newspaper

Free daily newspapers are distributed free of charge, either in central places in cities and towns, or with other newspapers. The revenues of such newspapers are based on advertising.-In the U.S.:...

on campus and around the city of Gainesville, Florida

Gainesville, Florida

, and contains a mix of campus and local news coverage, as well as national and international stories from wire services

News agency

A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...

. It also contains a sports section that begins from the back of the tabloid-format paper, and an entertainment section ("The Avenue") published every Thursday. The Alligator prints on 11 x 14 inch paper, somewhat smaller than a tabloid size, closer in size to the compact

Compact (newspaper)

A compact newspaper is a broadsheet-quality newspaper printed in a tabloid format, especially one in the United Kingdom. The term is used also for this size came into use in its current use when The Independent began producing a smaller format edition for London's commuters, designed to be easier...

format of The Times of London
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

and the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

.

Early history

The Alligator began as an independent student-run newspaper called The University News, on October 19, 1906. The paper came together in time to report on the University of Florida's opening ceremony in its new permanent home in Gainesville. Much of the first issue was devoted to reprinting word-for-word the farewell speech given by then-Florida Governor Napoleon B. Broward

Napoleon B. Broward

Napoleon Bonaparte Broward was the 19th Governor of the U.S. state of Florida from January 3, 1905 to January 5, 1909. He also served as the sheriff of Duval County, Florida, and in the Florida House of Representatives....

The Alligator remained independent until 1912, when it became part of the university and was renamed the Florida Alligator after the university's mascot

Mascot

The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

, the Florida Gators

Florida Gators

The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...

.

For the next six decades, the paper was supervised by the Office of Student Publications, which was also responsible for the university's Seminole yearbook (later renamed The Tower), Florida Magazine, the Orange Peel humor magazine

Humor magazine

A humor magazine is a magazine specifically designed to deliver humorous content to its readership. These publications often offer satire, but some put an emphasis on cartoons, one-liners or humorous essays.-Out-of-print humor magazines:...

, and other recurring publications. Alligator staffers often worked on several of these at the same time. (None of the other publications still exist.) The Alligator also had a radio news show on campus station WRUF for many years.

Until the 1950s, the editor-in-chief was chosen by the student body in campus-wide elections, similar to student government

Students' union

A students' union, student government, student senate, students' association, guild of students or government of student body is a student organization present in many colleges and universities, and has started appearing in some high schools...

. Candidates slated to political parties, published campaign ads

Campaign advertising

'In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through newspapers, radio commercials, television commercials, etc.) to influence the decisions made for and by groups. These ads are designed by political consultants and the political campaign staff...

, and debated each other not unlike today. The editor was roughly on the same level of prestige as the student body president

Student body president

The President of the Student Government is the highest ranking officer of a student government or student union association on the high school, college, or university level...

, and various fraternities

Fraternities and sororities

Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...

controlled the newspaper at one time or other.

By the early 1960s, the rapid post-World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

growth of the university, which had started with the G.I. Bill and continued with the decision to admit women in 1947 and to admit blacks in 1958 caused The Alligator to grow. The newspaper printed in broadsheet

Broadsheet

Broadsheet is the largest of the various newspaper formats and is characterized by long vertical pages . The term derives from types of popular prints usually just of a single sheet, sold on the streets and containing various types of material, from ballads to political satire. The first broadsheet...

until 1962 (except during World War II, when paper was in short supply). In 1962, the paper switched to the smaller tabloid format, which it still uses today. Around this time, The Alligator was one of the first college newspapers in the nation to switch from hot type

Hot metal typesetting

In printing and typography, hot metal typesetting refers to 19th-century technologies for typesetting text in letterpress printing. This method injects molten type metal into a mold that has the shape of one or more glyphs...

printing to the more modern offset

Offset printing

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique in which the inked image is transferred from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface...

standard. The same year, the paper switched from twice-weekly printing to its current daily format.

In 1963, Ed Barber started working at The Alligator, as a student writer. By 1972 he became general manager of the paper.

