Empty promises to blame for low turnout

Editorial

Seventeen percent. That's the voter turnout for this latest round of Student Government elections. The latest report suggests 2,728 of slightly more than 16,000 University of North Florida students made it to the polls to vote for presidential and senatorial candidates. That means almost one in five students voiced their opinion about next year's campus leadership - almost, but not quite.

That's roughly the equivalent of the combined population of the seven states south and east of Tennessee determining who the president of the United States of America would be for the next term. Or the population of India deciding who the ruler of the entire world would be.

It's also just under a third of the much-lamented national voter turnout for federal elections, which in 2004 was about 55 percent. The question begs to be asked: Why the overwhelming apathy among students toward the future SG leadership at UNF?

It could have something to do with the irritating campaign tomfoolery both parties engage in every semester as voting approaches - a slice of pizza for your vote, sir, or a creamy glazed donut for your continued support, ma'am. The shticks, along with the time they consume and the congestion they contribute to the narrow corridors around campus, are enough to make any levelheaded student just trying to walk from class to class lose faith in the entire process.

More likely than that, though, is that the system as it exists doesn't offer any meaningful promise for positive change in the life of your average UNF student. The promises bandied about on bright, glossy index cards read like a checklist of MTV reality show-inspired gimmicks that only a minute proportion of students - say, perhaps, 17 percent - actually believe would be possible (the failed maid service and free oil change promises, for example) or useful (like the new $420,000 skate park in the middle of nowhere).

Instead, candidates should show their interest in serving students by making promises that actually matter. How about no more torn up roads on UNF Drive in the middle of the semester? Or fighting to relieve pressure on students who can't find a place to park during the first few crazy weeks of the semester and get ticketed regardless? What about more funding to campus agencies for the benefit of students - like Osprey Productions, for example, which does an awesome job of bringing real entertainment to UNF?

Even the little things can encourage more discourse and involvement between SG and its constituents - like free scantrons, for example. If aspiring candidates bear in mind serving the campus community as a whole through sensible, attainable goals, rather than promises that serve special interest groups or sound really cool on paper, they might find more than one in five UNF students willing to cast a ballot in their favor.

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DUI might spell irreversible consequences

Editorial

It's 2 a.m. on a Saturday night, and you've just left your favorite beach bar. Walking to your parking spot, you see a young brunette surrounded by friends, all laughing, stumbling to their cars.

The group of friends looks similar to people who sit around you in class; they could even be the ones who get all the As, are always on time and go running at 6 a.m. every day.

They seem like they're going places - places only those with high GPAs, test scores and pages of extracurricular credits can get to. But tonight, the only place they will go is to jail, because they were pulled over before they made it to 3rd Street.

Penalties following incidents are dependent on previous DUI charges that have been filed. But one thing's for sure: If they're lucky enough to get released on bail, they'll probably make it to class Monday, but they won't be allowed to drive there.

When a University of North Florida student hit and killed a police officer while he was drunk driving in Gainesville last week, the situation served as a reminder of the repercussions that could follow drinking and driving. The student now sits in jail and is being held on a $500,000 bond. If released, he will be required to report to a court official daily and wear a GPS monitoring device .

We hear the tragic stories all the time, but the reckless behavior continues. The producer of A Christmas Story and his son were killed in a traffic accident caused by a drunk driver last week. Police cars line J. Turner Butler Boulevard at night waiting for someone to make too wide of a turn or too quick of an acceleration. The legal blood alcohol content limit is .08, but after two beers, it could warrant an arrest, even though the driver might not feel intoxicated.

In Florida, first-time offenders' licenses are suspended for six months, and they can't apply for a hardship license - a permit that usually only covers transportation to and from work - until 40 days after the arrest. Two DUIs in a five-year period will result in a five-year license revocation and a hardship license cannot be obtained until the end of the first year. Getting three DUIs within 10 years could get them as much as a $5,000 fine, five years in jail and a felony charge.

Imagine relying on a friend or family member to drive you to school or work every day for a year. Explaining the situation to new acquaintances or employers might be tricky. But you might not have to worry about future employers, especially if you're trying to get a high-profile position or one that requires driving. They'll undoubtedly put your application aside once they see you've been convicted of a felony.

The alternative to driving after drinking is to call a cab or carpool with someone who has volunteered to be the designated driver. But cabs are usually pricey and designated drivers are usually scarce when it comes to leaving bars at 2 a.m. It's not enough for health promotions directors and other campus leaders to warn students of the dangers of drunk driving; they need to provide them a cheaper alternative to help them get home safely.

If UNF could expand the pending shuttle service to nighttime service, the service would give students an easier way to get to campus safely. It might mean tuition would have to marginally increase, but it would help ensure the safety of students and the Jacksonville community.

It's important to keep a firm grasp on reality because you'll never know how many beers the guy driving next to you might have had. If you choose to go out and drink, don't leave unless someone you trust has committed to be the designated driver, and don't let your friends touch their keys if they are intoxicated.

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Global warming stirs interest in environment

Staff Opinion

By Jamie Williams
JUNIOR, COMMUNICATIONS

The weather is beautiful; wish you were here. You couldn't say that much recently. After a slew of tornadoes and a couple of rough hurricane seasons, the local weather has been pretty bad. Some might say it's due to natural causes, while others would argue it's because of global warming.

The debate rages on as to whether global warming is taking place, and if so, what is causing it. We're taking a much closer look at how we treat our environment, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ventured into the global warming issue for the first time. With a 5-4 ruling, the court stated the Bush administration was wrong to argue it lacked the authority to monitor greenhouse gas emissions cominxg from automobiles, but stopped short of requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to exercise power..

Where it will all go from here remains to be seen. As of yet, the Bush administration has avoided doing anything for the global warming problem and has garnered much criticism for not doing so. But guess what? They're only human. What could George W. Bush do to fix it anyway?

