Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

In education debate, Catholic schools win

Feb. 4, 2015

Debates revolving around education are always contentious. This issue, unlike other high-profile issues of our time, induces strong emotional responses. For some reason, parents’ choices are solely limited to either pro-school choice, pro-teacher, pro-public schools or pro-charter schools. What this narrow and emotional debate leaves out is the role that religious schools, Catholic schools in particular, play in our society.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Meninism: a movement of misogyny and contradiction that sets back women’s rights

Feb. 3, 2015

As issues concerning feminism become increasingly popular and hotly debated, a faction of its opponents attempt to match that growth and diminish feminism’s lasting effect. The men’s rights movement — or meninists, as they so cutely call themselves — represents the loudest organized voices against feminism, bemoaning a neglect of men they believe remains unaddressed. At best, this movement is a redundant protest of issues that feminism already seeks to address. At worst, meninists are making a misogynistic mockery of true activism and misguidedly placing blame.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Experimenting with the effectiveness of dreamcatchers

Feb. 3, 2015

I ate some salad, double-checked my alarm — set for every three hours — closed my eyes and tried to worry about upcoming exams. I wasn’t asking for a next-day headache; I wanted to prove dream catchers couldn’t stop bad dreams.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Vaccination goes beyond personal choice

Feb. 2, 2015

Chris Christie has done it again.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Hip-Hop: the Grammy’s black sheep

Feb. 2, 2015

As the Staples Center sets up to host the 57th Grammy Awards, the public continues to tear down the show for its nominations in the rap categories. The criticism primarily stems from the decision to include Iggy Azalea’s “The New Classic” as a nominee for Best Rap Album. Iggy Azalea has been accused of profiting off the gentrification of hip-hop culture by a number of hip-hop-based media outlets. She has replied to most accusations hurled her way with social media.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Bears shouldn’t be punished for problems with Fla. development

Feb. 2, 2015

In the midst of public safety concerns and complaints, Florida’s ban on black bear hunting might be lifted for the first time in two decades. Several reported bear attacks and an increase in bear sightings have prompted the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission to introduce the possibility of a bear-hunting season. The commission will begin discussing the issue Wednesday.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Collaboration between arts and sciences essential for new persectives, expressions

Feb. 2, 2015

This Saturday, I attended the 2015 Creativity in the Arts and Sciences Event. Created by the UF Howard Hughes Medical Institute Science for Life program and the UF College of the Arts, CASE was a daylong exploration of projects created out of collaboration between UF’s best science geeks and artsy types. It was wonderful.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Headscarf or not, media focus misplaced

Feb. 1, 2015

Last week President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama made a stop in Saudi Arabia to pay their respects to the late king and meet the country’s new ruler.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Famous athletes should respect media, not shun it

Feb. 1, 2015

“I’m just here so I won’t get fined.”

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Go Vote!

Jan. 29, 2015

Dear Readers,

OPINION | COLUMNS

Making the first time more comfortable

Jan. 29, 2015

It’s Friday night and you’re at Midtown. A few drinks already in your system, you lock eyes with someone across the bar. Talking leads to dancing, which leads to making out, which leads to inviting them back to your place.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Google Fiber is the Internet provider of the future

Jan. 29, 2015

Generally, the announcement that a new Internet service and cable provider is moving into your hometown isn’t big news, but when that provider is Google, people get excited. Why would anyone do a happy dance over the tech giant creating a new Internet service in your city?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Republican Presidential Hopefuls are Worrying

Jan. 28, 2015

Last weekend, Republican Party presidential hopefuls flocked to Rep. Steve King’s Iowa Freedom Summit — if there’s “freedom” in the name, it has to be right, good and conservative — to court the first-in-the-nation caucus state. I found many aspects of this forum, as well as some positions of the GOP hopefuls in general, worrying.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Abstraction: Explaining science layer by layer

Jan. 27, 2015

I was eating lunch last week and heard, “It weighs 8 grams.” My eardrum sent a text to the memory library, forcing an intern to check Catalog Random. The intern hunted the shelves, returning to the master librarian red-faced and wheezing. “Weight is 8 grams times 9.8 m/s2,” the intern gasped, “but how do we explain?” To illuminate complex ideas, I look to a computer science concept called abstraction.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Undocumented immigrants deserve licenses

Jan. 27, 2015

Any time I hear news regarding immigration policy in Arizona, I hold my breath. First, they passed a bill allowing police officers to demand documentation from people who prompt “reasonable suspicion” of being in the country illegally. Then, they banned Latino literature and ethnic studies from the classroom because it supposedly fosters racial resentment — as if banning an entire culture from the classroom doesn’t kindle any resentment. Thursday, however, I exhaled a sigh of relief while reading about Arizona in The New York Times. U.S. District Judge David Campbell issued a permanent injunction requiring the state to issue driver’s licenses to immigrants who have been deferred from deportation under President Obama’s DREAM Act.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

New medical marijuana bill revives hope for sick Floridians

Jan. 27, 2015

Disappointed by the failure of last year’s medical marijuana amendment?

OPINION | COLUMNS

For-profit colleges need to be held accountable

Jan. 26, 2015

If you’ve ever watched daytime television, you would probably recognize this annoying commercial: A young man standing in a parking lot yells at you for sitting on the couch and wasting your life. After a few minutes of making you feel ashamed of your situation, he gives you hope by telling you it isn’t too late to finish your degree and land your dream career. All you have to do is make a simple phone call.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Key West mosquito test backlash really bites

Jan. 26, 2015

Key West may become host to an experiment that involves male mosquitoes, the herpes virus and cabbage DNA.

OPINION | COLUMNS

President Barack Obama needs to lead against Iran

Jan. 25, 2015

Last week Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, announced that he will be addressing a joint meeting of Congress in early March to discuss actions to be taken against Iran’s nuclear program should the diplomatic approach prove fruitless. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, invited the prime minister to make these proposals to Congress with little excitement from the White House. Josh Earnest, the Obama administration’s press secretary, said that Obama will not be meeting with Netanyahu when he visits in March because they want to steer clear of him during Netanyahu’s election campaign. Earnest went on to explain that they want to avoid “the appearance of any kind of interference with a democratic election.”

OPINION | COLUMNS

Millennials are not pleased with the outdated media

Jan. 25, 2015

Every year after the State of the Union speech, the president of the United States goes on a cross-country tour to make a case for his agenda.