Barber left the paper in 1973 to become Director of Publications for the University of Florida, but returned as general manager in 1976 and became president of Campus Communications, Inc., the student-owned 501(c)(3) organization that publishes The Alligator. Barber now holds the title of president emeritus

Emeritus

Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...

of The Alligator and is executive director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

of the Alligator Alumni Association. Patricia Carey, a veteran manager of the newspaper, succeeded Barber as general manager of The Alligator and president of Campus Communications.

Originally, the Office of Student Publications was located in the basement of the old Florida Union (today Dauer Hall), which was then the student union

Student activity center

A student activity center is a type of building found on university campuses. In the United States, such a building is more often called a student union, student commons, or student center...

, in the north part of campus. In 1968 the paper moved into a new suite of offices on the third floor of the new union, the J. Wayne Reitz Union

J. Wayne Reitz Union

The J. Wayne Reitz Union is the student union of the University of Florida, located on Museum Road on the university campus in Gainesville, Florida...

, directly adjacent to Student Government administrative offices. At least one of The Alligator former offices is now occupied by Florida Blue Key.

Events leading to independence

The tumult of the late 1960s featured the resignation of editors who disagreed with an editorial denouncing the university's public tenure hearing for Marshall Jones, a professor who was accused of being a communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

by the university administration. He was forced from the university. The university's crowded public hearing on Jones was denounced in Florida newspapers as reminiscent of the McCarthyist Red Scare

McCarthyism

McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...

of the 1950s.The editorial, written after the first hearing by journalism student and reporter Michael Abrams (who later became a journalism professor), was censored

Censorship

thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...

by the University's Board of Student Publications, and a blank space with the word "Censored" run in its place. Several of the student editors of the newspaper resigned over what they saw as the tone of the editorial and its anti-administration bent.

A national controversy ensued. Columnist Drew Pearson

Drew Pearson (journalist)

Andrew Russell Pearson , known professionally as Drew Pearson, was one of the best-known American columnists of his day, noted for his muckraking syndicated newspaper column "Washington Merry-Go-Round," in which he attacked various public persons, sometimes with little or no objective proof for his...

came to campus and gave strong support to the remaining staff. Editor Steve Hull, who also remained, assembled a new set of student editors. Throughout this time, the School of Journalism and Communications

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications

The College of Journalism and Communications is a college of the University of Florida. It comprises four departments:*Department of Journalism *Department of Telecommunications *Department of Advertising...

won a series of Hearst Journalism Awards, and many Alligator reporters and editors ultimately became well known in their professions.

The newspaper continued to do investigative reporting including stories about low wages paid to maintenance employees. It was during this time the newspaper was awarded the Pacemaker award as the best college paper in the nation. Among the key writers of the Alligator at the time were James Cook, later an attorney

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, who wrote the "Uncle Javerneck" column, and Joe Torchia, later a novelist, who intercepted humorous letters from "God" to various people, sparking an uproar among some religious readers.

Many copies of the final edition of the newspaper, with its somewhat racy collage of farewell pictures including the university president in a less than auspicious pose, were seized by those who supported the university administration.

Controversy ensued with a new set of editors being selected by the board, and an off-campus newspaper, University Report, published by Hull, Abrams, and Scott DeGarmo, a master's

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

student in history. The paper exposed spying on students by government officials and law enforcement agents and was an outspoken critic of the administration of Stephen C. O'Connell

Stephen C. O'Connell

Stephen Cornelius O'Connell was an American attorney, appellate judge and university president. O'Connell was a native of Florida, and earned bachelor's and law degrees before becoming a practicing attorney...

, the former Florida Supreme Court

Florida Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice and six Justices who are appointed by the Governor to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each...

justice and University President

President of the University of Florida

This List of Presidents of the University of Florida includes all sixteen of the men who have served as the president of the University of Florida since the modern university was created from the consolidation of four predecessor institutions in 1905....

. One of its stories told of a government agent "Palmer Wee" who was apparently hired to watch radical students. The headline read "Wee is watching you." The paper printed several issues and was typeset on an old typesetting machine that was somewhat larger than a typewriter and sat on a living room floor. It was published out of town, as at least one local printer refused to print it.

