Most students-real students, that is-know that football players exist on a plane far above everyone else on campus. Some glaring examples: These celebrities have the luxury of pristine, state-of-the-art gyms that normal students can’t touch. Some live in dorms resembling high-end apartments. And perhaps most importantly, they are given a degree of leniency and afforded protections that normal students will never have. Thus, when Virginia Tech finally kicked Marcus Vick off the team for his indiscretions, it came as a bit of a surprise.

Before he stomped on the leg of a Louisville player during a nationally televised bowl game, Vick had been in hot water with Virginia Tech-not to mention police-at least nine times prior. (The incidents were described in a column last Tuesday, so I won’t get into specifics except to reiterate the fact that they were all serious offenses-the ones we know about, anyway.) But of all those incidents, it was the image of Vick digging his cleats into the leg of Elvis Dumervil as he lay strewn on the ground that finally did him in. Call me crazy, but I would submit to you that Vick’s expulsion (from the football team, but not the university, mind you) has more to do with the fact that it was broadcast for millions to see rather than any legitimate integrity Virginia Tech may have.

How many universities are as forgiving to average students as they are with their football players? The students who can’t run 4.4 seconds 40-yard dashes?

The University of Miami is unfortunately no different than other football schools when it comes down to meaningful decisions. Willie Williams (our prized linebacker recruit) was arrested no less than 10 times before being admitted to the University, but since he just so happens to be able to knock the stuffing out of people on the football field, it’s overlooked. How many students not affiliated with any sport are afforded this kind of treatment? Here’s a hint: Take the amount of points the Hurricanes scored against LSU in the Peach Bowl and subtract three. Just one arrest on the record of a non-athlete is enough to bar him from entering UM. The real kicker is that Williams was actually charged by Gainesville police with a felony for discharging fire extinguishers, and for misdemeanor battery for hugging a woman without her consent, after signing with Miami.

It’s unbelievable what we now tolerate as acceptable behavior simply because certain individuals have physical talents that most don’t. Their abilities on the football field shouldn’t insulate them from appropriate treatment and punishment. Bad behavior is bad behavior, and should be treated as such.

In this day and age, it appears that college football players can engage in the most nefarious of activity and almost always get away with it. Just so long as they aren’t caught on camera stomping someone’s leg.

Moises Jacobs is a senior majoring in journalism and English. He can be contacted at m.jacobs3@umiami.edu.

You’re having the time of your life! You’re drinking, smoking and hooking up with no regard to any future consequences whatsoever. You fall down on your bed, next to an unbelievably hot girl (or guy, depending on your perspective/sexual orientation), and right as you’re about to get down and dirty, you get distracted.namely, by a very distinctive BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!-your alarm clock.

Yes, it was all a dream, and yes, it’s time to go to class. As fun as the weekend might have been, it’s now time to get out of bed and down to the LC to listen to your professor drone on about molecular biology (or Shakespearean prose, depending on your major). Yes, Friday’s a distant memory, and Monday’s knocking on your door.

And so the process of finding parking begins, whether you’re a commuter student or live on campus and are just lazy. You get into your car, start the ignition and drive toward campus, only to encounter a massive amount of traffic. You encounter teenagers slamming their brakes in response to green lights and octogenarians rapidly switching lanes (and in the process cutting you off) to reach the farmer’s market-and you skillfully (and miraculously) evade them until you reach campus.

But once here, you quickly realize another problem: Every single student who had class at the same time you happened to beat you to every single parking space; all the parking lots are filled to the brim with cars and mini-vans. You check the Memorial parking lot-full. The Wellness Center parking lot, the Mahoney/Pearson parking garage, the Ponce parking garage-all full. The Pavia parking garage-lo behold! There’s a parking space! Unfortunately, you have to park your measly little Accord between a Suburban and an Expedition.

You park your car and turn off the ignition. For the next 10 minutes, you struggle to find a way to squeeze out of your parking spot, considering you’re parked between two tanks. Then, sprint toward your class like you’ve never sprinted before, only to reach your classroom and find out your class has been cancelled.

