Either love is in the air or it’s allergy and cold season; get plenty of vitamin C, everyone, and don’t forget to cover your mouths when you cough and sneeze.
Speaking of parasites, that brings us to the this-is-going-to-be-completely-about-SG-elections edition of ...
Darts & Laurels
That’s right, folks. SG elections are finally over, and now we have to talk about them. A lot of colorful opinions were being thrown around this week by our “compatriots” at The Odyssey. We mean no disrespect, but a lot of us could see through your crap. We give a nice-try-buddies-but-the-referendum-probably-doesn’t-matter-but-either-way-a-majority-of-students-voted-”NO” DART to The Odyssey. We’re supposed to stick together, us members of the independent press. Maybe one of us isn’t as independent as we thought ...
We don’t feel that the ballot this week accurately reflected the renaming of the Reitz Union referendum. At one point, the question was going to be a lot more informative, instead of the one-liner that we got. We give a we-mean-no-disrespect-to-the-Reitz-family-but-that-man-was-racist-and-homophobic-at-best DART to opponents of renaming the Reitz Union.
Overall, we’re slightly displeased with how the Swamp Party conducted itself this semester. It lied about how many senators were also in the Unite Party (about 15 of them), and it probably tricked students into voting for its flashy, yet unrealistic, platform. Like Christina Bonnarigo, former Unite Party spokeswoman, said during election results this week, “We are not going to lose tonight. Losing is for quitters.” Indeed it is, ma’am. Just where is your former party now? Because if the Swamp Party is, as it claims, completely unaffiliated with the Unite Party, then some quitting must have happened somewhere. We give a just-try-not-to-ruin-this-campus-anymore DART to the Swamp Party. Congratulations on your win. Also, you made a horrific video called “Vote in a Box” that parodied a song that The Lonely Island produced in 2006. Way to be gross, irrelevant and supporters of bad ideas.
Kudos, though, to everyone who campaigned this week. There was no giant kerfuffles, and we saw a couple of dogs in T-shirts, which always helps. We like that kind of attitude — the attitude that doesn’t throw away copies of the Alligator or insult our staffers. We give a somehow-no-one-messed-up-too-big LAUREL to the Swamp and the Students parties’ candidates.
We are a little miffed that the Students Party only won about 14 out of the 50 available seats this semester, but that is still a great achievement. Hopefully what they can accomplish with all of the other senators will be enough to convince UF students that change can, and will, happen. We give a That’s-What-Friends-Are-For-by-Dionne-Warwick LAUREL to the Students Party. Good luck this year, folks. We’re rooting for you.
While it wasn’t the highest voter turnout that a UF election has ever seen, it was still an increase from last Fall. About 9,197 of you voted this semester, which is so great! We hope that the potential difficulties of dealing with the different districts didn’t discourage many more of you from voting; Ideally, those kinks will be worked out of the online voting system soon. We give a you-deserve-a-pat-on-the-back-if-you-voted LAUREL to UF students.
Stay safe this weekend, and try not to imagine what a real gator and a tiger would do in a fight. See you next week!