The university administration continued to simmer over radical editors. In late 1971, editor Ron Sachs approved an insert to be published in The Alligator that printed the addresses of known abortion clinic

Abortion clinic

An abortion clinic is a medical facility that primarily performs or specializes in abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.-Canada:*There were 197 abortion providers in Canada in 2001....

s. At the time, not only was abortion illegal

Abortion in the United States

Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973...

in Florida, but even the printing of abortion information violated state law

State law

In the United States, state law is the law of each separate U.S. state, as passed by the state legislature and adjudicated by state courts. It exists in parallel, and sometimes in conflict with, United States federal law. These disputes are often resolved by the federal courts.-See also:*List of U.S...

. The insert, a deliberate challenge by Sachs in protest of laws against abortion, threw the university into a firestorm. Both Sachs and university president Stephen C. O'Connell faced intense public pressure. When O'Connell discovered that Sachs was protected by federal First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

case law

Case law

In law, case law is the set of reported judicial decisions of selected appellate courts and other courts of first instance which make new interpretations of the law and, therefore, can be cited as precedents in a process known as stare decisis...

, he started working to disavow any connection between the university and The Alligator.

To defuse the hostile situation, Florida Attorney General

Florida Attorney General

The Florida Attorney General is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state....

Robert Shevin

Robert L. Shevin was the Florida Attorney General from 1971 until 1979 and a judge on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.-Background:...

ruled that to protect students' First Amendment rights, the university and The Alligator should split. At the time, O'Connell declared that never again would UF sponsor a student newspaper on campus. As a further compromise agreement between the university and the newspaper’s staff, the students were allowed to take The Alligator private and off campus. Sachs' challenge of the abortion law was successful; his criminal prosecution ended when the law was declared unconstitutional

Constitutionality

Constitutionality is the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution. Acts that are not in accordance with the rules laid down in the constitution are deemed to be ultra vires.-See also:*ultra vires*Company law*Constitutional law...

. Sachs later won an Emmy Award

Emmy Award

An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...

as a television producer in Miami, for his documentary Cocaine: The Lady is a Killer.

History after independence

The newspaper changed its name to The Independent Florida Alligator and took several years to find a permanent home. New owners Campus Communications moved in 1981 to the former Tau Epsilon Phi

Tau Epsilon Phi

Tau Epsilon Phi is an American fraternity with 14 active chapters, chiefly located at universities and colleges on the East Coast of the United States...

fraternity house

Fraternity and sorority houses

North American fraternity and sorority housing refers largely to the houses or housing areas that fraternity and sorority members live and work together in...

two blocks east of campus on University Avenue, its current location.

Alligator writers and photographers won a dozen Hearst Awards during the period 1971 to 1979, a period when the paper also won several awards from the Associated Collegiate Press

Associated Collegiate Press

The Associated Collegiate Press is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association...

and the Society of Professional Journalists

Society of Professional Journalists

The Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...

. Until the mid-1990s, Alligator alumni had won more Hearst writing and photo awards than any other student newspaper. (It now ranks second behind the Daily Northwestern of Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

).

The Alligator also was one of the first college papers on the Internet, hosting a bulletin board system

Bulletin board system

A Bulletin Board System, or BBS, is a computer system running software that allows users to connect and log in to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, a user can perform functions such as uploading and downloading software and data, reading news and bulletins, and exchanging...

as early as 1985 and a website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

beginning in 1994.

In 1990, Campus Communications bought the High Springs Herald, the weekly newspaper

Weekly newspaper

A weekly newspaper is a general-news publication that is published on newsprint once or twice a week.Such newspapers tend to have smaller circulations than daily newspapers, and are usually based in less-populous communities or small, defined areas within large cities; often, they may cover a...

of High Springs, Florida

High Springs, Florida

High Springs is a city in Alachua County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,863 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 4,139 .-Geography:High Springs is located at ....

, about 30 miles outside the university. The High Springs Herald was sold in February 2009 to Ronald Dupont Jr.