You stop, read the note and take a deep breath-at least you didn’t lose much by not making said class, right? Wrong. You walk back to your car, only to find a $40 ticket hanging onto your windshield for parking in a resident area with a commuter permit-or is it for parking in a commuter area with a resident permit? You can’t tell now and probably never will. You yank the ticket from your windshield and stash it in the glove compartment before driving home and taking a long needed siesta.

Jay Rooney is a junior majoring in journalism and history. He can be contacted at j.rooney@umiami.edu..

Wal-Mart poses an conflict for those with a social conscience. This union-busting monolith has grown into the largest retailer in the world, and its list of violations is as long as it is revolting. According to wakeupwalmart.com, Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million Americans, and yet its average employee earns below the poverty line.

Contrary to the beliefs held by some that a working person living in poverty can pull themselves up by the bootstraps, the world isn’t so rosy-colored. And if it was, no one would be there to clean your campus.

Additionally, Wal-Mart’s healthcare offerings are amusing at best. Sadly enough, right around 52 percent of Wal-Mart’s employees are not covered by the company, according to the same website. In just one of the many ways that Wal-Mart devours tax dollars, it suggests to its employees to just get Medicare. Ten billion in profits, but the state program is a “better value.”

Of course, let’s not forget Wal-Mart’s record in human rights. In buying much of its goods from China, Wal-Mart may be responsible for around 10 percent of our trade deficit with China, wakeupwalmart.com says, and children are still being paid pennies an hour to make for Wal-Mart the crap we can’t live without. And, the manufacturing jobs of these Chinese kids used to belong to Americans.

I would be remiss not to mention how many local industries are ruined when Wal-Mart comes to town. Mom ‘n’ Pop’s just couldn’t compete with Wal-Mart’s Always Low Prices. At least Maw can always stock Wal-Mart’s shelves for $7 an hour.

If that wasn’t enough, according to the website, Wal-Mart was sued by the United States last October for violating the Clean Water Act in nine states. To top it all off, Wal-Mart made a $5,000 contribution to Tom DeLay two days after he was indicted for criminal conspiracy. Can you say permanent boycott?

Not so fast. What is the real enemy here? Poverty. The victim is the lower-middle class family, living paycheck to paycheck. This idea might be foreign to some UM students, but for some, the idea of a budget is “pay all the bills until the money runs out.” These families need Wal-Mart’s low prices in order to have some semblance of the American dream. No matter how socially conscious the family of six living in a $16,000 house is, it doesn’t have many options when the kids are growing out of clothes every six months.

Besides all that, is there anything better than a Super Wal-Mart? Groceries are cheaper and fresher there than anywhere else (especially Publix!), and where else can you find Kelly Clarkson’s new CD for $8?

Wally World could stand to make some fundamental changes to make the world a better place, but is it really so fair to demonize a company that caters exclusively to the same poor folk we liberals are trying to help out? On the other hand, is it really fair to overlook how Wal-Mart keeps those same poor folk poor? Therein lies the conundrum.

Chris Fisher is a junior majoring in motion pictures and political science. He can be contacted at c.fisher2@umiami.edu.

It’s a typical weekday. Odds are you slept through your alarm (despite its super-loud setting), half-walked, half-ran to your early-morning class and just finished the last of your reading right before your professor walked into the room. The last thing you’re worrying about is whether or not Iran will have the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Heck, you’re not even sure where Iran is.

Going to school in sunny Miami makes it easy to forget that there is a real world out there. In fact, that is probably what made half the students want to apply. Nevertheless, Iran’s ability towards nuclear proliferation remains a significant threat to the security to the United States-a fact overshadowed by media coverage over whether or not Samuel Alito’s wife was crying during the Senate Judiciary hearings. According to the Dec. 2, 2005, weekly memo produced by the American Israel Public Affairs committee, Iran could have nuclear weapons on disposal within three to five years. Some say more. Some say less.

