Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, October 11, 2006]

The past year has been full of promises and mission statements from the university administration: The University of North Florida will not become the next University of Central Florida, this institution puts students at the top of the priority list, the experiences that students have at this university are unique and unavailable elsewhere, and the list goes on.

The jury may still be out on these guarantees (especially the first one), but there is one program administrators and faculty are continually developing that will certainly enhance the student experience at UNF.

Transformational Learning Opportunities are classes and programs that get students out of the classroom and away from textbooks and case studies. They give students the chance to work hands-on with the materials and subjects they are learning about and in the process broaden a student's scope.

Typically, they are either semester-long courses in the spring, with a trip during spring break or right after the end of the semester, or a two-to-six-week summer course, with time split between UNF and out-of-classroom experience.

In the past, business students went to Wall Street and experienced a day on the stock exchange floor. Students studying French went to Strasbourg and entrenched themselves in the language and culture. Nursing students helped deliver a baby in Ghana.

Students cannot walk away from these courses unaffected or un-changed. A distinct difference exists between knowing about something and actually knowing something.

The first can be easily accomplished by reading a book or watching TV, the second can only be achieved through hands-on work in particular subject area.

The university set aside $200,000 over the last year to develop and fund TLOs. Last year, students who participated saved roughly $1,000 each.

Starting in the 2007-2008 school year, the TLO grants will double to $400,000. This means not only more savings per student, but the possibility for the development of more programs.

All of the courses are designed by UNF faculty members to address the specific pedagogical needs of the students they see on a daily basis.

Administration allows professors an open scope to come up with ideas and destinations, as long as their proposed courses prove intellectually rigorous and don't put students in danger.

For students who don't have the time or funds to study abroad for a semester or who have had few chances to travel, TLOs are an important opportunity to take advantage of.

College is just a few short years when young people can devote their time to learning. People should come out of the collegiate experience changed and enriched for the better. Taking advantage of a transformational learning opportunity is an easy way to expedite this.

This is one instance where university administration is working to hold true to its promise of unique experiences for UNF students.

Maybe student participation and success in these programs will lead to even more life-enriching prospects for future Ospreys.

Students not at fault for deferred graduation

Editorial

Studies show that it is now taking five or six years for students to finish college.

This is old news to many current students. Most of the time coming across someone who is actually finishing in four years is more of a shock.

Newt Gingrich recently spoke on this issue, urging universities and colleges to make this a bigger issue and push students to graduate in four years. It's not that easy, though.

There are many problems with the way a university runs. It is not always a well-oiled machine.

This affects students' college experiences tremendously.

One of the first reasons why students are not graduating on time is because they cannot get the classes they need when they need them.

In the Journalism track at the University of North Florida, for example, each class is precisely planned out for students. Only certain classes are offered in the fall or spring.

Transfer students or students who did not pass a class, may wait a year to take (or re-take) a required class. It is understandable that the program works by presenting new material to students and then building on it with each class, but students now have to stay an extra two semesters just to take one class in each semester.

This, of course, leads to a bigger issue: understaffing. Because of the lack of adequate professors, only a certain amount of classes can be taught during one semester. Then classes fill up quickly and students are forced to put off a class they should have taken to stay on track.

Students may be in their last semester of their senior year, but they cannot get into the classes they need to graduate.

Another problem is the pressure for students to decide on their majors ASAP. On one hand, students who remain classified as "undecided" often fall behind those students who have already declared their majors.

Many students come to college with one idea of what they want to study, but a few semesters into a program they have a change of heart. They are immediately at least a semester or two behind.

If they had only been encouraged to wait to declare their majors and spend more time exploring a broad range of subjects and interests, they might have been able to make the changes sooner.

Some students are even going through five or six years of college to graduate, still not knowing what they want to do.

Students not graduating in four years may have a reputation for being slackers. But for many the problem continues to be that students intend to graduate in four years but challenges stand in their ways.

If universities put more resources into hiring faculty and offering more classes per semester, then the students who want to actually graduate in four years will have a chance to do that. Universities must be up front about the various graduation obstacles students face when choosing a particular major.

Then maybe the over-extended duration in college can be worked through.

New SG campaign promises given as last year's fall behind

Student Opinion

Tiredly trudging to class, bleary-eyed and barely awake I am suddenly reminded of why I detest party politics. Crammed into narrow pathways are packs of ravenous wolves, eager for attention or votes, I can seldom tell the difference. I am of course referring to our own political parties, and their tiresome, though enthusiastic, approach to politics.

