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Friday, September 20, 2024

Opinion | Columns

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Capitalistic college sports must change

Recently, a decades-long academic scandal at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was uncovered. The systematic academic fraud was orchestrated by student services manager Deborah Crowder. Crowder has been accused of creating "paper classes" — registering sections of fraudulent independent study credit and classes that never actually met because they never existed. One source states that more than 3,100 students benefitted from these classes, receiving A’s and B’s for classes they didn’t take and preventing their GPAs from tanking.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Ferguson: not solved with black voters

The Georgia Democratic Party wants black voters to turn out in droves in the upcoming November election. This is primarily because the senatorial election between Democrat Michelle Nunn and Republican David Perdue is one of the races to watch in determining which party will control the U.S. Senate for the next two years. To encourage voter turnout, the Democratic Party of Georgia created and released fliers featuring images of black protesters in Ferguson outraged over the murder of teenager Mike Brown. The fliers read “If you want to prevent another Ferguson in their future — vote. It’s up to you to make change happen.” This was an obvious attempt to pull on the heartstrings of black Democrats who sympathized with the Brown family and the Ferguson movement.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Pot grants the right to forget

"Yes, I still remember everything.” Thus begins my grandmother’s autobiography. At age 89, she is proud of her detailed memory, but she is also cursed by it. 


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

‘That is Enough’ — It is time for us to focus on humanities

Consider the following two events that transpired during UF’s Homecoming week. First, the UF Board of Trustees selected Dr. Kent Fuchs to be the university’s next president. Second, I attended a UF-based talk which, among other things, alluded to the “innovative” research that could possibly be going on in the area of creating apps to remind people to brush their teeth.  Let’s now juxtapose these two aforementioned events that happened on the UF campus last week with three history-making events that happened in the broader U.S. society in the same time frame. First, the deadly Ebola virus made its way to the U.S. Second, gas prices fell to levels not seen since 2010. Third, our stock market dropped by as much as 460 points. What a week!


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Don’t buy into minimum wage myths this election

Every few months, a new issue takes prominence on the political scene, and most people quickly embrace a solution before considering any of its consequences. The latest political trend to gain popular support has been increasing minimum wage from its current federal rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 per hour. Supporters of a minimum wage increase often frame such a proposal as a cure-all for what ails the U.S. economy.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Scott’s Ebola conference masks public health cuts

Gov. Rick Scott held a press conference Friday to discuss the recent Ebola cases in Texas. Fears about an outbreak in Florida were heightened after a plane carrying one of the nurses diagnosed with Ebola stopped at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. 


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Looking other way will not end racism

Last week, Nick Eagle wrote a column in which he argued we should all “just be proud to be Americans.” Although Eagle’s proposal is a noble one, it is rooted in misconceptions and ignorance.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Vatican views of LGBT: a good start

I have been a Roman Catholic all my life. For 18 years, I went to church almost every Sunday without fail. While attending Mass, I realized that Catholics are especially resistant to one thing: change. I have experienced the same liturgy, the same teachings and the same traditions year after year with little hope of something different. The various popes have always looked the same and represented the same values. That is, until the selection of the current pope.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

We can do more with modern technology

Last Wednesday, rockstar astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson gave the keynote address at a conference for the information security industry. I refer to him as a rockstar because he’s the only astrophysicist I know by name. I’d imagine I’m not alone.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

FSU, officials: justice system mockery

Last week, The New York Times released a damning report on an institutional failure by Florida State University and law enforcement officials in Tallahassee. The report looks at various offenses allegedly committed by FSU football players, and the actions — and more often than not, the inactions — taken by the university and law enforcement. The allegations include from sexual assault, theft, abuse and an ongoing BB gun fight between football players who terrified innocent bystanders. 



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