Editorial
It seems the real story rarely makes it to the student body at the University of North Florida.
In November 2000, Student Government representatives approved a fee increase designed to fund the construction of a student union at UNF. The building would break ground possibly as soon as spring 2002, we were told.
Well, it's fall 2002 and there's no student union under construction. In fact, now the student body has been told plans for the building do not exist and construction cannot begin until they do.
Now, construction likely will not begin before Spring 2005 and even then, it could take approximately nine years to complete the union.
Yet the fee increase remains. In fall 2001, every student began contributing $2 per credit hour to the construction fund for the student union.
Had the Spinnaker not investigated the progress of the student union, one wonders if the university administration would have broached the subject or if they would have continued to collect the money and let the student union idea fall by the wayside.
An architectural firm was in the process of drawing up plans in late 2000 when the SG Senate approved the fee increase. However, plans do not exist.
The university's company line right now seems to be that students' needs must be assessed and the union must give students what they want.
If officials were unsure of students' needs and what they might want in their student union, why did they start collecting money every semester a year ago?
The other question looming over the construction of a student union revolves around the building's orientation to the Robinson Student Life Center (Bldg. 14). Officials are contemplating the possibility of renovating the current center to make it a student union. Or, a free-standing union could be built instead.
When the fee increase was passed, plans for the student union called for it to be attached behind the existing RSLC. They also called for the demolition of the center's wing that now houses the Hub and the Blue and Grey Café. The new union was planned to take over that space.
Yet here we are, nearly two years since the fee increase was passed, and suddenly no plans exist.
Certainly students should take into account the fact that the SG administration as well as the university administration have changed since the original plans for the student union were created and the funding allocated.
However, there seems to be little point in long-range planning if those plans are simply thrown out the window when a new administration comes to power.
More importantly, students need to be told where their money is going and the progress of projects funded by that money.
To some degree, students are responsible for finding out that information. However, many students were not attending UNF when the desire for a student union at the university resulted in a fee increase. Those students deserve to know they're paying for a building that, at this stage, might or might not come to fruition in the next decade.
Speculation and rumor is about all that students are getting right now concerning the construction of a student union.
At least in November 2000 students got some facts about the plans for a student union. Even if, unbeknownst to students, those facts changed when it suited the administration.
So what if it is student money paying for the union. It will not be long before most of the students who attended UNF in 2000 are gone. Then the administration will have a new class of students from which to hide the money.
United States cannot risk smallpox dangers
Editorial
The U.S. military is not the only organization preparing for the potential war on Iraq.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta is also in a heightened state of alert because the United States must prepare for any Iraqi response, including one of the most dangerous: biological warfare.
Debate rages about what to do to prevent an outbreak of smallpox, a threat largely ignored for the last three decades.
Health officials and the Bush administration are divided about how soon to offer the smallpox vaccine to the general public.
Enough doses of the vaccine have been produced to inoculate the U.S. population. However, it will take more than a year to license enough shots to begin mass inoculation.
Many health officials have recommended a three-stage process that would end with vaccination of the general public until the drug is fully licensed.
The first stage would involve vaccinating health-care workers who might encounter a highly contagious patient, such as emergency room employees. The second stage would allow other health-care workers, police officers and fire fighters to be inoculated.
Vice President Dick Cheney is one of several Bush administration officials who wants a quicker process to get the vaccination to the general public while it is still somewhat experimental.
Studies from more than three decades ago indicate one or two of every 1 million people inoculated will die. Balanced on the other side is the fact that the disease would kill roughly one-third of those infected without inoculations.
Scientists have difficulty trying to conduct new research on smallpox because it was thought only to be a danger to humans.
Recently, however, macaque monkeys have been shown to fall ill to the virus, but only when injected with it. Scientists have been forced to use other ways of testing the virus, such as testing mice infected with cowpox and monkeys with monkeypox, which give researchers an idea of what medicines will do against smallpox.
This debate must be decided by weighing the risks of the vaccine with the risks of the disease.
However, the Bush administration's push to inoculate the general public may be the most recent indicator that war is imminent.
If war is inevitable -- and Bush's intentions to circumvent the United Nations seem to suggest that -- then the United States must devote its resources to speeding the process of mass vaccination.
Even if the threat of this bioterrorist attack from Iraq is remote, the United States cannot risk the danger smallpox would have to its vulnerable citizens.
Letters to the Editor
Editor:
I was inspired to write this uninformed letter after I was told this story, which happened about three weeks ago.
The UNF Recreation Department held a meeting concerning various and sundry things, concerning issues like the upcoming events and things that should be worked on to improve the quality of the recreational facilities around campus. At the start of this meeting, one of the leaders of the gathering spoke up and gave herself an introduction. Then she proceeded to say, "Before we begin, let's start this meeting out right." With this, a man came up and led a prayer that was aimed at the Christian God.
