I am appalled at the aggressive tactics used by University Police Department officers to remove Andrew Meyer from the presentation by Sen. John Kerry. How does using profanity or asking why you are being arrested justify the use of a Taser gun on a defenseless college student?
The irony of the Taser incident is that it took place on Sept. 17, the day the country celebrates Constitution Day. It is unfortunate both sides could not remain calm and work to a peaceful resolution. But that could be said about anything, including our own national government.
The UF administration needs to Taser UPD after its recent display of excessive force, poor judgment and downright bullying of unarmed student Andrew Meyer. These "officers of the lawC should be ashamed of themselves.
For all of those vehemently against what happened at Kerry's speech Monday, I say this: There are two sides to every story.
Some people seem to be confused about Monday's events surrounding Meyer, accusing the UPD of censoring Meyer's free speech. This is not the case, so let's give credit where credit is due.
It's not that I particularly enjoy rebutting the Alligator editorial board, but once again I find myself in the unfortunate position of having to defend a project I am involved in from its straw-man arguments and misinformed opinions.
In response to Sam Cain's Monday letter about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, I think Kevorkian did nothing to help suffering people. He killed a lot of suffering people, that's true. But he didn't help them. A doctor is successful in helping the patient if the doctor can treat or cure the patient's condition. If the patient dies, then the doctor was unsuccessful. And if the doctor kills the patient, the doctor is not only unhelpful, but also a killer.
On Sept. 11, a number of students came before the Student Senate to voice their concerns about Dr. Jack Kevorkian coming to speak at UF. This is a highly controversial speaker, and I truly appreciate that students felt strongly enough to come before the Senate to speak to their representatives.
I'm writing in response to Colleen Shea's Friday column about fitness. I can't believe someone is actually complaining about fit people working out at the gym. Um, hello? How do you think they got those amazing bodies? And no, not everyone at the gym looks like bodybuilders, but at least they're trying to stay fit. If you're so insecure that you can't work out with other people, stay home.
As anyone who attended Saturday's Gators football game can attest, it was very hot and very humid. After fighting my way to my seat through my 90,000 closest friends, I was in need of water. So I went to get some free ice. I was refused. Why? "We don't have any cups," said the girl at the stand. Naturally, I assumed she meant, "We don't have the right cups," since behind her, concession workers were busy filling souvenir cups with ice for ,3.50 sodas.
I regretfully read Colleen Shea's Friday column, and I feel she made a mountain out of a molehill. The column started out griping about UF's health promotion initiatives, but Shea spent most of her time exaggerating the gym's atmosphere. Is it bad for UF to promote healthful lifestyles? Is it a problem the GatorWell tents hand out free condoms? And for as many parties as I see on and around campus, can it hurt to educate students about drinking responsibly?
In Monday's opinion column, Vincent Massaro lamented the poor treatment the homeless receive from Alachua County. Without the ability to beg in the middle of traffic, and without Tent City, "Where are the homeless to go?" the column asked. The answer is quite simple, Mr. Massaro. The homeless should do like everyone else - they should get a job.
In response to William Sanchez's letter concerning Jack Kevorkian, I have just one question: Why waste your time caring about this situation? I would really like to know how his opinion would change after being confronted with a lifetime of pain and suffering without end. Would he decide to keep on truckin', or would he throw in the towel and end his own life? Would he call up Kevorkian and employ his expertise in the matter? If I ever reached a point in my life where the only thing that greeted me with every new day was the grim reality of more pain and agony, then heck, put me out of my misery!
I am writing in response to Daniel Burroughs's guest column in Thursday's Alligator, "Florida must keep Bright Futures Scholarship Program." The assertion that Florida must maintain the Bright Futures program unchanged is, at best, misguided. The state cannot sustain the financial burden of maintaining Bright Futures' low standards indefinitely. Bright Futures pays 75 percent tuition for a mediocre 3.0 weighted high school grade point average and an SAT score of 970 - 51 points below the national average.
I just wanted to congratulate Mike McCall on a completely enjoyable 10 minutes of ripping into the University of Tennessee on ESPN on Thursday. He started off a little weak, saying Rocky Top was one of the great traditions in college football, but recouped with a dig about being surprised that 100,000 people from Tennessee are able to memorize anything at all, and it all went uphill from there.
I am writing in response to Wednesday's letter "Clotheslines a hazard for children." I loved the tongue-in-cheek letter about rogue clotheslines. I could imagine those heinous downed nylon wires lurking in the shadows just waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting victim, the clothespin springs beckoning the innocent, and the ruthless sheets laying in wait to cause those "zooming" children to fall off their trikes.
As a result of the decline in Florida's economy, a special session of the Legislature this fall will consider an expected 4 percent to 10 percent reduction in the statewide budget. This would result in the State University System losing between ,100 million and ,232 million.
Although I agree there is nothing wrong with controversial speakers, I believe that ,50,000 is a steep price to pay someone convicted of murder and stripped of his medical license. The truth is Mr. Kevorkian is a very sick individual whose ultimate goal is to experiment on the living.
Never before have I been so against a proposal from the Student Senate and so supportive of an editorial from the Alligator. Accent's success lies not only in the experience, professionalism and dedication of its staff, but in its independence from Student Government's legislative branch. The Accent chairperson must be free to act quickly to respond to offers from speakers and be able to act even quicker to research and bid on potential speakers. Requiring the Accent chairperson to report to the Student Senate and ask for approval would strangle Accent's success.
An editorial in Wednesday's Alligator talked about the increased prices of soda, which is intended to encourage Gators to be healthier. Unfortunately, it missed the most important problem with this policy: It is not in any way the job of UF to encourage people to be healthier.
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