Think about it: How utterly arrogant of humans to think they actually have the power to warm the entire planet and then later turn around and fix it? The sun is a gigantic ball of gas 93 million miles away from Earth. We can't control a thing it does; our Earth answers to it. And so do Mars and its polarized caps, which have been recently melting things the Earth or its greenhouse gases have absolutely nothing to do with. And so does every other planet in the galaxy.

There's absolutely no doubt the Earth is warming - it always has been and it always will. Do you expect it to stop now? As you're reading this article, some place on Earth is warming; but at the same time some place on Earth is cooling. The Earth has always done that, too. It is in a state of constant temperature change.

Sure, some overdue notice is great, but the court's decision won't stop the so-called global warming epidemic nor will it help the issue. But it will help in other ways.

When it comes to the environment, there is always room for improvement. So maybe it's for the better most people don't know the truth about global warming, because in the past few years, the Earth has been treated a little nicer and shown a little more appreciation.

It's about time.

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Smaller universities offer students more benefits

Staff Opinion

By Laurel Wright
JUNIOR, COMMUNICATIONS

If a student wants to go to a large Florida school, they have plenty of big names to choose from. But if they want to attend a smaller school in the sunshine state - one that still offers many majors - the University of North Florida is what they will find.

Population projections estimate UNF to have around 25,000 students by the year 2025, a 64 percent increase from the current student population. The university's master plan includes building a new dormitory, classrooms and offices, just to name a few. All this growth might appeal to some members of the university community, but being a smaller state university is part of what makes UNF authentic.

Why does the school need to grow? To make more money so it can afford to build new and bigger things to accommodate the increase in students who are accepted? It seems if the population stayed close to where it is, the school could slow construction down and still keep students happy.

Being able to walk across campus in 10 minutes makes getting to classes easy, and it means stopping by a professor's office or the library is never out of the way. Seeing more than one friend on campus is common when walking along the Green, but the school is still big enough that there isn't a possibility of knowing everybody. If the campus continues to grow to match the projections, chances of randomly seeing friends will decrease, along with many students' desire to be on campus.

Being able to offer small classroom sizes are another reason UNF should limit its growth. For students who don't enjoy being just another name on an attendance sheet, small classes at UNF provide them with an opportunity to know their professors and classmates. If the school continues to grow, the class sizes will also grow, which will result in a less than personal experience.

North Florida is part of a nature reserve, but all the construction that is going to happen to accommodate more students will significantly decrease the amount of wooded area on campus. The change from driving on roads littered with storefronts and buildings into a campus surrounded by trees makes it seem like it's in its own secluded world. Whenever a new building goes up, vegetation must come down, along with some of what makes the campus unique.

If the reason for UNF's growth is to accommodate the country's growing population, then what about the recent discussion of the need to encourage students to attend trade schools instead of obtaining a degree? If UNF limits its admissions, it will help encourage students who might not be doing well academically to peruse trades that will benefit them in the long run.

North Florida should re-evaluate its growth goals based on other criteria than what the state wants and what will make the most money. The college experience should be satisfying to students, and because there are already many large state universities, UNF should continue to appeal to those who favor the smaller university setting. Limiting the university's growth will keep UNF unique for the students who attend, preventing them from being another face lost in the crowd and providing them with a personal education experience.

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The young, old get low end of the deal when filing income taxes

By Jon Forman
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE SERVICES

The earned income tax credit provides a much-needed wage subsidy to many low-income workers. The credit is not available to workers under age 25 or over age 65 unless they have young children.

Although we need older Americans to work longer and desperately want young men and women to join the workforce, the current credit sends exactly the wrong message. Congress should act immediately to extend the earned income tax credit to old and young workers.

The earned income credit helps offset burdensome Social Security taxes, and it provides an additional subsidy for low-income workers with children. In 2007, for example, a low-wage single mother can claim a refundable earned income credit of up to $4,716. For a minimum-wage worker, that's a wage subsidy of more than $2 per hour. The credit has encouraged millions of low-income mothers to choose work over welfare.

A smaller credit - up to $428 in 2007 - is available to childless workers, but only if they are over age 25 and under age 65.

During the tax season, I help many low-income workers prepare their tax returns, and I'm constantly amazed by the impact of these peculiar age limits.

I recently helped a 66-year-old woman who made $6,500 cleaning houses. Had she been under 65, she could have claimed a $412 credit on her 2006 return. Because she was over 65, she got no credit. And while she owed no federal income tax, she had to pay almost $1,000 in Social Security taxes, more than 15 percent of her self-employment earnings.

Many low-income workers like her have paid Social Security taxes for more than four decades. They should not lose the earned income credit just because they work past age 65. And remember, most of us will have to work until age 67 before we will be allowed to claim full Social Security benefits.

I have also helped many young workers file their first tax returns. These young men and women typically have $4,000 or $5,000 of earned income, but they are too young to claim the earned income credit.

The IRS estimates we have a federal income tax gap of $345 billion a year, and much of that gap is attributable to workers failing to report their under-the-table wages. If we want young workers to join the federal tax system for life, we should let them claim the earned income credit.

Extending the earned income credit to young workers would also encourage them to choose honest work over the "wages of crime." According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there were more than 2.1 million Americans in prison or jail in 2005, up from just a half a million in 1980. Almost 90 percent of those incarcerated are men, and many are young men from disadvantaged backgrounds. We should spend our revenue encouraging those young men to seek honest work, not building more prisons to house them.

In short, Congress should extend the earned income tax credit to workers over age 65 and under age 25. And to provide even greater work and filing incentives, Congress should raise the maximum credit to $1,000 per worker. That would get us a fairer tax system, a more productive workforce and greater taxpayer compliance.

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