I never knew Edward “Tad” Foote II. Foote left the University of Miami, where he had been president for 20 years since 2001. At the time, I was in sixth grade and didn’t know what college was. I consider it a testament to his vision that the opportunities I now face and the grief I…
Conflicts at University of Florida warn against exclusive system
Student Government elections are this week. The Florida presidential primary will be next month. Time is approaching for citizens and students to choose the systems of power that preside over them. And a new issue brought to light at the University of Florida offers the chance to reflect on how we should make our decisions…
Presidential candidates should reconsider Trans-Pacific Partnership
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump don’t have much in common beyond their notorious hairstyles. Unfortunately, all three are now against the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), the 12-nation free trade agreement that is still awaiting final Congressional approval. That’s a shame, because the TPP would do a lot of good for a lot…
President Donna E. Shalala’s inauguration marked university’s true beginning
Common knowledge would say that the University of Miami was established in 1925 – I disagree. While a lot has happened on this campus over the decades since then, the University of Miami from which I will graduate next year was announced on Nov. 2, 2001, when newly inaugurated President Donna Shalala outlined her standards…
PRO: Say ‘no’ to fuel company stocks
Consider this hypothetical situation: You’re an investor looking for a good return on your money. A good value comes from buying poison, but the return only appreciates once you drink it. Do you do it? The University of Miami faces a similar choice with the question of divestment – the opposite of investment – from…
Feminism not female-only issue
Let me be clear: Men should understand and embrace feminist principles for their own sake. Feminism is divisive. A July 2014 poll conducted by YouGov.com showed only half of men consider themselves feminists, even when feminism was defined as belief in the “equality of the sexes.” Only half of men believe in equality? Men have…
UM traditions go beyond color
Last Friday, our campus celebrated Orange Festival, the spring celebration of everything we love about UM, under the unifying banner of orange. It’s a grand celebration of our deeply held traditions, dating all the way back to 2013. Forgive me for not minding that I skipped it. I come from a proud family of Miami…
CON: Propose realistic solutions for deficit
A student campaign is raising awareness of the national government debt. However, with budgets and the debt, students can easily be overwhelmed by large, scary numbers. As such, a bit of context is helpful. First, Congress doesn’t cover all its spending (and rarely ever has). The cumulative debt owed by the federal government is a whopping $18…
‘Spit-balled’ odds, thoughts on next university president
With President Donna E. Shalala’s last semester underway, the search for her replacement raises many questions in the minds of students: What exactly does a college president do? Who’s next? Will the president sack Al Golden, get rid of Chartwells and give me automatic A’s? Fortunately for the curious, I’ve done some research to guide those…
Social action should not be trade-off
Thomas Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian, became the first patient in the United States to die from Ebola. He passed away last month in Dallas after contracting the disease in his native Liberia before traveling to the U.S. A new life-or-death threat like Ebola gives us a chance to reflect on what we’re doing as a…
FSU presidential search too political
It’s always fun to compare University of Miami to one of our rivals, Florida State University. Our school has more resources, higher academic standards and is situated in a better city. Heck, even our much-maligned football team has more rings. But there’s one particular comparison that poses as a warning to our university. Last year,…
CON: Real-world experience trumps college education
Why do we go to colleges and universities? Is it to pay to write papers we write almost exclusively with information from free websites like Wikipedia? Or to prepare us for a world that will be radically different five years from graduation? The job of colleges today is to prepare students for jobs that will…