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Higher tuition ensures a better higher education

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 [...]

Filed under Op-Eds on Tuesday, December 16, 2008.

Preserve healthy cabbage palms

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Thursday, November 20, 2008.

Why Americans don’t vote — and what can be done about it

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Saturday, November 1, 2008.

Lowering the drinking age: Not the solution to binge drinking

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Monday, August 25, 2008.

Research focused on renewable energy

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Sunday, June 22, 2008.

Resilient, robust research: Heart of dynamic economy beats strong at UF, other Florida universities

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Monday, May 19, 2008.

Florida to Georgia: God helps those who help themselves

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.

Filed under Op-Eds on Sunday, December 16, 2007.

Masterpiece on the environment

When Dade County relocated its public library to a new building in 1985, the last several hundred books were moved by a human chain. The Everglades: River of Grass, the last of them all, was carried by a runner like a torch.

Filed under Op-Eds on Sunday, November 11, 2007.

Win Phillips: UF jumps in R&D ranks

Buried in a recent National Science Foundation report is an eye-opening piece of news: The University of Florida has jumped 10 spots among top academic research institutions in research and development spending.

Filed under Op-Eds on Friday, November 2, 2007.

Biofuels pilot plant passes

Absent from last week’s headlines about Gov. Charlie Crist’s veto of a 5 percent tuition hike for universities was an important piece of good news: The governor let stand $20 million for a new biofuel pilot plant to be built by the University of Florida.

Filed under Op-Eds on Sunday, June 3, 2007.