We applaud student government in their endeavor to keep students’ lungs free of second hand smoke. Thanks to a new bill passed in the Student Government Senate, resident students will have to take a walk if they want to smoke. The air will soon be cleared around the dorms as a 25-foot non-smoking buffer is placed around University residence halls. Students will now be able to come and go without involuntarily inhaling half a pack of Marlboros.

While we can already hear the cries of injustice squealing out of the hacking lungs of chain smokers, we strongly believe the right to breathe clean air should supersede smokers’ desires to puff in close vicinity to home.

There is no doubt that students should still have the right to smoke, but there should be a higher level of consideration given to where they smoke. This new bill means students will no longer have to choose between smoking and second-hand smoking.

Student government elections are quickly approaching, and this year, the University of Miami students are asking some hard questions. Questions such as, “Student what?” and even, “Is this a senior prank?”

While widespread student apathy and lack of information promises yet another lackluster election, it seems only fair to question who is actually at fault for the current state of affairs.

Of course, no one party is entirely to blame, but there certainly are major faults on both sides. This concerns everyone because student government makes some very important decisions for the student body, even though virtually no one has any idea what those decisions are.

In this area, the blame seems to be cast most heavily on student government. Why don’t the students know what issues are being discussed? Why don’t we ever hear the decisions being made? Why do the students have so little input in the governing body that is supposedly representing their interests? The only answer is severely insufficient advertising.

Although student government does indeed make flyers, banners, etc., the average student never sees them. They are not numerous enough, nor are they placed in strategic locations. Currently, regular students must actively seek out the information, and even then, it is not always easy to find. Student government should be taking measures to ensure that issues and decisions are posted in forums where students can easily access them. Then, and only then, will students begin to care, because, after all, you can’t be interested in what you don’t know is going on.

At the same time, students must not be so complacent. If student government makes the necessary changes, the students must respond to them with increased activity. There must be a cultivation of interest in campus affairs. Indeed, it is not fair when student government’s most difficult task is to find a way to make students interested in on-campus activities without having to replace the Memorial Building with a hip new dance club that fosters a lucrative, underground party-drug scene.

Hopefully student government will take these words to heart after the election. While the blame is not entirely theirs, it seems that they certainly need to make the first move. And if they do make their proceedings perfectly accessible to the students and get no response, at least everyone will know where the real problem lies.

Quiz time! How many of you out there know who is in charge of student government? If you answered Gloria Cooper, the administrative assistant, you’re partially right, but the full answer is Mike Johnston. Who? Oh, yeah, that big, tall, blonde-haired guy who was wearing a yellow shirt and smiling all the time last semester trying to get me to vote for him. Or as the freshmen might know him: the big, tall, blonde-haired guy who spoke at orientation right before the Greek propaganda video made in 1978 by the same guy who directed “Earnest Goes to Kappa Omicron Kappa.”

Even if you know Mike Johnson and what he does, I have a better question for you: do you know who your senator is? No? I didn’t think so.

See, that was a trick question. Every student on campus has at least three senators (four, if you are greek and/or gay) representing every aspect of campus and off-campus life. You are represented by where you live, what school you are enrolled in, class level and favorite Backstreet Boy just to name a few.

Why didn’t you know that? That’s a good question; go talk to the PR committee in student government and find out. Better yet, do us all a favor and join them if you think you can do better. I dare you.

Your senators represent you and speak on your behalf about all semi-important issues and policies that affect campus and some tree-dwelling squirrels.

And guess what happens if your behalf doesn’t get to the senators? Yes, that’s right; their behalf becomes the “bewhole” if you don’t tell them your opinions regarding campus issues.

Who are these mysterious phantom senators you seem to elect by way of default apathy? That’s easy to find out. All you have to do sit in on any senate meeting (Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m. also known to the senators as the 11th commandment) which is open to all students on campus, except when they are in the process of voting or doodling Richard Walker cartoons on their senate agendas.

If you cannot make it to the meetings because you have an important class or a shoe to tie, don’t worry; all you have to do is e-mail the speaker of the senate, Stephanie “T-Rex Smile” Hernandez (sgspeaker@miami.edu), and she will be happy to answer any questions you have about our student government senate (including how to join).

Johnston, Hernandez and the senate (and Gloria) have moved mountains and drained oceans to accomplish great achievements toward the improvement of campus life and the student.

