It's difficult to offer a pat on the back when you've just had another finger sliced off.
After seeing UF's tuition rate jacked up by 15 percent once again, it would be easier to take our mangled stump of a hand and dangle the longest finger toward Tigert Hall in the fashion of Stone Cold Steve Austin.
It would be even more appealing to take our bludgeoned index finger, point it in the direction of UF President Bernie Machen and UF Student Body President Ben Meyers, turn to the Student Body and gesture said index finger across our throats. What a scene it would be to have swarms of students storm Tigert Hall, throw a flaming couch through the glass doors, take hold of Bossman Bernie by his tie and throw him down the building's steps before laying siege on the frat house that has the nerve to protect that doughy delegate of ours. Dare we say, it may even be fun.
Instead, we are going to give them, and the rest of the members of the Board of Trustees who unanimously voted for the tuition increase, a reserved thumbs-up.
Let's make something clear, we don't like tuition raises any more than you do. To put it bluntly, they really suck. If you're going to reach for the students' wallets, you better have a good reason.
The Trustees did. Faced with an economy that continues to flounder in the septic tank, a state legislature that seems intent on handcuffing public education and a university that was staring down a $50 million shortfall, Machen had to find a way to keep UF afloat with as little fallout as possible. The budget he presented Friday wasn't perfect, but given the hand Tallahassee dealt him, he played it quite well. Faculty who make $75,000 or less will get a much-needed 3 percent raise to offset the pension reforms set forth by Gov. Voldemort and a $9 million hole in student financial aid was sealed off - something that our Student Body president deserves credit for.
Say what you will about his wardrobe or his political polish, Meyers helped the students during the two-day session. While it's true one person doesn't make or break a budget, he proved critical in lobbying for, and ultimately, locking up that $9 million for financial aid. Had he not been such a pain in the ass on this issue, it may have been another offering on the altar of the almighty dollar.
Then there's the vote for tuition increase. It's true that he could have cast the lone "nay" vote as a symbol of student opposition, come back to campus as a token martyr and said, "Look at me; I fought the man!" His reasoning behind his support for the tuition increase, that it would help maintain the quality of UF education by beating back the budget scythe, is convenient but fair.
He maintained that, despite his vote for a tuition hike, he will continue to fight for Pell Grants and against block tuition. He better. We, like the rest of the Student Body, will hold him accountable.
The shortsighted and the rabble-rousers may view the trustees' move as nothing more than the actions of cane-twirling, caviar-munching, New Yorker-reading suits who wouldn't even bother to polish their monocles to get a true glimpse at the concerns of the average Gator. So be it. But calling for the trustees' heads will not bring forth hidden treasure. The real crime would have been inaction. That would have really left a mark.
