While I appreciate his interest in the Student Senate, Will Foster has managed to latch on to one phrase while entirely missing the point of Shannyn Schott's letter.
Almost every Wednesday, the Alligator features articles about the Student Senate. Over the past year, many have been very positive, featuring Kevin Reilly's work on credit cards around campus, Lindsey Johns' enforcement of constituency requirements, Kellie Dale's efforts to increase campus safety with blue lights, and the Senate's recycling and sustainability initiatives.
The editorial board even awarded several LAURELs to the Student Senate and its members over the course of the past year. But around election time, the editorial board of the Alligator always has the same opinion, no matter what has actually occurred in Student Government in the past year.
The editorial board blindly minimized the contributions these outgoing senators have made around campus while blatantly contradicting its previous opinions that Dale and Reilly have substantially changed UF for the better.
I would love to see members of the editorial board attend a Senate meeting. I would love for the editorial board to speak with its well-informed Student Government reporters before writing malicious editorials. But how can we expect this from a group of journalists who cannot even be bothered to peruse its archives before printing opinions?
In the end, Foster is correct. The Alligator's endorsement of the Gator Party last spring was unreasonable and unwarranted. The total disregard for journalistic integrity that the editorial board has demonstrated proves it should have endorsed a party that showed blatant disregard for election laws and intentionally broke the election laws so egregiously as to be disqualified, rather than one that works to improve UF and include students from every part of the university.
