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Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Opinion

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Students aren’t obligated to take fliers

I’d like to address the UF Student Body in response to Laura Ellermeyer’s column on fliers yesterday. If you don’t want a flier, don’t take one. Period. As someone who’s passed out fliers before, I can tell you that I will not be offended by a “No, thank you” if you don’t want my flier. In fact, if you’re just going to throw it away, please don’t take one. We don’t want paper wasted any more than you do because it’s costing us money, and we might not have enough for the people who are actually interested.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Stubborn politicians self-serving

Zack Smith makes a fundamental mistake in his Jan. 31 column, “Compromise DeLay-ing the Inevitable.” In it, Smith argues that Tom DeLay demonstrated ideological consistency by refusing to compromise with Democrats. Yet partisanship, as Smith writes, is not a “philosophy [that] may have intellectual teeth.” Instead, it is a methodology for attaining one’s political — or ideological — goals.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Government work rewarding for students of all backgrounds

It’s that time of year again. If you are an underclassman like I am, the economy is still looking down, and you could use a well-paying internship or job to get you through the summer. For those UF seniors about to enter the “real world,” the job market is terrifying.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Corporate model a detriment to academia

I read with dismay the article “Students band together to save professor’s job” in your Jan. 25 issue. I do not know lecturer David Small, who, after 11 years, is being unaccountably dismissed from his post in UF’s department of computer and information science and engineering. Evidence suggests he is an excellent educator who is much appreciated by his students.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Every American wants to “win the future”

Hours before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the National Assessment of Educational Progress published an assessment of science proficiency among the country’s fourth-, eighth- and twelfth-graders. The results were disconcerting: Only 34 percent of the fourth-graders, 30 percent of the eighth-graders and 21 percent of the 12th-graders studied qualified as proficient. This might be the “Sputnik moment” the president described in his speech that night.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  EDITORIALS

What’s Your Beef?

Suppose you’re a hungry student speed-walking across campus, looking for something to shove down your gullet while you rush to your next class. If you’re low on dough, you might be stuck eating food from the intestinal house of horrors known as Taco Bell.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Remakes pollute Hollywood magic

Within the next week, I will hear the phrase “the book was better.” While I usually agree if it’s a book I have read, I’ll be honest and say that unless it’s a hyped-up children’s series not involving vampires, or a trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, there are few books I’ve ever read that have film adaptations. I suppose that’s why some books get made into movies — so the stories they tell can be digested in less than two hours and I can get back to more important things, like choosing what combination of outerwear I want to lug around as the Florida weather covers every temperature and humidity level in the span of a day.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Gun control groups distort facts, ignore Constitution

I commend Sarah Poser for a balanced article on the allowing guns on campus in the Monday issue of the Alligator. However, Brian Malte’s quote, “The more outrage there is, the more the gun lobby starts to retreat.” The gun lobby is composed of the NRA and Second Amendment supporters. And, “Without a lot of protest, there is a chance the gun lobby could shove it through,” Malte said.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Coffee consumers pay for ambiance

There are few things on which I regularly spend an exorbitant amount of money. These items include gasoline, sushi, phone accessories and Starbucks coffee. I cannot recall when or where, but some blessed person once introduced me to those deliciously handcrafted beverages, and I have been hooked — and thus shelling out the big bucks — ever since. I’m such a sucker for their overpriced products that they took pity and issued me a fancy gold card with my name on it that may as well scream, “I have spent a ridiculous amount of money here and am powerless to stop.”


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