University Of Florida Bans 'Gator Bait' Cheer At Sporting Events

GAINESVILLE, FL — A popular chant that has become commonplace at University of Florida football games will no longer be welcomed because of its racist imagery, school officials said Thursday.

Fans have long chanted “Gator Bait” at opponents at home football games and other events, but Kent Fuchs, the university’s president, said the cheer will be banned at sporting events due to the “horrific racist imagery” that is historically associated with the phrase.

“While I know of no evidence of racism associated with our ‘Gator Bait’ cheer at UF sporting events, there is horrific historic racist imagery associated with the phrase,” Fuchs wrote in a letter to the university community entitled "Another Positive Step Toward Change Against Racism."

"Accordingly University Athletics and the Gator Band will discontinue the use of the cheer.”

In the letter, Fuchs wrote that the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day led school officials to contemplate anything that could be construed as racist or that would highlight racial inequity.

According to historical accounts found at Ferris State University’s Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, the phrase “Gator Bait” was seen as a slur toward blacks in the 1800s, when black babies and children were fed to alligators.

Before Thursday's announcement, a University of Florida law student, Daniel G. Weldon, began a petition to have the phrase banned at university athletic events and the petition – as of Thursday afternoon – has more than 2,500 signatures.

In the letter issued Thursday, Fuchs said that university task forces will be established to look at other steps that the school may take to improve relations with various ethnic groups. He also said the school will look into possibly renaming campus buildings as well as monuments on campus that celebrate the Confederacy or its leadership.

It is past time for UF to commit and engage in this challenging, uncomfortable, transformational work,” Fuchs wrote. “We know that we cannot undo lifetimes of injustice and racism, but we believe we can make progress - in education, in advancing truth, reconciliation and justice, and in anti-racism, equality and working to eradicate inequities.”