UCF SGA Presidential Election in Doubt

TUESDAY UPDATE: The hearing on the election violation submitted by Kyle Schumacher is set to begin at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday.

KnightNews.com wants to point out, that if we hadn’t investigated and found out Schumacher filed this violation, and interviewed him about it, you likely would have no idea who filed it and why — even as the hearing starts.

That is because UCF has refused to release any information on this violation, other than the time, to KnightNews.com or any other media we are aware of on campus. UCF has not fulfilled our public records request for the violation put in Friday.

It is very possible, given our current dispute over records, that when UCF does release the records, Schumacher’s name will be blacked out. Making it possible, under UCF’s interpretation of privacy laws, that a student could cause the SGA president-elect to be thrown out of office — and you’d never know the name of the student who caused it to happen.

KnightNews.com will add this issue to Our Fight for Free Speech and let you know if the violation is blacked out — if and when we do receive it.

Although Mike Kilbride and Taylor Lochrane were elected Student Body President and Vice President this past Wednesday, KnightNews.com has uncovered exclusive details about the doubt now being cast on whether or not the results of the elections will decide who actually takes office.

UCF Homecoming King Kyle Schumacher, a write-in candidate who came in third place with his running mate J.B. Corey, submitted an election violation memorandum to the Election Commission on Friday before 5 p.m., according to Schumacher.

The memo charges both candidates with using university property in order to collect votes, Schumacher said in an exclusive phone interview with KnightNews.com. The property he referred to includes the Student Union’s power cords, which are funded by the Activity and Service Fee — money straight from students’ pockets — as well as the UCF wireless network.

According to UCF’s “Use of Information Technologies and Resources” policy, “The university and its employees are prohibited from using any university resources in support of a political campaign or for campaign fund raising, even under a reimbursement arrangement. An example of prohibited use would be a university employee using university e-mail or Web or telephone resources to solicit support of a political candidate or to raise funds for a candidate.” Click here to view the entire policy.

“If you use campus wireless Internet in biased (voting) tents, I’d argue that’s soliciting support,” Schumacher said, referring to the policy above.

Schumacher feels candidates should not be allowed to use student-funded property for their political gain. Schumacher pointed out you can’t campaign for political candidates like Charlie Crist using campus resources, and said it would be hard to refute the office of SGA President, which oversees a $15 million budget of state money and sits on UCF’s Board of Trustees, is not a political candidate that also should be banned.

Schumacher does not plan on attending the election hearing to defend his submissions because he said it was knowingly scheduled at a time when he must be at his paid internship. The hearing is scheduled for late Tuesday morning, according to Marlee Popluder, Chief Election Commissioner.

Schumacher made it clear he was not “out to get Kilbride,” but is trying to keep our university responsible for its actions and all rules applied fairly.

Although Schumacher doubts the Election Commission will agree with him, he says “if that miracle of God happened, I’d be happy to be the next SGA President.”

KnightNews.com made a public records request for a copy of the violation submitted by Schumacher on Friday morning by sending an e-mail to Popluder and UCF’s General Counsel, but the e-mail was not returned until we asked a second time on Saturday.

“Sorry but I do not have a copy of the violation electronically,” Popluder wrote.

KnightNews.com is currently in a dispute with the General Counsel’s office over whether or not the office should charge us an estimated $100 to black out the names of Registered Student Organizations’ leaders to process a public records request for budget request packets submitted to the Activity and Service Fee Committee.

The General Counsel’s Office and an Office of Student Involvement Advisor both claim that information is protected by student privacy laws known as FERPA, even though the RSO leaders are requesting state money — A&SF dollars — to control and spend. UCF admitted to KnightNews.com recently that SGA leaders names are not protected by FERPA.

KnightNews.com asked how UCF is allowed to publish names and e-mail addresses of RSO leaders on this OSI Web site without those students signing a FERPA waiver, but Christa Coffey, an OSI advisor, has not responded to that question sent by e-mail at about 3:45 p.m. Friday afternoon.

In an earlier e-mail, however, Coffey said that the names of students published on the OSI Web site are “not necessarily” the same names on the budget request form.

It’s not clear if SGA’s and the UCF General Counsel’s refusal to release the document when requested Friday was related to the dispute with KnightNews.com regarding releasing the names of students on SGA forms — considering Schumacher’s name would be on the form and a decision would have to be made regarding whether to black it out or not before releasing it.

KnightNews.com was unable to get official confirmation from UCF that Schumacher submitted the violation or any other details about it.

Schumacher, however, told KnightNews.com Popluder originally told him the violation hearing was scheduled for Friday, but later changed it to Tuesday morning so the violation could be properly notarized.

Schumacher suggested someone else may have pushed her to change the date.

“I think she called someone else who said, ‘Did they follow this rule?'” Schumacher said, when asked about the unexpected rescheduling.

KnightNews.com expects more information from Popluder during her normal business hours on Monday.

KnightNews.com is still in contact with attorneys and First Amendment watchdog groups regarding Our Fight for Free Speech outside the Student Union and access issues for public records. Check back for updates regarding that, and for our continued coverage about this violation.