The person who told me this story was outraged and was rightly justified. In these days of terrorism, warfare and DVDs, have we not had the same educational process that told us that America was a free country that respected the views, beliefs and religions of all of its people? If you have not, then you have been spared from these apparent "misinformed educational devices."
What America has told us is "freedom of religion" is actually freedom to worship in any religion that names Christ Jesus as the center of the universe. A Christian prayer in a public institution does not mean that America is backtracking on what it has declared as law, it merely means that it is supporting the intentions of the phrase. And I believe that it is time for students, parents, teachers, laymen and holy men to realize something. America is free for hard-working Christians for religion.
Why? Maybe because our government is afraid of admitting there is other intelligent life in the world that does not believe in the American Savior. America is the most powerful country in the world, and there must be one religion to bind it together. And other people must believe it as well. However, I believe the Roman Empire had the same theory.
But I am leaving the point of this uninformed article. I say uninformed, because I have not done the proper research to make a convincing argument. I have not considered the proper objections that would dishevel my point and turn it into another ranting letter from an angry reader. And, I have not considered that maybe, just maybe, Jesus loves me and He wants me to spread His message through public state constructions and fancy cartoon booklets. Since America is free to Christians, then I should have no problem taking His message to the streets.
But wait! This is a university! It has the duty and responsibility to provoke new trains of thought! It should not be a place where Christian theology should be the requirements, but rather be a place to promote ideas that are utilitarian in nature. These are the implications university life has given us since those fabulous '60s!
However, it is the case that for this uninformed letter, it will serve as a reminder of the constant implications of our country's laws and guidelines and what it means to have freedom. If you want to pray, do so by all means, but please do not force those people that have the same rights and privileges to give them up so quickly. Especially if they are working for you.
Alex Raequinn
Senior, English
Editor:
I about fell off my chair with laughter after reading a recent Letter to the Editor from a disgruntled student employed by the UNF bookstore. She ranted about the Spinnaker's negative tone this semester.
The UNF media relations department can do all the appropriate back-patting of the campus departments and employees while the Spinnaker provides a voice from a student perspective regarding issues and events central to the university experience. There is a need for more criticisms from the Spinnaker, not less.
What a wonderful time we live in, right? Aside from the obvious poor prospects of parking lot improvements at UNF, should students be happy with their lives full of high student loans and consumer debt with diminishing employment prospects in a poor economy with the added bonus of fighting urban warfare with threat of chemical weapons in Baghdad?
As the Spinnaker highlighted historical aspects of the campus in celebration of its 30th anniversary, I recollected some other events. I was taken back by the issue to that period on campuses throughout the country and the passionate pleas to end the war in Vietnam, end segregation, provide equal opportunity for women and many actions that found their foundations in students speaking out as part of a student newspaper.
As a tribute to the spirit of the Kent State students gunned down by government forces while protesting, consider taking charge of your future with the help of a student newspaper.
Don't wait for an Enron-style corporate crook or politician to make this world a better place.
Carpe diem, Spinnaker Staff!
John Hawley
Senior, Communications
Editor:
I'd like to respond to someone who wrote in last week's Letters to the Editor accusing this publication of "yellow journalism."
First of all, I'd like to acknowledge that individual's right to address this publication and make such accusations; however, I believe them to be an attempt to (using the individual's own term) slander the Spinnaker.
I will admit this publication has indeed been negative toward the administration of the university. However, I do not think this publication has perpetuated any ideas or complaints that at least a large proportion of its readers do not agree with. I think to call this publication's stories "yellow journalism" is very extreme and may not be entirely correct.
To assert that a publication is guilty of yellow journalism, it must indeed be guilty of telling untruths or mishandling/misrepresenting facts. I'd like to be made aware of any such instances.
I am certainly not an expert on any of the subjects addressed by the Spinnaker, but I also have not been privy to any information leading me to believe any facts provided by the Spinnaker have been sensationalized or falsified in any way. I'd certainly retract this letter if any such cases can be provided to the general student body for review.
Finally, I am not certain the Spinnaker has any real motive to sensationalize their facts or figures. The Spinnaker (to my knowledge) has no real competition for readers. Maybe the Florida Times-Union, but I believe these publications serve a different inherent purpose and probably do not see themselves as competing. To be honest, we are not dealing with William Randolph Hearst creating the Spanish-American War to sell newspapers. The Spinnaker is free!
So, I tend to disagree with the previous individual's assertion that this publication is slanderous and guilty of yellow journalism. I concur that it is often negative toward the administration of this university. However, I don't feel the negativity is unjust. The Spinnaker is a publication by students and for students. I feel its job is to tell it like it is, no matter how unpleasant, to give us a forum to voice our complaints/concerns where other channels may not be effective.
Robert B. Phillips II
Junior, history/philosophy
Wednesday, October 9, 2002