DISCOURSE
- No-show students have little right to complain about leadership's visibility Editorial
- UNF leads community in promoting gay rights at work Editorial
- Ignore the preacher man and he won't bother you Matt Coleman
- Hey kids: Gorge on those Twinkies while you still can Ace Stryker
- Friend's death changes student's perspective on life, family, friends Sheri Riley
- Letters to the Editor
No-show students have little right to complain about leadership's visibility
Editorial
Student Government hosted a Coffee with the Presidents event at Starbucks to give campus community members the opportunity to meet and
greet with UNF President John Delaney and Student Body President Rachael Tutwiler over mocha
frappuccinos.
There was coffee and there were presidents, but there were hardly any students.
Actually, there were several dozen customers in Starbucks the morning of Nov. 15, but only two who weren't involved with Student Government or the president's office arrived with the intent of meeting and greeting.
Perhaps the 8 a.m. meeting time was much too early for some students, but for others, maybe mingling with the presidents just isn't their cup
of joe.
Regardless of the reason, the apathetic attitude was made apparent by the lack of attendance.
Why students didn't care to take advantage of the opportunity is not clear.
Some murmur about how Delaney doesn't spend time around students and lament about how they would
like him to step out of his office and shake some hands every once in
a while.
They wonder, "Where in the world is President Delaney? What does
he do in his classroom-sized office every day?"
Last week, however, it was Delaney who probably wondered, "Where are the students?"
Coffee with the Presidents gives students, administration and faculty approximately one hour once a year to ask their university and student body presidents questions about the future of UNF.
Aside from this opportunity, chances like this are scarce, as most other Delaney sightings on campus are business-related. The former mayor and Jacksonville general counsel otherwise does not normally have time to drink coffee with students.
Tutwiler pledges to hold an open-door policy but also has classes to attend, and while the door might be always opened, she's not always present.
Like most of the UNF community, the two have places to go and people to see, and aside from this once-a-year event, are not often guaranteed to be in the same place at the same time.
Even if they are seen together, it is usually not with the intent of chatting with students. Early morning or not, if students would rise to the occasion and show they cared about getting involved and making a difference in their community, Delaney might be more inclined to attend more campuswide meet and greet events.
But that won't happen until attendance on the one annual event improves.
Until then, the president will seem just as out of touch with the students as ever, by no fault of his own.
UNF leads community in promoting gay rights at work
Editorial
It's no secret Jacksonville is a conservative city. It's part of the Bible Belt, Republicans dominate polls and political offices, and
The Florida Times-Union's editorial board rarely ventures to the left.
Yet the UNF administration has moved against the city's ultraconservative roots and has taken steps to embrace all of the university's employees, regardless of their sexual orientation, by offering employees' domestic partners the benefits to which they are entitled.
The university offering domestic partnership benefits not only sets an example for the rest of the community, but also shows that the administration possesses the open-mindedness
to enhance equal employment
opportunity.
For students, a large part of being in a university setting is experiencing diversity and acceptance, and if the members of the faculty and staff that should be demonstrating those values do not feel accepted, students are less likely to take those qualities away from time spent at college.
Offering benefits to the partners of homosexual professors, administrators and staff members shows
that they are just as welcome as
heterosexual members on campus, and it also gives students the
chance to experience tolerance they will seldom encounter in the rest of the city.
With so many companies following the "don't ask, don't tell" policy - or blatantly refusing to offer domestic partner benefits - homosexuals experience problems that heterosexuals
do not.
They don't have the opportunity to benefit from their spouse's retirement plans or add on to their partner's company health insurance policy.
While domestic partners continue to experience discrimination from the government, workplaces making an effort to show acceptance of homosexual employees are showing initiative the government has lacked by taking a positive step toward equality.
Those against domestic partner benefits argue companies should not support relationships not recognized by law.
Policies do not change for the better, however, until lobbyists get involved.
There was a time when black people couldn't attend white schools.
People had to take the initiative and challenge those laws to make our leaders realize how limiting people's rights was incredibly
discriminative.
UNF has taken its place as a leader in the Jacksonville community. Despite popular opinion regarding domestic partnership, the university has done right by its employees.
The university's domestic partnership policy stipulates that employees are eligible only if they and their partners declare "they would marry or establish a legally recognized domestic partnership if state
laws permitted."
UNF acknowledges that the state denying a couple the right to marry is a difficult enough issue, and it has done its part to welcome diversity into the university community.
Other Jacksonville companies need to overcome their prejudices and follow suit by embracing all members of our ever-changing society.
Ignore the preacher man and he won't bother you
Staff Opinion
They arrive at the same time every year like clockwork. They parade around campus, flapping their limbs, quacking loudly, and creating a general annoyance for anyone within range. It's impossible to miss their arrival, as it's heralded by a tidal wave of excrement.
It's that season again: The preachers have returned to campus.
Their dogma is refreshingly consistent. If you have sex before marriage, you're headed to Hell. If you show a little ankle, you've earned yourself a one-way ticket to a land of scalding pitchforks and endless showings of Rob Schneider films.
These hard-line stances might be ridiculous to anyone who has ever cracked open a religious text, but they are protected by law.
All citizens, even the crazy ones, have an inalienable right to free speech. If they're not interrupting the academic environment, inciting violence or promoting pornography, they're welcome to scream until they burst a blood vessel. But that doesn't mean you have to listen.
Every day, more and more students assemble around the preachers. The majority views them as sideshow attractions - ridiculous respites from pesky concepts like logic and reason.
However, a startling number of misguided students have tried to engage these preachers in conversation.
Bad call.
These people are here to cram their belief structure down your throat. Arguing with these fanatics is as practical as trying to domesticate a grizzly bear.