If only my disappointment in our political parties ended there. If only I were better equipped to cope with such nauseating tactics at 9 a.m. The truth of the matter is that I stare blankly at a sign reading "Assurance," and I am anything but assured.

The Student's Party, faring only slightly better in my eyes, coins only useless popular media phrases to illicit interest. I have yet to discover what these terms have to do with its platform or with politics.

Surprisingly though, I find it much more difficult to critique the Student's Party, which has never had the opportunity to express itself as a majority.

On the other hand, the Assurance Party lends itself quite well to criticism, because they are running on a single-word slogan, which disagrees explicitly with their supposed accomplishments.

For those of you who are freshmen and are unfamiliar with the latter party's history, it may come as some surprise to learn that despite its "assurances," we have neither maids nor HBO nor a skate park nor feminine-hygiene products in our women's restrooms nor much else from the Assurance Party's platform last year.

But the Assurance Party was doomed from the beginning either way because so many of their ideas lacked feasibility.

What happens when one roommate wants a maid and the other does not? Does said maid clean one half of the room and not the other? Since this service would involve a charge for students, how can one expect to employ this idea effectively?

Moreover, how are we going to build a skate park? Apart from the cost, where does one put a skate park: On already strained parking lots, or on land designated as a nature reserve?

The Assurance Party's platform this year is just as unreasonable.

Refurbishing recently designated intramural fields with Astroturf is expected to cost more than $2 million. Also, the Assurance Party proposes a shuttle service, which if memory serves me correctly, the Student Party has already suggested.

Ultimately, it is unlikely that we will see any drastic political changes on our campus. I hope however, that we may have some success in putting more reasonable and reliable representatives in office than the ones that already "serve" the student population.

Perhaps next year I can trudge tiredly to class without being confronted by a hundred eager, smiling faces whose presence utterly annoys me.

Foley media coverage reactionary and unfair

Student Opinion

The further we get from the initial coming out of Rep. Mark Foley's R-Fla., well, coming out, the more I wonder how much longer we will have to hear about it.

Yes, what Foley did was worthy of reprimand, to say the least, and he was right to resign as a Florida congressman.

So now that he's gone, let's move on to more important topics, like that trivial matter in North Korea with something about a nuclear bomb testing. It seems I can't find too much information about that right now.

Oh, if it were only that easy. And it might have been if we weren't so close to one of the most important congressional elections in decades.

The liberals in this country are desperately holding on to this one. They think they finally have a shot at winning the country back. If only they can convince voters that they are the party that cares about children and will protect them against those sick, despicable, gay Republicans, the power will surely be all their's again.

So what do they do? They rally their friends in the media to keep the focus on how hypocritical and deceiving the GOP truly is.

Thus, the American people are given the same old story, dressed in new clothes and cleverly disguised as latest developments.

But I am convinced that most Americans will see through their political agenda and recall that they are actually the party of abortion and homosexual rights.

They are also the party that excused their own president for having sexual relations with a 21-year-old intern in the Oval Office.

They are the party that supported Democrat Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts in the 1980s when he was having an affair with a 17-year-old page and refused to resign. In fact, he was re-elected five times!

But for now, they will pretend that none of that happened and continue to flood the news outlets with new releases of Foley's instant message chats.

They will keep it on the front page of all the newspapers, despite national security threats occurring nearly every day. Liberals know that if Americans start looking for protection from terrorists and answers to real issues, they have nothing to offer.

So to all the conservatives who worry that Foley's follies will put Democrats in power in the November election, just remember that most Americans are more concerned about safety than scandals. Do not let the media convince you otherwise.

Letters to the Editor

Opinions in column degrading, hypocritical and shocking

Dear Editor,

I would like to take a moment to address a column in the previous week's Spinnaker. I am quite confused as to who exactly Mr. Montello thinks that he is.

In complete shock, I happened to stumble across his profile on the popular college connection link, Facebook, and would like to personally call him out on being a complete hypocrite. The pictures he has displaying inappropriate behavior with girls not only completely negates the point he attempted to prove, but also shows that he is the scum he was calling out.

I would love to see your DVD collection because I would guarantee you are "that guy" purchasing the Girls Gone Wild series. How dare you claim to be so disgusted with the behavior of women today; please do yourself and all of us a favor and keep your ludicrous opinion to yourself.

"The grotesque display of what modern-day women define as sexy is really just sad," Montello wrote.