Current and recent editors

Fall 2011: Elizabeth Behrman
Summer 2011: C.J. Pruner
Spring 2011: Paul Runnestrand
Fall 2010: Emily Fuggetta
Summer 2010: Rachael Pino
Spring 2010: Chelsea Keenan
Fall 2009: Kristin Bjornsen
Summer 2009: Kristin Bjornsen
Spring 2009: Nicole Safker
Fall 2008: Jessica DaSilva
Summer 2008: Devin Culclasure
Spring 2008: Chad Smith
Fall 2007: Lyndsey Lewis
Summer 2007: Dominick Tao
Spring 2007: Jessica Riffel
Fall 2006: Stephanie Garry
Summer 2006: Warren Kagarise
Summer 2006: Bridget Carey
Bridget Carey
Bridget Marie Carey is an American technology journalist and author of the nation's first social media etiquette column, Poked. She also hosts a popular online gadget review show, Bridget Carey's Tech Review. Her award-winning writing commentary on netiquette started at The Miami Herald and was...
Spring 2006: Emily Yehle

Fall 2005: Mike Gimignani

Spring 2005: Dwayne Robinson

Fall 2004: Sarah Anderson

Spring 2004: Cameron Ackroyd

Fall 2003: Joe Black

Spring 2003: Heather Leslie

Fall 2002: Sarah Myrick

Alumni

Former Alligator staffers work at major newspapers, magazines, and news agencies, including the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

, the Florida Times-Union, the Palm Beach Post, the Associated Press

Associated Press

The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

, and The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, among others.

Alligator photographer and editor Robert Ellison (1944–1968) died in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

while covering the Battle of Khe Sanh

Battle of Khe Sanh

The Battle of Khe Sanh was conducted in northwestern Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam , between 21 January and 9 July 1968 during the Vietnam War...

for the newspaper. His work, later published in Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...

as "The Agony of Khe Sanh," won several posthumous awards.

