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Monday, March 09, 2026

Opinion

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Land of the free? Remembering MLK’s death

The state of Florida granted UF students and staff a day off from work and classes to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., a pioneer of civil rights for black Americans. You already know this, of course. Every elementary-school curriculum includes the study of King and his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  DARTS LAURELS

Darts & Laurels 1/17/14

This week, our thoughts and best wishes are with the members of the Roswell, N.M., and Tampa communities after two tragic shootings that resulted in deaths and injuries. Remember the golden rule of defending public safety as a citizen: If you see something, say something.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Post responsibly: Offensive social media use still rampant

It’s 2014, and social media has such a pervasive influence on modern life that the Modern Language Association created guidelines for citing tweets within academic papers. Home-improvement franchise Lowe’s uses Vine to produce six-second home-repair tutorials. And any individual — from unknown PR executives to UF football recruits — can be raked over the coals for posting offensive jokes online.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

Does ‘stand your ground’ apply in Tampa shooting?

Sadly, this week’s headlines were dominated by two tragic shootings. On Tuesday morning, a 12-year-old boy opened fire at a middle school in New Mexico, wounding two students. According to Reuters, it was the second shooting to take place in a U.S. middle school in three months.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Homeless people aren’t ducks

My mom had an interesting habit. Every morning, she’d take the previous night’s leftover rice and dump it in a corner of our lawn for the neighborhood ducks.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

R.I.P. Sam Berns: The importance of public optimists

As consumers of media, we often encounter public intellectuals: well-known, intelligent, learned persons whose written works and other social and cultural contributions are recognized not only by academic audiences and readers, but also by many members of society in general. Vaclav Havel, Noam Chomsky and Gloria Steinem are all prominent public intellectuals who contribute to discourse across a wide span of topics that affect our lives, from politics to economics to feminism.


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