Opinion

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OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the Editor: Students organize for Syria

Feb. 16, 2016

Toward the end of last year, it seemed the world had finally begun to pay attention to what was occurring in Syria. There was a flurry of news coverage, protests and conversation over social media. Although many of us have moved on, the conflict between Bashar al-Assad’s regime, rebel forces, ISIS and the Russians continues to kill and displace people in the region. The most recent reports show a total of about 4.7 million Syrian refugees who are, in many cases, without food, water, shelter and other basic needs. In a recent memorandum, the Human Rights Campaign identified three key areas of need, one of which is education. About 222,000 children in Lebanon, 100,000 in Jordan, and 400,000 children in Turkey are not in school. This occurs as a result of language barriers, economic hardship and enrollment requirements meant to bar Syrian students from attending schools in these host countries.

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OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

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.

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Gap between the world and the scientific community

Feb. 16, 2016

On Thursday, a team of scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected gravitational waves. In measuring the sound of two black holes colliding, one of the last points of Einstein’s theory of relativity was proven correct. However, this triumph is not just a triumph for the sake of discovery; it was a triumph for the scientists who dedicated decades of their lives to proving this research. The time spent toward the study was worth it.

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Only YOU can prevent oligarchy

Feb. 15, 2016

Last year was different.

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OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Letter to the Editor: Appreciate what you have

Feb. 15, 2016

To my fellow students:

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: UF admissions decisions - it's a family affair

Feb. 15, 2016

Like so many other students, I spent the majority of last Friday worrying about impending admissions decisions and whether I’d be sharing a campus with my brother yet again. At 6 p.m. sharp, my family and I sat around our living room, eagerly watching him refresh the page over and over. Our phone started ringing, with a parent frantically asking questions about his or her child’s admission to UF’s Pathway to Campus Enrollment program, most of them derivatives of “What the hell is a PaCE program?” While my mom made an attempt at consolation, my brother finally triumphed over the UF server. 

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OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

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.

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Be Ted Cruz, not Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren

Feb. 14, 2016

As the sole conservative columnist of the Alligator, I bravely lead my “wolf pack of one” each week to advocate a conservative point of view and dispute my liberal colleagues in the opinions section.

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OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

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.

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: It's time for young voters to engage in politics

Feb. 14, 2016

With the upcoming voter registration deadline Tuesday, now is the time to become politically engaged. With increased voter turnout, young voters can show they care about politics and actually want their voice to be heard. While issues like Social Security and Medicare are important, young Americans won’t have to confront these for quite some time. In fact, it’s not just far off in terms of years: Many young people think it’s irrelevant to them because these programs likely won’t be around when they are older. Despite this, decisions made by politicians enter every facet of our lives, whether the impact is direct or not. According to a poll conducted by USA Today and Rock the Vote, “Only a third say they’re likely to vote in the Republican primaries. Four in 10 say they’re likely to vote in the Democratic primaries. Six in 10 say they are likely to vote in November.”

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Choose your own presidential candidate

Feb. 11, 2016

The path to choosing the most powerful person in the free world, by all indications and a considerable consensus, is a mess. Not that the process itself is in shambles — though that seems to be a popular refrain every four years; I just don’t trust anyone who says they fully understand it. However, because this year will be the first time I and many other college students will be voting in a presidential election, I will publicly attempt to grapple with and make sense of the primary election for the education of the Alligator readership and, more importantly, myself. 

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Don't be rude in the name of comedy

Feb. 11, 2016

"It’s because you’re a woman.”

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OPINION  |  DARTS LAURELS

Darts & Laurels: 02/12/2016

Feb. 11, 2016

Well friends, the time has come to raise the roof and have some fun. Throw away the work to be done, and let the music play on. Everybody sing, everybody dance and lose yourselves in the wild romance that is... 

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Guest column: February updates - elections, online voting task force

Feb. 11, 2016

Hello, students!

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Reshaping the college admissions process

Feb. 10, 2016

For me, high school was not the environment that movies and television shows painted it as. There were no jocks with letterman jackets sitting in the hallway during class, chatting it up with cheerleaders. Not once did I see a straight-A student mocked or ridiculed for being academically focused. Friday afternoons lacked the aura of youthfulness and adolescent adventure that supposedly surround a rivalry football game that evening. Yes, we were all young, squinting as we desperately tried to see the future ahead of us, but I cannot help but feel that the culturally fabricated atmosphere of high school has been long gone.

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Why is the book always better than the movie?

Feb. 10, 2016

To quote one of my favorite authors: “It is a truth universally acknowledged that when it comes to quality, the book is better than the movie.”

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OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

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

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OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

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.”

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Yes, 'aks' is a real, legitimate English verb

Feb. 9, 2016

Few pronunciations in English are as controversial as that of the verb ‘aks.’ The top-rated definition for ‘aks’ on Urbandictionary.com puts it bluntly, summarizing all the critiques I’ve heard: “What retards say when they don’t know how to pronounce the word ask,” citing the hypothetical example, “Yo dogg… I gotta aks you a question.”

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OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Column: Do pastors really need protecting?

Feb. 8, 2016

As enticing and accessible as the 2016 presidential election is, there are other issues we Floridians ought to concern ourselves with. I’m speaking in particular of the Pastor Protection Act, which would absolve pastors of any liability to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.