A nine-year-old boy’s father recently posted a video on YouTube of his son playing basketball with hopes it will catch the eye of an NCAA recruiter. The young boy is actually very good for his age, and the clip has already been viewed more than a million times. University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer sent hundreds of text messages to recruits to avoid the NCAA limit on phone calls, and found another recruit’s girlfriend a gymnastics scholarship at UF just to sweeten the deal, according to a Gainesville Sun report. What do the two have in common? They are both examples of how NCAA recruiting has gone too far.

Gov. Charlie Crist announced a plan Nov. 21 that will allow each of Florida’s 11 public universities to recommend tuition rate increases up to $370 per semester next year, according to the Florida Board of Governors. The plan is scheduled to allow each university the ability to recommend tuition rate increases up to 15 percent annually as long as schools are actively working toward the governor’s 10-point plan – a plan geared to lower the gap between Florida’s tuition and the national average. “A well-educated workforce opens the door to endless opportunities for every Floridian and for the Sunshine State,” Crist said in a statement. “By working together, my administration, the Legislature and the higher education community can make our universities stronger than ever. This proposal is an example of the improvements we can make for college students by bringing stakeholders together.” The state Legislature will initially raise tuition to adjust for inflation. After that, it will be up to each university’s Board of Trustees to recommend any further tuition hikes.

Current economic and job market conditions have more students considering graduate school as a way to weather the financial storm and improve their outlook upon graduation. A recent survey conducted by Kaplan shows 75 percent of business schools report admissions have become more competitive at the graduate level than three years ago. And with unemployment figures in Florida at their highest in nearly 15 years, new graduates will have to decide whether going into the work world or continuing education is for them. The Test Prep and Admissions area of focus has witnessed a 200-percent increase in student attendance of seminars and practice tests in 2008, said Russel Schaffer, Kaplan senior communications manager. “The increased interest reflects a historical trend, many view grad school as a safe haven to ride out the job market,” Schaffer said.

Nov. 16 – Information (Building 50) – A student sent an e-mail to a classmate in which he suggested “taking over the entire school by force and holding hostages until demands are met.” The teacher of the two students informed UPD about the location and time of the following class meeting for security purposes. Nov. 17 – Drugs (Building S) – Housing coordinators found a minute trace amount of marijuana on the desk of a student who was removed from housing. The amount was so insignificant that it was disposed of rather than taken to the property room. Nov. 17 – Criminal mischief (Lot 10) – Two males were seen walking and writing in wet concrete. They made several words, initials and foot prints in the concrete. The suspect remains at large.

Hydrogen fuel cell buses and sustainable rain gauges are part of the College of Engineering’s plan to save the environment, one homework assignment at a time. Before engineers graduate from UNF, they must complete a project in two senior capstone courses, designed to give them real-world experience and create well-prepared engineers. At the heart of most projects is alternative energy, such as hydrogen fuel cells, which operate like an open battery and are constantly recharging. “Clean energy is the technology of the future,” said Rob Cooper, a senior mechanical engineering major.

Group gives out free ice cream to help students study, Osprey card expands to off-campus locations, Arts and crafts with Vegans, Coffee with the Presidents

The Irwin Academic Services Center at the University of Illinois is outfitted with computer labs and classrooms; staffed with tutors, counselors and learning specialists; furnished with oversized leather chairs and Oriental rugs – and off-limits to 99 percent of the student body. To get help with course work in this Tudor-style former fraternity house, which cost $6 million to adapt as a tutoring facility, a student must run track, shoot basketballs, battle the Fighting Illini’s gridiron opponents or participate in another sport. Universities across the nation are offering even more spectacular tutoring centers for student athletes, which have become a recruiting device for coaches. Louisiana State’s facility cost $15 million; at Texas A&M University, $27 million.

The second annual Garbage on the Green event brought out 71 volunteers Nov. 19 to revive cleanliness on campus. Volunteers worked from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. picking up 115.3 pounds of trash off campus grounds before beginning the collection and auditing process. The trash collected was used to get an inside look at pollution on campus. April Moore, programming manager for the Environmental Center, said the reason behind the event was to quantify what’s in UNF’s waste stream in order to identify what’s causing such an abundance of litter. One of the most commonly collected trash items was Starbucks cups.

FPL to open new solar plant, puts state No. 2 in nation,

Among college administrators it’s known as The Boy Problem. But it’s a problem that starts in grade schools, high schools and homes. Boys lag behind girls in being prepared to apply for college. While American colleges were roughly balanced between male and female students a generation ago, now most schools have more women than men. Some have a lot more. Nationally, 57 percent of undergraduates are women. And as the applicant pool continues to trend toward women, more schools are reaching the tipping point of having more than 60 percent women.

Every week, the Spinnaker compiles the most recent arrests, investigation updates and often humorous findings from UPD police reports. Here’s a look back at some of the most outrageous police beat moments of the Fall 2008 semester: Incidents of burned chicken nuggets, crashed golf carts and strangers terrorizing campus are all included.

J acksonville citizens, including several UNF students, participated in the “End the Fed” rally Nov. 22 downtown at the Jacksonville Federal Reserve Building. Approximately 150 people gathered to protest the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department’s bailout of Wall Street and the planned bailout of the automakers. The rally was part of a 39-city protest. Some cities had thousands of supporters listening and chanting to Republican and emocrat elected officials who opposed thebailout. Police officers (right) were called in to videotape the protest.