The Meyer Apology & Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Let's start off with this bogus apology. Andrew Meyer was no doubt watching out for his future by apologizing for an arrest that had many across the country and around the world in shock! Some screamed 'excessive force', others believed Meyer was dealt with properly and applauded Machen's shock troops silencing an otherwise obnoxious event-goer. I myself, who normally support law enforcement, felt the officers jumped the proverbial gun and acted highly suspect. My video response to the tasering shot to #22 on YouTube.com for two days and has received over 120,000 views.

But if it were solely about the incident and the apology, I suppose I would be less weary. However, there was plenty that went on in the meantime. For starters, the student body, under the watchful guidance of Progress Party officials, organized a rally to call for awareness on the matter. The student body president at UF, Ryan Moseley, was blatantly used by the System as an instrument with which to quell student anger -- most blatantly. Moseley met protesters almost at the steps of UPD...a student shield held firmly by University brass. How lovely. We should also thank Student Government's Kim Cruts and the rest of the Propaganda Gang that package a highly glossy, finely tuned SG package to the vastly oblivious student body.

A rubber stamp committee formed at the 11th hour by Machen and timed immediately after elections in which Machen's pet, Ryan Moseley's Gator Party all but swept, was formed and almost anyone with half a sense of campus politics knew the outcome before the gavel hit kicking off the body's round of investigations. In typical UF style, President Machen had full veto powers and could reject any finding the committee reached by majority, at WILL. With student members picked by Moseley, faculty fearful of losing their jobs (e.g. Charles Grapski, the last known faculty member to stand up to Machen), and a student body largely fearful of UPD reprisals...the committee was doomed from conception.

So...an apology from Meyer is hardly newsworthy or thought-provoking. Still, we're talking about it, so the System must be happy. We must continue to voice opposition to the abuse of police powers, the re-evaluation of the taser as part of campus police arsenals, AND the mismanagement of ACCENT -- one of the best-funded student-led campus organizations at the University of Florida.