University of Florida News

Open letter from Florida’s 11 university presidents

These are challenging times for all, and higher education is no exception. Economic stimulus dollars may offer some hope, but the University of Florida and the state’s 10 other public universities face the real possibility of severe cutbacks.

This op-ed appeared Feb. 1 in the Orlando Sentinel.
By: Francis E. “Jack” Putz
Francis E. “Jack” Putz is a professor of botany at the University of Florida.
It seems as though every time you turn around, another environmentalist is whining about yet another threat to life as we know it. Some seem far-fetched, while others appear inconsequential. [...]

This op-ed appeared in The Miami Herald, Tallahassee Democrat and Gainesville Sun.
By: Bernie Machen
Bernie Machen is the president of the University of Florida.
Last week’s headlines about the soaring costs of college may cause some to ask why Florida’s public universities and Gov. Charlie Crist support a plan to allow Florida universities to hike tuition 15 [...]

If you look out your window right now, chances are you’ll spot a Sabal palmetto, the scientific name of the cabbage palm, the state tree of Florida and South Carolina. Now imagine the landscape without these icons of the tropics.

Americans go to the polls next week to select our next president. Interest is high in a contest featuring the first major party black presidential candidate, the worst financial crisis since the great depression, and the country bogged down in two far off wars.

As parents ferry boxes to residence halls and map-clutching students wander wide-eyed around the University of Florida, the start of fall semester always brings a contagious feeling of optimism and excitement.

State policymakers at this week’s 2008 Climate Change summit in Miami will focus on renewable energy in Florida. The meeting is important and timely.

With the economy faltering, state and federal cutbacks threaten to slow scientific progress. As many commentators have noted in recent months, that is not a welcome trend for a nation facing the leveled plane of a globalized economy.

This week the governors of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia will discuss the allocation of the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers (ACF) among the three states.