Florida Blue Key - Controversies

Controversies

Florida Blue Key's control of politics has been compared to The Machine at the University of Alabama and the Skull and Bones secret society of Yale University.

Although the university opened its doors to women in 1925 and to black students in 1958, FBK admitted primarily just white males until the early 1970s. The growing threat of lawsuits and increased national and state pressure caused the organization to change its policies. Today, FBK is fully integrated and is building a strong history of including persons of different gender and race.

FBK's power has weakened since the 1970s, because many more non-Greek students attended UF than in years past, and also after a lawsuit (see below) uncovered many secrets of the organization's legal and illegal involvement in campus politics. However, Greek chapters remain dominant in campus politics to this day, thanks mainly to their ability to mobilize votes within the FBK machine. The organization also maintains a steady flow of members from positions in the campus organization to places of prominent influence in Tallahassee and Washington.