Opinion: Editorials - The Independent Florida Alligator

Opinion

Editorial: Traveling during the school year is a must

Feb. 21, 2016

As college students, it’s easy to become myopic in our priorities: When we’re contending with 15-credit-hour semesters, involvement in various extracurricular endeavors and looming exams while trying to maintain our sanity and questionably healthy bodies, it can become easy to forget that we need to LIVE from time to time. When operating in this fashion, “no” can become a very easy word to throw around. “No,” as in, “No, as much as I love you and value your friendship, I can’t make it out to that conference where you’ll be delivering a speech, as I have to schedule the next two weeks worth of Facebook posts for *insert student organization of choice here.*” Or “no,” as in, “I know it’s your birthday weekend and you’ll be throwing a decadent ‘Broad City’-themed party in your own honor, but no, I can’t make it to Orlando on account of, well, my accounting exam five days afterward.”

Opinion

A special edition of Darts & Laurels: 02/19/2016

Feb. 18, 2016

Today, in lieu of the traditional Friday Darts & Laurels, we at the Alligator would like to share an editorial we planned to run Monday. But in light of a recent article, Darts & Laurels seemed a more appropriate platform.

Opinion

Editorial: New or old, insider or outsider, SG must be held to high expectations

Feb. 17, 2016

As many had predicted, last night saw the Impact Party emerge victorious in the Spring 2016 election. The ascension of the Impact Party comes after what may have been one of the most insufferable Student Government election cycles in UF’s history, with few of the involved parties (no pun intended) emerging unscathed or without blemish. Keeping the utter insanity of the last week in mind, we’re relieved to see the election draw to a close.

Opinion

Editorial: Scalia's legacy haunts his passing

Feb. 16, 2016

It was announced Tuesday that Senior Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away due to natural causes at a luxury resort in Texas on Saturday, will lie in repose in the halls of the Supreme Court this coming Friday. As is traditional, Scalia was honored with the placement of a black wool crepe over his chair and bench, along with black drapery over the doors to the courtroom. These simple, understated gestures by the Supreme Court are the most respectful remembrances of Scalia to have emerged from D.C. since his passing.

Opinion

Editorial: Our Spring 2016 SG endorsement - ?

Feb. 15, 2016

It is no secret that, historically, we at the Alligator typically endorse the minority party in Student Government elections. However, given the past year of what we feel has been inconsistency, a distinct lack of transparency and flagrant immaturity from both parties, we have decided to forego firmly endorsing either Impact Party or Access Party as a whole. Instead, we aim to promote a culture of unification and accessibility, which we believe begins with the installment of online voting.

Opinion

Editorial: Kanye West, polarization and American discourse

Feb. 14, 2016

Fans of Kanye West have had quite the month: As we discussed in the last Darts & Laurels of January, the pre-release hype leading up to the Saturday release of his new album, “The Life of Pablo,” has been rife with petty Twitter feuds, grandiose promises and more fits and starts than college students begrudgingly trying to write their term papers. The PR campaign — if it could even be called that — reached its manic climax last Thursday, when the album premiered alongside West’s clothing line at the Yeezy Season 3 fashion event in Madison Square Garden. Unfortunately for those who spent their time and/or money on the show, the album was as half-baked as its promotion.

Opinion

Editorial: SG elections and the necessity to vote with integrity

Feb. 10, 2016

"I never encountered, in state and federal politics, activities as aggressive as at the University of Florida.” —Bob Graham, former U.S. senator and former governor of Florida

Opinion

Editorial: In today's wars, everybody loses

Feb. 9, 2016

On Friday, online conservative publication The Daily Caller ran the attention-grabbing headline “Prof Bans Students From Saying ‘Husband’ Or ‘Wife’ Because It’s Not ‘Inclusive.’” Author Peter Hasson opens the article with the following sentence: “In just the latest instance of taxpayer-funded censorship, students in one University of Florida course have been banned from using words such as ‘husband,’ ‘wife,’ ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ in the classroom and risk losing points off their grade if they don’t comply.” “Taxpayer-funded censorship”? “University of Florida”? “Dad”?! Juicy, rage-inducing stuff, right? Let’s learn more: “In the syllabus for her ‘Creativity In Context’ class… UF professor Jennifer Lee informs students of her four-paragraph long classroom ‘communications policy’ that she says will enforce ‘ethical conduct’ in the classroom.” The controversial “ethical conduct” Hasson is speaking of refers to Lee’s provisions for inclusive language and behavior in the classroom. Such provisions include the substitution of gender-based words like boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife in favor of “partner” or ”significant other” and “family,” as to be “inclusive of alternative orientations and family structures.”

