On the glass window at the entrance, bold letters read, "Only University of Florida students, faculty, staff or their spouses may use the Broward Outdoor Recreation Complex. Guests are not allowed …"
(Jeremiah Stanley / Alligator) Hongqiang Zhai, an electrical engineering alumnus, plays table tennis at the Florida Gym on Wednesday evening. The games were part of a Table Tennis Club meeting.
Student Government's Gator Party has released its platform, which includes goals of creating a sustainability minor and reworking UF's E-Learning System.
Most nights I go out, I need a DCB.
In the past, I have abstained from further comments on my articles. I think most speak for themselves. However, I couldn't resist defending my Sept. 19 column, "Are hookups the modern 'free love' revolution?"
The history of The Alligator is its stories and its stands on issues. But it is also in the caliber of the people who were once students here, free to put into practice at the newspaper what they were learning in class at the University of Florida. In journalism alone, our alumni include at least four subsequent Pulitzer Prize winners.
I was present for Meyer's incident and have to say that the police were 100 percent right in their actions. He was acting extremely aggressive and being very loud and disruptive, growing angry right from the beginning. He seemed to be almost provoking the officers as well. This was not in any way an issue of free speech. Mr. Meyer was not Tasered because of anything that he said. He was Tasered because he was violently resisting arrest. Contrary to rumors, he was not handcuffed while being Tasered. He was Tasered so he could be handcuffed. He was also given repeated warnings that if he did not calm down and comply with the officers, he would be Tasered.
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The Florida Department of Law Enforcement, known as FDLE, has begun its investigation into the University Police Department's controversial use of a Taser on Monday.
UF law professor Christopher Slobogin painted a dark, Big Brother-esque picture Wednesday of the post-Sept. 11 regulation of government surveillance. His speech focused on how recent surveillance acts are in direct conflict with the Fourth Amendment.
An Alligator blog post on September 14 states that the impact of UF on Florida's economy is more than ,6 million. Machen actually said that it was ,6 billion.
A memorial for a Gainesville police officer on the 34th Street Wall has been covered with the now-infamous words "DONT TASE ME BRO."
I just hate that Meyer's arrest is another reason for all of the Alligator-reading, Krishna-Lunch eating and uniformly biased college-aged hippies to whine even more than they do already.
Kudos to Kyle Cox on his commentary regarding UF student Andrew Meyer. Thank you for covering many points the media failed to address during their biased audio clips. Anyone who has viewed the full-length videos of the incident would have to admit there were multiple non-forceful steps taken prior to Tasering Meyer. These steps, although unsuccessful, included asking him to step away from the microphone, turning the microphone off, attempting to peacefully escort him out, attempting to secure and handcuff him and warning him prior to Tasering. The video also showed at the time of the Tasering, Meyer's left arm not secured behind his back, but rather stretched out where he was using it to brace himself in a clear attempt to resist arrest.
In light of the police report being released, I hope that people will realize that the Meyer Tasering incident was not about First Amendment rights. To say that a person who was able to ask a question even though the allotted question-and-answer time was over, who saw it fit that his questions were more important than the people ahead of him and was able to yell questions at Kerry for a good bit of time before he said "blowjob" was somehow robbed of his First Amendment rights is ridiculous. The police did not remove him for being too controversial or for asking the "tough questions" but for being a belligerent, petulant kid who had complete disregard for the established etiquette of a forum. He was disruptive, and it became clear after watching the video that he didn't really want answers from Kerry, just to stump him. Tasering him was not warranted, but removing him was. If people really want to be outraged about Tasering, they should read about the pregnant woman who was Tasered in her belly in Gainesville recently.
To the individuals who defaced the memorial to Lt. Corey Dahlem on the 34th Street Wall: Regardless about what you may believe about UPD's actions, you have crossed the line. By tagging the now infamous "Don't Tase me, bro!" over a memorial to a dedicated and upstanding officer, you covered up the most visible mark of an officer who exemplified how to protect and serve.
In regards to the Tasering incident on campus during the Kerry forum, the UPD officers acted appropriately in the handling of Meyer. Students and faculty quick to cry out that this was an injustice need to objectively look at this situation and realize Meyer caused the incident, not the police.
It never ceases to amaze me how liberals are able to cast any situation in a light that is beneficial to them; the most recent case in point being the infamous "Don't Tase me, bro" incident Monday on our campus. In the amount of time it takes to upload a shaky video on YouTube, the liberal talking points were already spelled out: Fascist police use force to squash free speech.
I am very concerned by the apparent degradation of free expression, political debate and academic discourse at UF. I have been following from afar the discussions going on about the Accent Speakers Bureau. It's been troubling to learn that there are some who wish to censor and create vast oversight over the selection of speakers. I have always been proud to be a part of the world's largest student-run speakers bureau. Accent has more than 40 years of history and tradition in bringing insightful, challenging and sometimes even controversial laureates to speak to our students and community.
Solutions by The State News
