Ring's proposal not a 'pretty good deal'
By Jerod McKinney | Jan. 30, 2008UF students may be wary of the Bright Futures bill, but incoming UF students should be furious.
UF students may be wary of the Bright Futures bill, but incoming UF students should be furious.
I grew up wandering around the neighborhood with a notebook and a pencil in my hand. You couldn't tell the color of my grandma's refrigerator without lifting up a copy of something I wrote. I was writing complete stories before I knew what a division sign looked like.
Tina Briggs, UF alumna
I was glad to see the article in Monday's Alligator on UF's billion-dollar endowment. Since the '80s, students have had to deal with increasing debt as tuition rates continue to rise faster than inflation. With this rise in tuition comes the inflated salaries of school administrators and university endowments reaching into the billions.
In the latest effort to combat traffic congestion on campus, UF Transportation and Parking Services is considering a proposal to raise the decal price for motorcycles and scooters.
Sen. Jeremy Ring's proposal for the modification of Bright Futures falls far short of anything bright. A student majoring in biology with an SAT score barely above the national average and a mediocre GPA would be awarded more money than a philosophy major who scored a 1500 on the SATs and had straight A's. Not only is that absurd, but just imagine the implications of that sort of scholarship.
We are now almost a month into 2008, but I can't shake the feeling that we're stuck in 1984. Big Brother is watching us, listening to us and invading our personal privacy at an unprecedented and alarming rate-all in the name of national security.
As details of election problems popped up Tuesday, the Floridian tradition of complicating national elections was renewed. Florida Secretary of State Kurt Browning said none of the voting problems reported to his office were anything more than "common, everyday election fare."
The proposed changes to the Bright Futures program are ridiculous. The change, along with the possibility of tuition increases and the likelihood of universities accepting fewer freshmen, would make college more difficult for many students.
Tuesday's Republican primary captured Florida's importance in deciding the next U.S. president. The Republican candidates all offered different ideas to lead the party and the nation into the 21st century.
Since Florida won't receive any delegates at the National Democratic Convention in August, some people have tried to claim Tuesday's election won't matter.
God bless the Alligator's Editorial Board.
State Senator Jeremy Ring may be a Democrat, but his proposed "economic development tool" is anything but democratic.
While I respect both Robert Agrusa and Thomas Hawkins Jr. in their impassioned effort to give younger people a representative with whom they can identify and general residents a stronger bridge across generations, I do not extend that respect to the Alligator Editorial Board.
If Washington is the Hollywood for ugly people, Monday's State of the Union address would have been the final chance for an aging George Bush to get his place on the Walk of Fame.
Today is Election Day, and that means it is time to get out and vote!
With nearly half of the seats on the City Commission up for grabs Tuesday and an amendment affecting tax revenue, the results of this election day could also have a great influence on a city already navigating redevelopment and economic growth.
With just one more day to decide which candidates will move forward into what promises to be one of the most important presidential elections in history, we realize the task may be a little overwhelming for any voter.
Last week, the Alligator didn't publish on Monday, but I wrote a column anyway.
There may be a logical explanation for why you woke up feeling like crap Tuesday. Yes, it did signal the end of the only long weekend we have until Spring Break, but it may very well be because the third week in January is among one of the most depressing of the year, according to a researcher from Cardiff University.