What Cooks at UNA & Why Keep Facts From the Public?

From downtown Florence to the edge of North Florence sits an imposing institution. Once known as Florence State Normal College, then Florence State Teachers College, then just Florence State College, then Florence State University, the school is big business. It's governed by a board--not composed entirely of locals--and is funded partially by the state.

Make no mistake, the University of North Alabama is big business, and those who run it know in the 21st Century that UNA is like every other entity--it's money driven. Recently two topics have dominated much of the talk on the campus, and today we're going to add a third. In case the general public doesn't know:

1. (From a reader): I am sending this to you since the university's reasoning for not naming the (new commons) building for Dr. Larry Nelson is that he is living and not retired. Well after looking back the Guillot University Center was named for Dr. Guillot while he was still President of UNA and Stevens Hall was named for Dr. Roy Stevens while he was still employed at UNA. Obviously, they were both also still alive. It appears that UNA declares "policy" when it is convenient to do so. Listerhill is contributing a lot of funds towards the construction of that building. I don't know if that plays into this or not. Just wanted to see if you could help drum up some support. (Dr. Nelson passed away last week.)

2. There was a recent alleged rape at the edge of campus. It didn't involve students, but was investigated by campus police. So far, there's been no coverage of the incident in the TimesDaily. You may read about it here: Rape on UNA Campus

3. Today, the TimesDaily ran a very short article--short in length and short on facts. It states that UNA's new Chinese Communist benefactor and man of the hour may allow Florence seniors to continue to use the clubhouse at the facility formerly occupied by the Florence Golf and Country Club. Why? We have no idea since the article doesn't bother to state any rationale for this new turn of events. Aren't things going well with the new school of holistic medicine? There may be a very simple explanation...and we would very much like to hear it.



Shoalanda