It's even gotten so bad that members of UPD have been drawn into the fray. Officers are being tasked with ensuring religious discourse on campus doesn't turn violent - whether that involves protecting students from a severe Bible thumping or safeguarding these disciples from a less-than-heavenly beating.
I'd rather authorities focus more on the welfare of students than ensuring the safety of deluded pseudo-prophets. But, that can't be done until students stop playing into their pointless game.
These preachers act like overly aggressive animals, so they need to be treated accordingly. Instead of food and water, these creatures subsist solely on your attention. Take away their resources, and their numbers will fall.
It's a simple remedy.
Don't feed the wildlife.
Contact Matt Coleman at discourse@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Hey kids: Gorge on those Twinkies while you still can
Staff Opinion
Your child might be remembered by history as a member of the Ho Ho generation.
It appears the sun is setting on snack foods, so tell your kids to gorge while they can. The government thinks they're too fat, so they're snatching the Twinkies from their stumpy little fingers and grinding their Cheetos into the sidewalk.
In the United States, lawmakers have been concerned for the past couple years about obesity numbers among school-age children.
Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate 17-19 percent of kids between 6 and 17 years old are overweight - a little less than one in five.
That's to say nothing of the 14 percent of 2-to-5-year-olds outside the normal range. Imagine: A nation full of fat toddlers, barely able to toddle at all with their elephantine legs!
So state governments are responding as any freedom-loving capitalist government would: by taking away the choices they think are bad.
Schools across the country are locking up soda machines and shoveling cupcakes into the trash bin because your kids don't have the restraint to keep themselves from ballooning on snack foods like threatened blowfish.
No longer will kids have a choice, because like Chairman Mao - err, Thomas Jefferson - said, the individual choice and accountability of irresponsible people is best left to the government.
The problem here is not that too many choices are available. That's never been the problem - anywhere, ever. The problem is the choices kids are making, which is a direct consequence of the behavior they were taught by parents and other authority figures in their formative years.
Look at it this way: When do school-age kids gain the most weight? According to a study by Indiana University and Ohio State University researchers, it's when school isn't even in session - over the summer, most often.
That suggests two things. First: It's a failure on the part of parents, not schools, to instill healthy eating habits in kids that's making them fat. And second: If you deprive your hungry little middle-schooler of his diet of choice for nine months out of the year, you'd better expect at the beginning of next year he's put away a few pork rinds over the summer.
Contact Ace Stryker at discourse@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Friend's death changes student's perspective on life, family, friends
Student Opinion
I came to college with only one of my close friends from high school. We were so much alike that it sometimes brought us down, but mainly held us together. His smile made me light up while his sarcasm made me want to put him in a headlock.
Regardless, behind those stunning brown eyes was one of the most amazing people to ever exist. He was a beautiful person any friend, sibling or parent would be proud
to claim.
I was accustomed to getting text messages from him declaring how annoyed he was that we weren't spending enough time together. He told me soccer had taken over my life and he'd patiently wait until we could hang out more frequently.
After about a month, I made the time. We'd have what became our usual two-hour talks on the third floor of Building X outside his dorm room.
Every once in a while, I'd be able to sweet-talk him into watching a "Harry Potter" movie with me. Quickly, fall turned into spring and spring to summer. He went home while I stayed in Jacksonville.
The last time I saw him, he was lovingly throwing me "the bird" as he walked passed me into Publix. I said I'd call him that weekend.
It wasn't until the funeral service that I finally realized he was gone.
As I watched friends that I hadn't seen since 11th grade file into the funeral home, it hit me hard. We'd lost someone we all truly loved, and it wasn't fair. This wasn't supposed
to happen.
I needed one more day with him. I needed one more day to tell him how much I loved him and how much he meant to me. They say time heals everything, that some days will be better than others, and that it's OK to cry. As difficult as it has been, I've somehow managed to come out
thankful.
I am thankful that I met someone who had such an incredible impact on my life. I am thankful for all the wonderful times I got to share with him.
From here, I challenge you to make an impact in someone's life. I challenge you to live for the people you love as I live for him. I challenge you to be happy, courageous, and to smile as often as you can. I challenge you to speak up and tell someone you love them and that they mean the world
to you.
Live for the moment, take chances, never settle, and make a difference in someone's life.
Contact Sheri Riley at discourse@unfspinnaker.com -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE
Letters to the Editor
Mr. Turn-or-Burn turns me off
Dear Editor,
I have a message for the people who have been preaching from the Green recently.
You stand on the Green shouting threats, judging and condemning students passing by.
At least once a year, my ears feel the sting of your distortion of the truth. I do not think Jesus had what you are doing in mind, and I think you are making things worse.
If one calls himself a Christian, he should be trying to live life following Jesus Christ. God sent his son not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (John 3:17). Looking at the actions of Jesus and the way you're trying to bring the gospel to students doesn't make sense to Christians anywhere.
Jesus said the greatest commandments were to love God and to love others as you love yourself (Matt 22:36-40).
So, Mr. Turn-or-Burn, where is the love? A Christian is supposed to be the salt and light of the earth, which means they are supposed to be different in a good way.
Your faith, accompanied by you condemning inconsistent action is distorting people's perception of Christianity. Do you think you can scare us into loving God?
Don't you see why the yelling is so disturbing to us? It's because your sole agenda is to convert people to your religion. However, they are not notches on your spiritual belt. They are people.
People that God loves, and people that Jesus wants us to love. If you really love someone, the relationship won't be about an agenda, will it? In addition, if you have a real relationship with someone, they might be open to hearing about the Gospel.
So again, Mr. Turn-or-Burn, where is the love?
Chris Perrin,
UNF Alumnus