Here at the Editorial Board, we have noticed that the repeated appearance of a few key factors in the Alligator has actually presented us with a defined cycle.
The failing economy leads to budget cuts. Budget cuts lead to layoffs. Layoffs lead to finger-pointing and angry protesters. And we get to document all of it.
This time around, the cycle is affecting the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. UF's recent budget cuts have been widely reported locally, so it was not a surprise to see a large portion of the cutbacks aimed at UF's largest college.
It was also not a surprise to see the resistance presented by CLAS students and faculty at the time these budget cuts were announced.
What was surprising, though, was which CLAS faculty members were chosen to be laid off.
In total, seven faculty members are scheduled to be laid off in June. Six of the seven are women. All seven were born outisde of the U.S.
Folks, that's not a good thing.
The CLAS Faculty Assembly - with professional expertise spanning from physics to foreign language - voted 113-to-1 to reinstate six of the seven ousted CLAS members.
That's a resounding majority. We can't help but believe that something was afoot in the former CLAS dean's decision to trim the budget via these seven conveniently similar people.
The Editorial Board truly hopes the decision to let go of these people was not based on the their gender or ethnicity. UF is supposed to provide a diverse education; deciding layoffs in this manner would terribly contradict one of UF's core ideals.
As much as we don't want to believe it, it's hard to ignore the cries of the 100-plus people directly involved in the situation.
