Opinion | Letters To The Editor - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cheeburger Cheeburger not cheap

By Tina Priz | Sep. 9, 2009

I just have to write about Cheeburger Cheeburger at UF. I have been there three times and all three times there have been problems. My first time, I tried to order waffles. Guess what? They don't make waffles, but they are on the menu. The second time, for lunch, I ordered a hamburger. I had to wait 15 minutes because they were waiting on fries. Guess what? I didn't order fries. The orders in front of mine had fries, and they could only make four burgers at a time. So everybody after them had to wait even if they did not have fries. My third time, I tried to order a salad, and they tried to charge me $12.79 for one salad. The salad did not even have meat on it.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

"Twilight" inspires new readers

By Dana Connell | Sep. 9, 2009

In regards to the "Twilight" article, I agree that the series has no literary value. But then again, I have heard no one in my daily travels claiming that it is of literary merit. To attack something that isn't even claimed to be "literary" seems like too much wasted effort to me. I read the books when I was a freshman here, and I thought they were very entertaining. That was the goal, right? They had the same effect on me that "Harry Potter" did, to be perfectly honest, mainly because I didn't think "Harry Potter" was high-quality writing either. And although "Wuthering Heights" may be great writing, when was the last time anyone lost themselves in that book?

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Books do not need to be literary

By Caitlin Prichard | Sep. 9, 2009

I picked up "Twilight" because my roommates told me that I'd love it and I wouldn't be able to put it down, not because I was expecting the next great American novel or anything of the sort. While I don't know if "Twilight" has any literary value (in whatever sense of the phrase you mean, that is), I do know that I've never heard anyone claiming that it does. So what if high school students of the future never end up analyzing examples of conflict in the books and underlining metaphors describing Edward's appearance as akin to David? And for that matter, "Harry Potter" isn't scheduled to reach the classroom any time soon, either. It's still highly entertaining when I want to lose myself in a fictional story.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

On-campus restaurants gouge prices

By Eric L. Pheterson | Sep. 8, 2009

I agree with Zach Mayo's stance on the restaurant situation at UF. At a place where I pay to attend, you'd think my food would be somewhat subsidized. Instead, the opposite is true: At every eating establishment on campus, the price is hiked. In South Florida I can get an entire meal from Pollo Tropical for $3.50, here you may as well double it. I think it's wrong of UF to take advantage of its students by charging more simply because we have no other options on campus.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Students ejected from game for no reason

By Geoffrey Lioon | Sep. 8, 2009

I noticed the article in Tuesday's issue stated that 51 people were ejected from the football game Saturday. I was one of the nine people ejected from the stadium for being in the wrong section.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Without patience, nothing gets solved

By Eric Tegethoff | Sep. 8, 2009

This is the first time I've written to the Alligator in my four years at UF. I've thought about it many times, but Columnist Joe Dellosa's article about patience yesterday was the first time I actually felt inspired to. Though I haven't read any of David Foster Wallace's work, I think the message of the article was clear: We are a nation of impatient people. And the Internet isn't the only place where that is evident. We spend a week talking about pressing issues like health care and then forget about it all together when it becomes boring. We can't even listen to a full album of our favorite bands anymore because it takes too much of our precious time.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Law not intended to protect SG records

By Frank Bracco | Sep. 7, 2009

Over the past couple of days we have heard several Student Government officials praise the new "transparency policy" being created through Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act waivers. This new policy should not be lauded as progress towards creating an open government, but rather as a cheap ploy by higher-ups at the university.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Student Government should use students over outside firms

By Stephanie Powers | Sep. 3, 2009

I am in agreement with Sen. Ben Cavataro concerning the hiring of a consulting firm by Student Government. Why pay $15,500 to outsiders when we have an intelligent and capable student body right here? Student Body Treasurer Maryam Laguna mentioned that non-Gators would have more experience, but why can't SG trust our own students to help in a time of tightening purse strings?

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cyclists need to observe road rules

By V. Rubins | Sep. 3, 2009

Dearest Katrina Lane, Newbie cyclists who use the sidewalks instead of the bicycle lanes or streets are a danger to pedestrians and to themselves. You are much safer to observe the rules of the road, stay in your bike lane or street and wear your helmet while cycling around campus. Your darting around pedestrians and assuming you have the right of way on SIDEWALKS is rather presumptuous. This is the adult world, not your high school back home.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Voting records should be made public

By Kevin Seymour | Sep. 2, 2009

A huge battle was won at Tuesday night's Senate meeting in the war of Student Government transparency. The Progress Party's leading example of having voting records made public was echoed by President Jordan Johnson and the Unite Party.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pedestrians should yield to cyclists

By Katrina Lane | Sep. 1, 2009

To the oblivious masses of pedestrians:

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Progress Party given undue credit

By Donte Hargrove | Sep. 1, 2009

Tuesday's letters to the editor by Nina Martinez and Mark Jaskowski are both misleading and unjustly give credit to the Progress Party. It wasn't Progress that initiated discussions to save The New York Times on campus. Instead it was the Orange and Blue Party that repeatedly questioned the Budget Committee for the past month and brought the issue to the student body.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ossip used issue as political ploy

By Kevin Cronin | Sep. 1, 2009

I'd like to express my concern with some of the facts represented in yesterday's Alligator regarding recent happenings in Student Government.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

NEED HEADLINE

By Kevin Seymour | Sep. 1, 2009

Voting records should be made public

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Matt Christ full of 'craziness,' too

By James Troxler | Aug. 31, 2009

I am writing to respond to Monday's column by Matthew Christ. I must be one of the crazies he railed about because I'm having trouble finding any merit or truth in what was written. Let me explain.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Gainesville trails unclean, unsafe

By Scott Paterson | Aug. 31, 2009

Like many students living in Gainesville, I love biking, especially mountain biking. Over the summer I went on a road trip across the country. I got to do some great mountain biking. My favorite location from the trip was a small town in Colorado called Durango. If you ever get a chance to go mountain biking there, you will get to go on some great trails. What you won't experience is a large homeless population living in tents on the bicycle trails.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Anti-Islam shirts send bad messages to kids

By Dave Gallo | Aug. 31, 2009

I would like to express my disappointment in the argument being put forth by Mr. Harringer in his letter in Monday's Alligator. It is unfortunate that it is not easier to find consensus in condemning the wearing of hateful religious messages in schools.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Religious shirts OK in schools

By ROBERT HARRINGER | Aug. 29, 2009

I'm tired of people being enraged at the few Christians who actually follow what the good book commands. In the same way evangelicals say, "Don't hate the sinner, hate the sin," I say, "Don't hate the Christian."

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Bill concentrates too much power in SG

By Alden Gillepsy | Aug. 27, 2009

At Tuesday night's meeting of the Student Senate, the Unite Party passed a bill called the Executive Order Establishment Act, a bill that represents a serious threat to the democratic process within Student Government.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Student Government steeped in mystery

By Gary Benedix | Aug. 27, 2009

Why is it that our Student Government does not allow students to know what is going on? During my time at UF, I have seen a Student Government steeped in mystery and one that rarely interacts with the student body. I have seen SG officials ignore students, break the law and show an overall discontent for the issues facing us. As the lawsuit filed by Frank Bracco demonstrates, SG does not want us to know what is going on. SG has not only denied individuals the right to know what happens at public meetings, but it even goes so far as to not allow students to have the voting records of our elected officials, including our Student Body president who sits on the Board Of Trustees.