Why is this a problem? Everyone and their mother now has or claim to have nuclear weapons. In order to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, Iran became a signatory of the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The NPT calls for all countries that did not have nuclear technology to swear not to obtain nuclear weapons as well as to declare all nuclear activities to the United Nations. However, in 2002, Iran was caught with its hands in the cookie jar when its top-secret nuclear program was leaked out. This surprised most of the international community by its sophistication and its proximity towards reaching nuclear capability. Yes, folks. Iran broke the law.

But it’s more than just breaking the treaty. Unlike Iraq where its nuclear capability was questioned among the international community, both the United States and the European Union remain steadfast in their assurance that allowing what the State Department calls “the world’s ‘most active state sponsor of terrorism” is a bad thing. Iranian President Ahmadinejad (try saying that five times fast) has been spreading vicious remarks towards the United States and Israel including a statement made on Oct. 26 at the World Without Zionism conference saying, “They say its not possible to have a world without the United States and Zionism. But you know this is a possible goal and slogan.”

Despite its claims that their nuclear program was in pursuit for energy resources, both the United States and the European Union have halted negotiations with Iran until it has sworn to abandon its attempts at uranium enrichment, one of the key processes needed to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran has remained defiant on this point. With an unpopular war in Iraq, the only viable solution to stop or slow down Iran’s nuclear capability is to bring Iran to the United Nations Security Council. Only the Security Council has the power to impose economic sanctions against Iran in an effort to force the country into isolation. Without the ability to export its resources (i.e. oil), Iran would be paralyzed.

Nonetheless, the United States would only be too happy if this were the end to its problems. Even if Iran is brought to the Security Council, two of its permanent members are our good ol’ friends: China and Russia. These countries have the ability to veto any regulation the UN might try and impose on Iran. And, due to the fact that both countries rely heavily on Iranian oil in order to power their immense populations, they are likely to use it.

So what are the solutions? Plan A still calls for diplomatic negotiations to try and bring Iran to halt its nuclear program on its own. An unpopular solution is to continue to rid the world’s dependence on petroleum through alternative energy resources such as solar or hydroelectric power. In the meantime, the more active about the subject we can be, the faster we will be able to influence our country to focus on our problem in regards to our nation’s security.

Shelley Rood is a freshman majoring in journalism and Judaic studies. She can be contacted at m.rood@umiami.edu.

According to the Morgan Quitno Press, the state of Florida ranks 36th out of 50 states in a ranking of “Smartest States.” This represents a jump of three spots, from 39th in the 2004-2005 year. The ranking, though done independently of the government, takes into consideration factors such as graduation rates, proficiency in standardized tests, class size and student-faculty ratio.

The slow but steady improvement of education under Jeb Bush, however, has been as disappointing as it has been promising. His controversial voucher program, which cost about $3 million each year and sent more than 700 qualified students to private schools last year alone, was ruled unconstitutional earlier this month. The notorious FCAT test, administered to public school students to test proficiency in a variety of topics, has lowered its standards to ensure a higher passing rate across the state.

But, with precious months remaining in his tenure as governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush offered an intriguing proposal that aims at resolving not only the student-faculty ratio problem, but the overall quality of teachers as well. A story by Matthew Pinzur of the Miami Herald explains that Governor Bush wants every public school teacher in the state to have a laptop-part of a $237 million program aimed at improving education further (laptops take up nearly $190 million of that).

Yet in this highly polarized state, plagued by poor spending, how could our government muster up $237 million without causing too big a dent to our other spending plans? The answer was laid out quite simply by gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (D-Fla.), who, at a candidates’ forum in Orlando this past weekend, took time aside from slamming his fellow candidates’ special interests to focus on a way to free up some $500 million-for education.

Davis’ suggestion-to drop our annual sales-tax holiday and re-invest the money in “schools, roads and infrastructure”-drew applause from the crowd in attendance, despite the lack of a real spending plan.

But put two and two together: Bush’s laptop plan would take up less than half of the money reallocated by Davis’ plan. That means attracting more and better teachers, not to mention improving other aspects of education: technology, special programs and class size, to name a few.

Of course, in a state where education continues to lag behind, putting two and two together may not be so easy.