University of Florida News

A timely reminder of the promise of public higher education has emerged in a most unlikely place: the plains of the far north.

EVERYONE knows that Ivy League universities banned the Reserve Officer Training Corps from their campuses during the Vietnam War. Forty years later, the bans continue, though the reason has shifted from war protest to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay men and women in the military.

Members of Congress are taking a hiatus from the summer heat in Washington, D.C., on recess until mid-September. But instead of addressing the concerns of voters, congressional members are busy attending pricey fundraisers and dialing-for-dollars in order to raise enough money for the November election.

Somewhere beneath Gulf of Mexico waters lies the archive of Spanish West Florida. When Americans invaded Pensacola in 1818, Spanish officials fled for Cuba. Intercepted en route by pirates, they heaved the colony’s records overboard.

Much has been written about BP’s staggering liabilities for cleanup, compensation and fines for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The employees and political action committees of securities and investment firms like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America have given more than $577,000 to Florida members of Congress so far this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. While the boardrooms of these big banks might be thousands of miles away, their campaign checks are not.

The University of Florida’s new Innovation Hub will spur new startups, high-paying jobs and outside investment in our community.

As the summer travel season begins in earnest, more and more travelers are choosing the Gainesville Regional Airport – a welcome trend not only for the airport but also for North Central Florida.

This op-ed appeared June 1 in the St. Petersburg Times.
By: Dawn Jourdan
Dawn Jourdan is an assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Florida.
A recurrent theme of the rhetoric in support of the Hometown Democracy amendment is that it empowers citizens by encouraging citizen participation. As an assistant professor of urban and [...]

Forty years ago late Tuesday night, the astronauts aboard a stricken Apollo 13 famously reported, “Houston, we have a problem.” • Though it is not a life-or-death situation, Florida’s space industry today faces a quandary that is every bit as much about survival.