How is heck is this guy worth 50,000 for one speech. No wonder College costs so much and is worth even less.
i just graduated from UF in the spring - ACCENT uses the student activities fees portion of the tuition to bring speakers to UF, technically this is only the money of people that pay tuition, not really fl taxpayers money (per se)- ACCENT is actually a group on campus which many students feel is exclusive and mostly filled with greeks who tend to lean on the side of conservatism BUT they bring all sorts of speakers to the university - i believe ann coulter cost $32k last year and spike lee and elie wiesel (if i recall correctly) were also over the $30K mark, so the high fees are just the nature of bringing famous speakers to campus - $50k is more than most, but it isnt out of the ordinary - universities like UF have an obligation to bring relevant speakers to town (many townspeople come to these events, not just UF students, it is free to all) — it doesnt matter whether you agree with the speakers topic or not, the intent is to expose a huge student populace to issues and beliefs they may not be aware of or understand, knowledge benefits us all (i hope we can all agree on that)...i intend to write to machen to tell him i applaud ACCENTs choice (something the president of UF has nothing to do with) to counteract the useless petition that will be sent to him by some floridians (most of whom do not pay tuition at UF)