It’s the end of the semester, and it’s been a crazy one. We’ve had elections at the university, local and national level. Rarely did we experience a slow news week on campus or around Gainesville. Calling it an eventful year so far would be an understatement.
So, without further ado, we bring you our we-hope-we’ve-made-you-think edition of...
Darts & Laurels
First up, we want to give a let-the-games-begin LAUREL to Mitt Romney, Barack Obama and (likely) Gary Johnson, who will all be gearing up for a general election campaign this summer.
But before we continue, we want to recognize those who have fallen during this semester’s primary battles: Michelle “Mental-Retardation” Bachmann, Rick “Uhh, What Was I Saying?” Perry, Herman “9-9-9 Problems” Cain, Rick “That’s Not What I Meant To Say” Santorum and Newt “I Will Have My Moon Base” Gingrich.
This semester, we highlighted a lot of instances in which free speech came under attack.
Congress tried to shut down some online speech through SOPA/PIPA; state legislatures tried to criminalize “annoying” posts on social networking sites; a southern university fired a student newspaper adviser over an obscene image; high school administrators threatened to exert control over the student newspaper due to a controversial column; and a district judge chastised a group of atheists for satirizing religious beliefs.
Therefore, we throw a trampling-all-over-the-First-Amendment DART at all of the politicians, bureaucrats, school officials, judges and anyone else who tried to limit people’s free speech rights this year.
For everyone from the fall and spring semesters of this year who are moving on to bigger and better things, we give a congratulations-and-good-luck-with-all-of-your-endeavors LAUREL to all of the graduating seniors.
Of course, we cannot end the semester without throwing a just-when-you-thought-you-couldn’t-get-anymore-corrupt-you-go-and-do-something-like-this DART at Student Government.
While we appreciate the fact that Jason Tiemeier apologized for throwing away newspapers, the fact that Katie Waldman, who knew about the incident but did not come forward, was eventually promoted to a higher position within SG is unacceptable.
Finally, we give a thank-you-for-giving-us-a-purpose LAUREL to the Alligator readers. Without our readers, there would be no point in doing what we do every week.
We also want to thank everyone who joined the discussions on the website and sent in letters to the editor. We have certainly enjoyed the lively debates.
Have a fun and safe break, and be sure to check back next semester!
