Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Monday, April 20, 2026

Opinion

Florida Alligator
Opinion

Trump is a human, just not a very good one

At this point, we have seen our fair share of anti-Trump posts during his presidency. We realize, of course, that a lot of President Donald Trump backlash is driven by emotion. However, a lot of the resistance Trump is met with has been valid and important for Americans to take note of and discuss.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

President Trump right to end DACA

Yesterday, President Donald Trump announced his decision to end DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the controversial Obama-era executive order that allowed illegal immigrants who were brought here as children to remain in the U.S. and receive work permits. The fact is, DACA was the epitome of our nation’s foolish immigration policies, and President Trump was right to put a stop to it.


UF's defensive line waits for the snap in Florida's 33-17 loss to Michigan on Saturday in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Sports

Column: Gators fans: Get ready for a tough season

I wanted to believe the hype. I wanted to believe Jim McElwain when he said Florida’s offensive line would be much improved in 2017. I wanted to believe the Gators had the pieces for a successful, potent offense that could put up points, yards and wins. I wanted to believe the defense could pick up what NFL draftees Jarrad Davis, Alex Anzalone, Quincy Wilson, Teez Tabor and Marcus Maye left behind.


Matt Brannon, Dylan Dixon, Ethan Bauer, Ian Cohen, Graham Hall, Nick de la Torre, Edgar Thompson and Thomas Goldkamp pick the winners of eight college football games. 
Sports

alligatorSports Picks Column: Week 1

Jim McElwain is under a lot of pressure at the beginning of his third season. He has to deal with the pressure of starting quarterback Feleipe Franks, a redshirt freshman who’s never thrown a pass in a college football game. He also has to deal with the pressure of going up against Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines without his star running back, Jordan Scarlett, and star receiver, Antonio Callaway, who have been suspended for disciplinary issues.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Being multiracial should not be dependent solely on how you look

In an interview with Playboy, singer-songwriter Halsey recently opened up about the struggles of identifying with her black culture while being white-passing. Depending on what form of social media I saw this article, I either saw people supporting her — often those of multiple ethnicities who felt a struggle to connect with their cultures — or people telling her to grow up and just get used to the fact that she’s “white.”


Florida Alligator
Opinion

In the stories of the past, we can find parallels with our own lives

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to visit some of the most unique cities America has to offer. From New York to San Francisco, Savannah to Berkeley, the more culturally rich and fascinating cities of the country tend to also be home to some of the best bookstores on Earth. Comfortably nestled somewhere in the beating heart of a city, often miles away from the nearest Barnes & Noble or Target, the independent bookstore thrives.   


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Darts & Laurels

You step into the ballroom, four hooded figures following you on either side. The figures on each end carry torches, and the others carry various gemstones. You recognize that one is an emerald, another jade and another topaz. The rest of the stones you can’t discern, despite having a masters degree in geology. The two figures nearest to you grab you by the arm and strap you down to a chair at the end of the ballroom. Someone pries your eyes open and forces you to stare into the light. The hooded figures assemble in front of you, each holding their gem in a different orientation and position. The light shining from the ceiling focuses into a beam, which begins to refract from one gemstone to the next. Once the light passes through the sixth gemstone, the beam hits your eyes, and everything goes white. Out of the whiteness comes a message, and upon reading it, your fears and doubts vanish. The message, of course, reads:


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Morality can’t be the new chivalry

A Twitter search of the hashtag “goals” revealed to me a serious cultural problem. It led me to this tweet: “Today at Chipotle a girl asked her boyfriend if she could get chips with their meal and he replied, ‘It's your world babe I'm just living in it.’” It was followed by a few blank lines so that readers could soak it in before the Twitter user wrote, “Ok need.” It got 85,000 retweets.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

As you change throughout college, stay true to yourself

College is a time for exploration and self-discovery. Hardly any of us will leave UF as the same person we were when we got here. Letting the experiences you have in college lead to change and growth is a normal and healthy thing to do during this time. What isn’t healthy or normal, however, is letting the people around you dictate how you change and how you grow.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Greek life is for some people but if it’s not for you, that’s OK

With the beginning of another school year comes something that is a mystery to most and dreaded by many: fraternity and sorority recruitment. As of last Wednesday, sorority recruitment at UF has come to a close. For many women on campus, the last week has been filled with makeup, dresses, heels, small talk and long hours. Girls from all over the country — and world — come to UF to visit each sorority house and find their homes and future sisterhoods through a process that could accurately be described as grueling and rather unpleasant.


Florida Alligator
Opinion

Ignorance is not always bliss when it comes to news

Over the summer, a lot of UF students had the luxury of living in a bubble. Some students spent the past three months in the woods as camp counselors. A few used their time off from classes to travel abroad to where they had little-to-no access to the internet. Others went on mission trips, worked at time-consuming internships or just spent their days sleeping for long periods of time. Basically, a lot of Gators were fortunate enough to be gleefully unaware of a lot of the chaos happening around them over the past few months.


Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2026 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.