Opinion

Editorial: Florida's death penalty is shameful

Feb. 8, 2016

Judge, jury and executioner: Although this idiom is meant to refer to someone having ultimate power and authority over one’s fate, the legal system of the U.S. is designed in such a way that these three functions are meant to remain relatively distinct and act with a measure of independence from one another. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court found two of these roles to be a little too close for its liking in the case of Hurst v. Florida.

Opinion

Editorial: Don't be a Ted Cruz

Feb. 7, 2016

Here at the Alligator, we’re often accused of being a bastion of frightful liberal bias. We like to think we’re just empathetic to the less fortunate and are willing to call current events and public figures as we see them, but hey, to each their own.

Opinion

Editorial: Gene editing makes us uneasy

Feb. 1, 2016

In “Jurassic Park,” Jeff Goldblum — that most semitic of stallions — plays Dr. Ian Malcolm, a charismatic yet somewhat grating mathematician. Brought to the titular park to assess any possible dangers or shortcomings, he eventually gets into an intense argument with John Hammond, the park’s creator, over the ethical and economic concerns behind resurrecting murderous, ancient creatures and parading them around in the name of capitalism and entertainment. After Hammond defends his work for representing a profound achievement in scientific progress, Malcolm offers the following iconic rejoinder: “Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

Opinion

Editorial: Dozier represents US at its worst

Jan. 31, 2016

As journalists, it is our obligation to maintain a cool head when parsing through information and drafting a story. Although we in the Opinions section are not held to the same standards of objectivity as the rest of the paper, it is still up to us to collect and pore over as much information as possible; whether our findings align with our worldview, it remains our job to share and dissect what we may stumble upon in a comprehensive manner.

Opinion

Editorial: Vindicated Planned Parenthood remains under attack

Jan. 26, 2016

On Monday afternoon, it was announced that a Houston, Texas, grand jury — which had been convened to investigate whether Planned Parenthood had engaged in any wrongdoing — chose not to indict the organization. Instead, they wound up indicting the very people who brought the supposed crimes to light.

Opinion

Editorial: Responsibilities, drinking and the codification of decision-making

Jan. 25, 2016

On “The Perfect Kiss,” Bernard Sumner of New Order sings, “I have always thought about/Staying here and going out/Tonight I should have stayed at home… I said ‘let’s go out and have some fun.’” Besides belonging to the finest song ever released by the Manchester, England-based rock band, these seemingly nonsensical and contradictory lyrics speak to a dilemma faced by nearly all college students possessing both a taste for the nightlife and a desire to bring home a degree: staying in or going out?

Opinion

Editorial: The unoriginality of American film

Jan. 24, 2016

It was announced Friday that “Labyrinth,” the Jim Henson-directed and David Bowie-starring ’80s fantasy cult classic, would be receiving a remake/sequel/reboot/whatever in the near future. Ignoring the questionable taste in announcing the regurgitation of a film so closely tied to its lead actor only 12 days after his passing, the plans to resurrect “Labyrinth” are an unfortunate reminder that ingenuity remains an ever-dissipating quality in American film.

Opinion

Editorial: In tragedy, we should come together

Jan. 20, 2016

Last semester, we ran an editorial on struggle following the suicide of a young UF student. It does not bring us any pleasure to find ourselves doing so once again.

Opinion

Editorial: Tragedy in Flint shows government at its worst

Jan. 19, 2016

The effects of the health crisis currently unfolding in Flint, Michigan, will be felt for years to come. This is not a bold, overly negative prognosis: It is a tragic reality reinforced by science — or, rather, the lack thereof.

Opinion

Editorial: A dreamer’s work is never done

Jan. 18, 2016

As the lack of a paper attested to, Monday marked the 30th celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. Although we cannot speak with authority for the rest of the country, here in Gainesville, the dream of Dr. King remains apparent and palpable. On Tuesday, UF will be visited by Virginia Tech professor and civil rights activist Nikki Giovanni, whose speech will serve as the cornerstone event to the university’s celebrations of Dr. King’s life.

Opinion

Editorial: Where we are now: American culture and the Powerball

Jan. 13, 2016

"S1.5 billions dollars, nothing to lose.” This cute little mantra we just made up seems to be the prevailing attitude among millions of Americans this week, as the country collectively rushes to the nearest gas station, supermarket or liquor store to buy their way into a chance at changing their lives forever.

Opinion

Editorial: Reflecting on the State of the Union

Jan. 12, 2016

With Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, the Obama presidency informally began its final act.