Objection to FIU Law’s new dean is not partisan; it’s academic integrity | Opinion

Questionable qualifications

The Herald’s Mary Anna Mancuso argues that Daniel Epstein’s politics shouldn’t matter in evaluating his appointment as FIU Law’s new dean — then spends the rest of her July 2 op-ed column, “A ‘Trump lawyer’ picked as dean of FIU Law could pay off big,” arguing that his political connections are an asset. A glaring contradiction.

More problematic is her framing of FIU Law’s faculty objections as politically motivated. FIU ran a national search through a respected firm and produced three finalists. The administration bypassed all three — a move FIU’s own founding dean called “a political decision made without meaningful participation by the faculty.” Objecting to that is not partisan; it is academic integrity.

Mancuso frames the dean’s job as fundraising, rankings and employer relationships.

What about academic leadership? Faculty governance? Protecting scholarly independence from political interference?

Epstein has never been a law professor and never ran an academic program. Under what criteria, then, did he get the job?

Glenn Kaplan,

Fort Lauderdale

(Really) old Miami

As a former reporter and columnist for the late Miami News, I often dug into our megalopolis’ modern history, especially for the paper’s Neighborhood series. Clearly, I didn’t dig deep enough!

Miami Herald reporter Andres Viglucci’s July 5 epic on our ancient history, “Miami’s forgotten ancient past is hiding beneath a Joe & the Juice. Yes, really,” was a phenomenal piece of research and reporting.

I wonder if the University of Miami or Florida International University might be the likely local repository for all the artifacts The Museum of Miami is unable to house and display?

Norma A. Orovitz,

Bay Harbor Islands

Peguero best choice

We support Robin Peguero in the August Democratic primary for the District 27 seat now held by U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar. In a letter to the editor on May 18, four supporters of retired newscaster Eliott Rodriguez made their case for him in the primary. (They did not criticize Peguero’s qualifications; indeed, they acknowledged them.)

Their letter made no dent in Peguero’s coalition. We continue to support him because he is better qualified to serve this district in Congress.

Both campaigns released internal polls claiming superior voter support. However, after voters hear basic biographical information about the candidates, Peguero leads by several points.

Another indicator of popular support is that as of June 30, Peguero had raised more than $1 million from more than 8,000 contributors without any donations from corporate PACs or self-loans, nearly double what Rodriguez reported.

Recent primaries show that voters want generational change. Peguero belongs to the younger generation, and his entire career has been in public service, including over seven years working in Congress as an investigator and staffer.

Rodriguez has no record of public service. Peguero remains the better choice.

Marvin Dunn,

professor emeritus,

Florida International University,

Chris McAliley,

U.S. Magistrate Judge (ret.),

Katy Sorenson,

former Miami-Dade County Commissioner

End the tension

Why does the United States continue the cat and mouse war with Iran?

We should take out every single missile launch site and every drone operation, then together with Israel, send in our Marines to wipe out the Iranian army and what’s left of their rogue governing regime.

End of story. End of war.

Larry Solomon,

West Kendall

Choose carefully

I am a former Miami-Dade County Public School teacher. Charter schools are not all that people think they are. Sometimes, they employ people who do not have degrees or are not certified.

Many of the students spend time at “play” more than they are being actively provided with solid instruction. Public schools must be supported and so do the teachers

The Miami-Dade County School Board should please keep this in mind as they ponder the immediate future of the board’s leadership.

Gertha L. Poitier-Whitehead,

Opa-locka

Florida corruption

Over the last eight years, we have all witnessed blatant and seemingly endless corruption from too many of our state politicians. They are rarely held accountable.

Lately, there hasn’t been a week that goes by without our Attorney General James Uthmeier in the news for, allegedly, a host of shady, possibly illegal, controversial, or partisan decisions. From the Hope Florida scandal, to Alligator Alcatraz, to a $100,000 part-time job, to a recent disclosure that he accepted tens of thousands in political donations. Further, Uthmeier possibly used his influence on numerous cases for public companies and individuals dealing with the state. Of course, there has been no retort from the legislature or the governor.

Anyone surprised?

This type of behavior from our elected officials is wrong and an embarrassment to the good people of Florida. We deserve better.

John Bonano,

Gulfport

Money ruins soccer

I’ve spent years coaching youth and high school soccer in New Hampshire and run my own United Premier Soccer League club. I’ve seen the raw talent standing on the pitch in high school, only to watch them vanish.

Why?

Because their parents couldn’t afford the exorbitant pay-to-play ransom required just to keep the lights on in this miserable, hollowed out system.

Every four years, we go through this pathetic ritual: the U.S. team crashes, the suits start hunting for heads and the media hacks perform their little autopsies. They blame the coach. They blame the players. It’s convenient, superficial and meant to distract from the real crime.

In other countries, soccer clubs are community institutions. They aren’t looking for cash in someone’s wallet, they’re looking for talent. They treat a kid with potential like an asset, an investment in the future.

In America, we treat kids like a recurring revenue stream. It’s a high margin, predatory business model that milks suburban parents for every cent so they can feel good about their kid playing in some “elite” showcase that doesn’t matter. We are prioritizing volume and profit while the rest of the world is busy finding the 0.1% who actually have the fire to win a World Cup.

In neighborhoods throughout our nation, there are kids with the vision of a playmaker and the heart of a lion. Those kids, however, are invisible because they don’t have $20,000 for travel costs, hotels and the vanity fees required to get a sniff of a scouting network that’s essentially a gated community.

We are leaving the next generation of greatness on the sidelines because their parents had the audacity to be working class. As long as our development pipeline is gated by a credit card limit instead of pure, unadulterated talent, our U.S. team will never be more than a punchline.

The World Cup shouldn’t be a marketing exercise for the privileged. It should be a wake-up call that we’ve turned this game into a luxury product. It isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of opportunity.

The rot starts at the top. Let’s burn the business model and start treating this sport like a public trust.

Jeremy Zelanes,

Oviedo

Biology 101

Rod Joseph, a Republican congressional candidate, believes that everyone is “born straight” and some people become LGBTQ by choice. And I thought Democrats were the ridiculous end of the species because they cannot define or describe a woman. Then comes this biology failure.

Someone needs to march Joseph down to the nearest OB-GYN nursing school and show him the picture book. Sometimes, the chromosomes line up differently. It’s just nature.

W.F. Cunningham, III,

Fort Lauderdale

Bye, bye runway?

Now that the Palm Beach International Airport is officially named after President Trump, how long before it goes bankrupt?

Juan Suarez,

Pembroke Pines