Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Former Student Alliance candidate thanks students for voting

By Ben Cavataro | Feb. 25, 2010

I want to give a sincere thank you to all the students who voted in elections Tuesday and Wednesday. Especially those who helped the Student Alliance party gain a historic 20 seats in the Student Senate. Over the course of the campaign, the Student Alliance candidates and supporters demonstrated incredible character, integrity and devotion.

OPINION | COLUMNS

America has chance to prove itself

By Eric Tegethoff | Feb. 24, 2010

As one of the most important battles in the war on terror rages in the Taliban stronghold of Marja, Afghanistan, another battle is being fought on American soil over the fate of suspected terrorists.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Serial Killer Whale

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 24, 2010

Once again, a captive animal has killed its trainer, and this time, it’s close to home.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Uphill Both Ways: Author misunderstands our generation

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 24, 2010

We‘ve all heard an older family member at some get-together telling us about how stupid and ungrateful our generation is and how, in his day, everything was much better. But imagine if he sat down and wrote a book about it.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Gainesville’s priorities are lacking

By Jason Ybarra | Feb. 24, 2010

I find it interesting that there is no limit to how many stacks of pancakes IHOP can give away, and yet the city imposes a 130-meal limit when St. Francis House feeds the homeless.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Online voting would solve problems

By William Foster | Feb. 24, 2010

Double voting has been a concern in Student Government elections for years, and there have always been allegations directed at the Greek houses. If Supervisor of Elections Ariana Alfonso is worried about double voting, she should advocate for a switch to online voting tied to UF IDs. The centralized list of who has voted would prevent any double voting and save the Student Body tens of thousands of dollars each election.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Recent Holocaust references inappropriate

By Lily Bruns | Feb. 24, 2010

In response to David Hanan’s letter likening UF’s tolerance of the Dove World Outreach Center on campus to tolerance of genocide, I’d like to make a few points.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Mean Marsupial: School right to take stand against crude TV show

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 23, 2010

The University of California, San Diego has graced the pages and airwaves of national media outlets quite a bit the past week. The school was in the news last week when members of its Greek community sent out a Facebook invitation to a “Compton Cookout.”

OPINION | COLUMNS

Aptitude tests are an unreliable method of gauging worth

By Will Penman | Feb. 23, 2010

For the job I’m going to have next year, I had to take a computer skills test this week. There were ten questions, each one testing a random aspect of using computers.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Votes are representative of agreement

By Matt Christ | Feb. 23, 2010

The topic for today is voting. Or, more precisely, not voting.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Booty Booty Booty

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 23, 2010

We’re all used to American Apparel’s advertising style. Commercials seldom have much clothing in them, and a trip to the company’s Web site offers nipple sightings galore. Even their child models often pose in an arguably provocative manner.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Student Government endorsements were fair, bipartisan

By Casey Eckberg | Feb. 23, 2010

I, like many students, am shocked at the Alligator’s choice of endorsements. I’ve been here for a few years now and I’ve seen the Alligator side with the “indie” party far more times than not. Therefore, when I see that the Editorial Board has chosen to make no endorsement between the presidential candidates, I consider that a major victory for the Unite Party.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Reitz Union doesn’t need revamp

By Jordon Kalilich | Feb. 23, 2010

By now, many students have probably seen the green signs that list the university’s reasons for wanting to expand the Reitz Union. I can’t be the only one who is outraged by some of the so-called problems with the current building, particularly the claim that there is “no place to study.”

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Campaign should focus on real issues

By Alan Martin | Feb. 23, 2010

Why I am running for Student Senate:

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Rock the Vote: Students should care about SG elections

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 22, 2010

It’s finally here – the first Student Government election day.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Gators shouldn’t support sweatshops

Feb. 22, 2010

Today and tomorrow, we’re going to have an opportunity to vote on a ballot question to register the Student Body’s opinion on whether UF should affiliate with the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor rights advocacy group that works against sweatshops through factory monitoring and investigations. If UF affiliates with the WRC, it will help ensure that UF apparel isn’t made with sweatshop labor.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Student Alliance to improve Senate if elected for some seats

By Neil Gundavda | Feb. 22, 2010

Recently, the Alligator published an endorsement of various executive candidates and certain referenda. However, the newspaper failed to mention the other group of students running for election. Forty-seven Senate seats are being contested during the spring election, and the Student Alliance party has a slate worth an endorsement from the Alligator. Amalgamating a diverse group of students, the Student Alliance Senate slate can be credited with many of the “70 Platform Points” of the Student Alliance. The Student Alliance slate, if given a chance at a Senate majority, will quickly act to annul more than $1 million in waste in Student Government. We will swiftly post our voting records online, mitigate the lack of transparency at the legislative level, pass legislation to encourage ethics at all levels of SG, expand free printing, promote sustainable practices and enact many other of the Student Alliance party’s published initiatives. The current Senate, thoroughly dominated by a Unite Party majority, has been relegated to a lackluster rubber stamp. Never contradicting the executive, the Senate has continually refused to invoke its powers of investiture and its right to check the other branches of SG. If elected to Senate, we will reinvigorate the legislative prerogatives lost to autocratic history. Fight for your rights as students and vote for the Student Alliance Tuesday and Wednesday.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Frank Walch’s comparison of Unite Party to Nazi leaders is offensive, shameful

By Dara Schopp | Feb. 22, 2010

As a Jew and as a decent human being, I was thoroughly offended by Frank Walch’s letter to the editor Monday that compared certain leaders of the Unite Party to Nazi leaders. Though Walch specified that he did not feel as though a Student Government politician could be described as being as evil as a Nazi figure (thankfully he was willing to grant that at the least), his letter is a blatant character-assassination attempt. Tell me, Mr. Walch, how on Earth one could possibly equate a few thousand dollars spent on alleged perks with a “fascist agenda”? How could you possibly insinuate that the hundreds of volunteers for Unite have been “coerced” into giving their time? How could you ignore the accomplishments made in the past year and instead credit the administration?

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Unite’s Senate candidates chosen based on obedience, not merit

By Joshua Niederriter | Feb. 22, 2010

The Alligator forgot the most important choice voters face in its editorial: the Senate slate.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Selwach needs to take stronger stand on legalization of marijuana

By Katie Adamson | Feb. 22, 2010

I don’t get it. Is Richard Selwach for the legalization of the maple tree, or does he just want Florida to secede to Canada? If you are going to stand up for an issue as heated and as important as the legalization of marijuana, do so boldly, my friend!