Well let's get one thing straight, you are the promoter of this grotesque behavior and your pictures prove it. You claim to want a good girl, someone you can take home to your parents. I have an idea; let's expand your photos of girls emulating oral sex at the beach into an 8-by-10 and see how proud your mother would be. What a nice little boy she raised.

My point to you: I would have no reason to call you out on your behavior if you hadn't offended so many good women out there. In no way am I trying to judge your behavior, because I think it is your business to act how you see fit.

But please be prepared to accept that if you are man enough to exploit women for the objects you make them, please be man enough to own that you are the one who taught us to abandon all self-respect.

Important social commentary in student column

I just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am that you wrote the article "Where have all the good girls gone?"

It's awesome to hear from a guy that you think its such a shame how girls flaunt their bodies like they're selling a product and don't demand the respect they deserve. It's also nice to hear that some guys are actually interested in wholesome girls.

This is my first year at the University of North Florida, and I have met very few people who are the least bit concerned about wholesomeness or respect.

If more guys would voice what you have, I think girls might reconsider the shallow and sleazy front they put on. So thanks a bunch. God bless!

Counter-opinion: Where have all the gentlemen gone?

Upon reading the article, "Where have all the good girls gone," I, myself, became "heartbroken, distraught, confused and disgusted." Mr. Montello's accounts on the apparel and behavior of women were degrading and hurtful.

It seemed to be placing the blame entirely on women for a moral demise in society. I felt it put men in a superior position by insinuating they have a higher sense of morality and scruples than that of women. Now guys I ask you: where have all the gentlemen gone?

When a girl is at a party or club, in most cases, she has been drinking.

Where are the gentlemen who would guard her safety by not allowing any guys to take advantage of her while in her condition? Where are the gentlemen who would come to a girl's rescue and defend her honor when she is being pressured by some irreverent guys to show them her boobs? Where are the gentlemen who would discourage a woman's revealing clothing and immodesty rather than encourage it? Where are the gentlemen who would intervene on behalf of a girl being pressured to act immorally by society and/or her male peers?

The sexual innuendo that is engaged in these types of environments by guys would certainly not be part of a gentleman's character either.

I am not excusing the behavior of these "bad girls" in Mr. Montello's article. But, being so quick to criticize the behaviors of college women, be sure to criticize the behaviors of the college men to the same caliber as well. It's only fair.

The guys' behavior can be seen as a direct influence on the girls'.

So guys, be courteous and respectful towards women, not using, devaluing or taking advantage of them. It's obvious that a rise in maturity, a rise in standards and a start to the respect for one another is much needed. Be "good girls." Be gentlemen.

The following letter to the editor appeared last week with the wrong attribution:

Recent student opinion not based on historical evidence

Throughout my stay at the University of North Florida the Spinnaker has always been a bastion of free thought, expression and reasonable discussion.

However, in the recent Student Opinion: "Another lie from President Clinton in recent interview" and the Editorial: "Chavez sets bad diplomatic example," I am beginning to doubt the intelligence of some contributors. Not because of their political affiliations, but by there severe lack of historical knowledge.

Implying that Chavez is a "dictator" can only be seen as an abomination of the truth. There can be no denial that he won the popular election. In fact, the CIA-backed military coup to oust Chavez failed because of popular protests. I do not excuse the lack of diplomacy in his speeches, but I do not think that we are in any position to discuss his political tact in light of our own actions towards Venezuela.

Ms. Manning's article on President Clinton's recent interview highlights a new level of sophomoric ineptitude in reporting. Maybe she should go back to the toys and make-up that filled her life in the nineties and leave the journalism to individuals with investigative or minimally cognitive ability.

As President Clinton pointed out, the CIA and FBI could not agree that bin Laden was the menace that we know now. In addition, there is no doubt that during his attempts to kill bin Laden, he was accused by a plethora of Republicans for wagging the dog. Sure, they may have supported an assault in Iraq, but an average survey of recent events clearly shows that this has NOT led to the capture of bin Laden and only fueled anti-US extremists.

If one wishes to look at actual dishonesty, it seems more relevant to discuss Condoleezza Rice's response. She states that Clinton did not leave her a "plan" of attack, but rather "a series of actionable items."

Print Edition

DISCOURSE

New courses broaden students' scope

Editorial

Students not at fault for deferred graduation

Editorial

New SG campaign promises given as last year's fall behind

Student Opinion

Foley media coverage reactionary and unfair

Student Opinion

Letters to the Editor

Opinions in column degrading, hypocritical and shocking

Important social commentary in student column

Counter-opinion: Where have all the gentlemen gone?

Recent student opinion not based on historical evidence

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