What exactly have they done? Well since I don’t have the room to list all of S.G.’s accomplishments because my editor told me to keep this article under 400 words (thank you, Jackie), you can e-mail S.G. yourself and ask what they have done for you (sgpresident@miami.edu and sgvicepresident@miami.edu). I’m sure they will be more than happy to ramble on about that.

But seriously, you’d be surprised how much a group of students can accomplish when they complain long and loud enough. By the way, S.G. elections are from Monday, Sept. 23 through Wednesday, September 25 out in the UC breezeway. I encourage all of our readers to go out there and vote-all six of you.

Max Alvarez can be reached at: m.alvarez4@umiami.edu

If you listen closely, you can hear the state of Florida slowly choking the life out of democracy. The most recent Democratic gubernatorial primaries were just another exercise in our astounding, appalling voting-day ineptitude.

This showdown was between Janet Reno, a graduate of Yale law school and attorney general of the United States for eight years, and Bill McBride, a local businessman of indeterminate background.

Call me crazy, but Bill McBride didn’t seem to have a chance. I mean, it’s like a governor from Texas who admittedly used cocaine, had a serious drinking problem, ran multiple businesses into the ground and couldn’t correctly pronounce the names of important world leaders, let alone the word “subliminal,” beating the current vice president of eight years who always had specific numbers and figures ready to answer any question and knew the White House like the back of his hand.

Oh, wait-that wasn’t just a bad dream?

In yet another pathetic election (if you can call it that), Florida has once again snubbed superior qualification, experience and intelligence to select the candidate who nobody knows much about.

To be fair, it is not all Florida’s fault. After all, Reno won 71% of the vote in Miami-Dade County alone, and most counties she lost either misplaced votes, recorded them incorrectly or illegally closed early. And McBride only won by 4,800 votes, giving Reno more than sufficient reason to call for a recount. Instead, she graciously conceded the election.

Is anyone else tired of having the rightful loser of an election win because of undemocratic actions at voting centers? Does anyone else feel their vote, provided it doesn’t get lost, is meaningless anyway?

Is anyone reminded of when thousands of elderly Jewish citizens of Palm Beach, against nearly a century of tradition, decided to see what the Republican party had to offer and “voted” for Bush?

In the end, maybe Florida is the smartest state in the union. After all, if it wasn’t for us, George W. Bush would almost certainly have lost the election, and now it seems we picked the candidate who can ensure the almost certain reelection of Jeb Bush. In essence, the Bush family owes its prominence to our incompetence. Come on, Florida, let’s start demanding more money. We’re not “electing” these officials for nothing.

Travis Atria is a junior majoring in English Literature

Campus security shields students from the real Miami.

Miami: the city of white sand beaches, sleepless nightlife, beautiful people and harmonious diversity, right?

Wrong.

I’ve learned that Miami is a gilded city where the beautiful beaches and people disguise the crack addicts and impoverished community. Miami has some of the richest people in the United States and some of the poorest people.

Why, then, do people fail to realize this seeming case of extremes?

It is next to impossible not to notice the burnt-out and rundown houses along I-95. Yet for some reason, the mansions and skyscrapers are all that is seen. Or are they all that people care about?

Students are warned to avoid certain areas and thus flock to all of two places in the entire city: South Beach and the Grove. I don’t know what I would do if I heard someone say they were going somewhere like Little Havana or Hialeah.

This lush, subtropical landscape that we call home is a unique campus community that provides us with the utmost safety in a city surrounded by crime.

It is a microcosm that provides students with a false sense of security and invincibility.

What has been created here is a bubble.

The bubble is like an invisible force field that keeps out all bad and allows only good to pass through. The bubble makes it possible for students to walk to the convenience store at 3 a.m. and for them to be able to wear their colored bandannas without having to worry about being shot down by a local gang.

What I’m trying to say is that, on the surface, it may seem as though there is nothing wrong with providing students with a safe and secure campus, but the problem is when students decide to venture outside the bubble, their false sense of security translates into trouble.

For some students, the bubble helps to boost their ego. After all, they are the coolest, right?

Well, as soon as they step off campus, students who forget to leave their ego in the bubble wind up in some pretty dangerous situations.

Many have been harassed, assaulted, mugged and the list goes on and on. They return to the bubble as always, but they are changed. Their sense of security and safety is forever altered and their ego is gone. And they realize what Miami really is. The bubble may not be visible, but next time you’re walking to the convenience store at 3 a.m. think about how different it would feel to be walking around anywhere else in Miami at that time. Most importantly, maybe you’ll remember to leave your ego in the bubble too.

Leigha Taber is a junior majoring in psychology.