I hope that I am joined by the entire university community in condemning the most recent incident of hate speech on our campus. For those of you who do not know, fliers were distributed across campus and around Gainesville that said, “Student Alliance party is the Nazi Party,” printing our logo and a swastika with an equal sign between them.
I almost didn’t recognize the Florida men’s basketball team that defeated Auburn on Thursday night.
It’s that time of year again. The smell of freshly cut grass is in the air, and the faint crack of a wooden bat can be heard in the distance, or at least in your heart. That’s right — it’s baseball season. The happiest time of year for me. Not only is the Gators baseball team getting ready to open its season — one that offers the hope of another trip to Omaha, Neb., and the College World Series — but major league teams are reporting for their first workouts.
We know none of you have read anything this week — we realize the Winter Olympics are far more entertaining than any letter to the editor we have to offer — but please pull your attention away from Shaun White and friends for just a second so we can present you with this week’s after-all-one-of-our-columnists-did-talk-about-curling-for-a-little-bit edition of Darts & Laurels
I have covered a bunch of really exciting games in the three years I have worked for the Alligator, but still one of the most exciting events I attended as a journalist was the Florida-Georgia gymnastics meet my first semester covering a team in 2008.
Katherine Evans deserves some recognition, but the usual two-sentence blurb in the Darts & Laurels won’t cut it. Evans, a UF undergraduate, just helped set a legal precedent.
I thought nothing had the ability to drag me kicking and screaming away from a television when high-stakes international curling was on, but the substantial debate surrounding the Student Government elections at UF this year managed to do the trick.
I was surprised by Wednesday’s letter about how the Unite Party is really the Gator Party, but perhaps it shouldn’t be.
When Hayley Plant decided to ambush Ben Cavataro in Wednesday’s issue of the Alligator and berate him for not knowing the election codes, she forgot to, y’know, read the election codes.
On Wednesday a hateful flier was posted in the Turlington area on the free speech boards. This flier equated one of the UF Student Government parties with the Nazi Party in Germany through the use of the swastika symbol.
Earlier this afternoon I learned of the new lows campus politics can reach at our university. As you may know, our campus was polluted today with a hateful and bitter message.
“It’s time.” That simple phrase means more than just a great video produced by the Student Alliance party. It represents a fundamental change from politics as usual in Student Government. When 80 percent of students do not vote in SG elections, it’s not hard to wonder why they feel SG is out of touch at best and disingenuous at worst when it comes to hearing student voices.
The “Fear Factor” editorial in Monday’s Alligator labeled the anti-abortion Genocide Awareness Project in the headline as “anti-choice ... ineffective, distasteful”.
I am fairly new to Student Government, having served as a student senator representing Beaty Towers for merely a semester. Yet I’ve taken it upon myself to learn the necessary rules and regulations when it comes to elections and campaigning. Evidently, Ben Cavataro has not. A couple days ago, Ben Cavataro went door-to-door in The Estates apartment complex. Going door-to-door is not only an inconvenience to those who live in the complexes, but it is also a clear violation of election codes. Ben Cavataro should know this. Such a blatant disregard for the rules is probably why he was recommended for disqualification by the Election Commission when he first ran for office. Anyone who chronically violates the rules that guarantee the fairness of our democratic process, as Ben Cavataro did, should not be running for office.
Why does the Unite Party get so outraged whenever it is criticized?
Ryan Scott’s letter to the editor Tuesday stated that “as much as changing the name and logo of a party can be aesthetically pleasing, it doesn’t hide the fact that the party is Orange and Blue 2.0.”
The United States is a country that, while undoubtedly a strong and immensely powerful leader in many areas of global society, faces several serious issues as it pushes forward into the future. Beyond issues such as ongoing wars, steady unemployment and reality TV shows giving birth to other, far worse reality TV shows, one specific issue rises above the rest in its level of importance and the amount of immediate action we must take to combat its potential effects. This issue is a growing ignorance by a majority of our population toward confronting and solving the major problems and questions facing our nation today. This ignorance is being supported by an overall lack of resolve and patience, partisan bickering and a tendency for the national consciousness to be distracted and concerned with issues of far lesser importance.
The Editorial Board always loves when it gets the chance to call Student Government out on yet another thing it’s done that is stupid and completely useless.
Under Urban Meyer, Florida has come to be known for three things: Tim Tebow, winning and getting arrested.
As Americans, the Editorial Board understands that people stroke egos in exchange for money. When bragging and brown-nosing rears its head in charitable events, however, we have to draw a line.
Solutions by The State News