Alumni	Notability
Don Addis Don Addis Donald G. Addis was a comic strip artist. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Florida, where he was the editor of the student newspaper, The Independent Florida Alligator. He retired as an editorial cartoonist and columnist with the St...	St. Petersburg Times St. Petersburg Times The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St... editorial cartoonist Editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary.... ; created the long-running series of "Sex Symbols" cartoons in Playboy Playboy Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with... Jan Godown Annino National Geographic Children's Books author
Charles Edward Bennett Charles Edward Bennett Charles Edward Bennett was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Florida from 1949 to 1993. He was a Democrat who resided in Jacksonville, Florida.-Early years:... (editor 1931)	U.S. Representative United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution... (longest serving in Florida history)
Al Burt Al Burt Al Burt was a widely beloved Florida author and longtime journalist with The Miami Herald. He served as a sports writer, news reporter, editor, editorial writer and columnist....	Miami Herald writer
Rhea Chiles Rhea Chiles Rhea Chiles was the First Lady of the state of Florida from 1991 to 1998. Her husband was Governor Lawton Chiles.Chiles founded the Florida House on Capitol Hill in 1973. It was her vision that created and sustained the House for these many years...	Wife of Florida Governor Lawton Chiles Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles, Jr. was an American politician from the US state of Florida. In a career spanning four decades, Chiles, a Democrat who never lost an election, served in the Florida House of Representatives , the Florida State Senate , the United States Senate , and as the 41st Governor of... ; Former First Lady First Lady First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime... of Florida
H. G. Davis, Jr. H. G. Davis, Jr. Horance G. "Buddy" Davis, Jr. is an editorial writer for the Gainesville Sun and a professor of journalism at the University of Florida at Gainesville, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for a series of editorials on school integration....	The Gainesville Sun The Gainesville Sun The Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. It is a part of the New York Times Regional Media Group. The paper is published by James E... columnist; Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... winner; longtime UF journalism professor
Karen DeYoung Karen DeYoung Karen DeYoung is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist, and is the associate editor for The Washington Post.DeYoung was born in Florida and she grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received Bachelor degrees in journalism and communications from the University of Florida.After graduation,...	The Washington Post The Washington Post The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation... writer and associate editor; Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... winner
Brian Doherty Brian Doherty (journalist) Brian Doherty is an American journalist. He is a Senior Editor at Reason magazine. He is the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground , Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement and Gun Control on Trial: Inside the...	Libertarian Libertarianism Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view... writer; Reason Reason (magazine) Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :... magazine senior editor
Gregg Doyel Gregg Doyel - Early life and education :Gregg Doyel was born in Hawaii. He grew up in Mississippi where his father was a law professor at the University of Mississippi...	Current writer for CBSSports.com CBSSports.com CBSSports.com was founded in 1994 as SportsLine USA, and today is a CBS-owned website that provides sports scores, news, statistics, live and on-demand video, mobile apps, e-commerce, fantasy sports products, services, and information..Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, CBSSports.com it is... , also worked for the Charlotte Observer and the Miami Herald
David Finkel David Finkel David Louis Finkel is an American journalist. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 as a staff writer at the Washington Post. He is currently assigned to the national staff as an enterprise reporter. He has also worked for the Post's foreign staff division...	Washington Post writer; Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... winner
Philip Graham	The Washington Post The Washington Post The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation... publisher from 1946–1963, husband of Katharine Graham Katharine Graham Katharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon... and Washington Post successor
Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen Carl Hiaasen is an American journalist, columnist and novelist.- Early years :Born in 1953 and raised in Plantation, Florida, of Norwegian heritage, Hiaasen was the first of four children and the son of a lawyer, Kermit Odel, and teacher, Patricia...	Miami Herald columnist Columnist A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs.... ; crime fiction Crime fiction Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred... novelist (Tourist Season Tourist Season Tourist Season is a 1986 novel by Carl Hiaasen. It was his first solo novel, after co-writing several mystery/thriller novels with William Montalbano.-Plot:... , Strip Tease, Skinny Dip); Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... winner
Ian Johnson Ian Denis Johnson Ian Johnson is a writer and journalist, working primarily in China and Germany.A reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Johnson won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China... (editor Fall 1983)	The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal.... writer and Berlin Berlin Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union... bureau chief; Pulitzer Prize Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City... winner
Tom Kennedy	Managing editor for multimedia at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive was an online subsidiary of the Washington Post Company, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. WPNI operated washingtonpost.com, the website of the Washington Post, as well as the Web sites Newsweek.com, Slate, Foreign Policy Magazine, Budget... ; former director of photography for National Geographic
Mindi Kiernan (editor Fall 1976)	Former Knight Ridder Knight Ridder Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by The McClatchy Company on June 27, 2006, it was the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspapers sold.- History :The corporate ancestors of... vice president
Michael Koretzky Michael Koretzky Michael Koretzky is an American journalist, editor and writer. His appearance has been compared to that of Chuck Norris.Koretzky attended the University of Florida in the early 1980s, where he worked at the Independent Florida Alligator, UF's student-run newspaper...	Current journalist, editor, and writer
David Lawrence Jr. David Lawrence Jr. David Lawrence Jr. is a nationally known newspaper editor and publisher who retired at the age of 56 and subsequently became a leading national advocate for children, especially in the area of early childhood investment. He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and the Detroit Free Press... (editor Spring 1963)	Former publisher of the Miami Herald and Detroit Free Press Detroit Free Press The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
Samuel Proctor	Historian Historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is... and longtime UF history professor; University Historian; Florida history History of Florida The history of Florida can be traced back to when the first Native Americans began to inhabit the peninsula as early as 14,000 years ago. Recorded history begins with the arrival of Europeans to Florida, beginning with the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who explored the area in 1513... , and oral history Oral history Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
Eddie Sears (editor Fall 1966)	Former Palm Beach Post The Palm Beach Post The Palm Beach Post is a major daily newspaper in Florida, serving Palm Beach County in South Florida, and the Treasure Coast area. It is the 72nd largest daily newspaper in the United States and the sixth largest in Florida.-History:... editor
Adam Yeomans (editor Spring 1983)	Current Kentucky Kentucky The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth... /Tennessee Tennessee Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area... bureau chief for the Associated Press Associated Press The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

External links

Official website
Historical archives are freely and openly available online from the University of Florida Digital Collections with full text searching and full page images: The Independent Florida Alligator, The Florida Alligator, and Summer Gator
McKeen, William. Carl Hiaasen: Trustworthy as Captain Kangaroo. Retrieved 20 April 2005.
Collegerag.net talks about the Alligator
Pat Thronton discusses the Alligator