Update: SGA did respond by confirming it did not ask the Sentinel to retract it’s story. A reason why was not given. We will upload SGA’s entire e-mail response as soon as we can.
THURSDAY UPDATE: SGA has so far refused to respond to our public records request we put on Wednesday in for the following:
– Any email SGA received from a student or alumnus regarding their
feedback on tailgating at UCF.
– A copy of any surveys, polls, questionnaires, or similar devices,
and their results, SGA may have used to determine student’s feelings
on these topics.
– Even if SGA doesn’t maintain a copy of the records from the meetings
like agendas, minutes, we request any electronic documents SGA may
maintain, including email summaries from Harms’ committee, which may
include agendas, minutes, plans, discussion, things of that nature
regarding game day planning meetings — specifically on the issue of
tailgate start times and the open container policy.
Prior to this request, SGA President Brian Peterson stated we should contact UCF administrator Al Harms for game day minutes, however, KnightNews.com put in the request to SGA, to see if the documents are kept in SGA’s custody as well.
KnightNews.com will update this story if and when SGA responds to our request for the above documents.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: The Orlando Sentinel stands by its story. See Orlando Sentinel Sports reporter Iliana Limón’s response here.
TUESDAY UPDATE: SGA and UCF leaders are disputing the Sentinel’s story suggesting SGA leaders encouraged UCF administrators to keep the Memory Mall tailgating lot shutdown until noon for 6 p.m. football games, and allow the wealthiest alumni who donate at least $1,000 to the university to start tailgating at 8 a.m.
Earlier today, we e-mailed SGA’s top leaders asking how they decided students wouldn’t want to tailgate before noon. In a response from SGA President Brian Peterson, he denied SGA pushed for that, although he admitted SGA leaders “did share the opinion that some students have expressed to us that they do not mind the new tailgating times as were laid out for this past season’s games, as it allows them to sleep in later on gameday while still providing them the opportunity to secure a spot on memory mall on days where games begin at 6pm or later.”
We are still working to find out exactly how SGA came about the information that “some students” expressed how they don’t mind the new tailgating restrictions.
Tomorrow, we will put in a public records request to all SGA officials for any e-mails from students saying that they “didn’t mind” the new start times, or anything to that effect. We will also try and find out from SGA whether they polled students, took surveys, or used any other means of soliciting student input to present to this panel of administrators before the decision was made.
Late Tuesday night, we also e-mailed Orlando Sentinel Sports Reporter Iliana Limón, who wrote the original story UCF is questioning, for her side of the story. If and when we get a response from her, we will post it here.
KnightNews.com is committed to getting to the bottom of this bizarre situation. We requested the minutes and agenda of these tailgating committee meetings from SGA, but Peterson suggested SGA did not keep the records in his response. We will update you if we are able to get the records.
Click here to read SGA President Brian Peterson’s full response.
Click here to read the e-mail from UCF Spokesman Chad Binette accusing the Sentinel of reporting “misleading information.”
ORIGINAL STORY 12:15 p.m. Tuesday
SGA Says Students Don’t Want Tailgating Before Noon
One year after UCF faced a storm of controversy for banning tailgating before noon, alumni have won back their choice to tailgate starting at 8 a.m. for every single game.
Students, however, won’t be allowed to start tailgating until noon for many games, and UCF told the Orlando Sentinel, SGA is the reason for that.
“The tailgating changes were made by a UCF committee that includes members of student government, the alumni association, game-day security, the Golden Knights Club and community members,” according to the story broken by the Orlando Sentinel.
Chad Binette, a UCF spokesman, said that the student government wanted to make sure students didn’t have to get up 8 a.m. for a game that kicks off at 8 p.m. in order to reserve a tailgating space on Memory Mall, the paper reported.
“We tried to be fair to everyone, giving donors a place to tailgate early and students a space to tailgate later,” he told the Sentinel.
KnightNews.com has e-mailed the top leaders in SGA: President Brian Peterson, Vice President Andrick Lewis, Chief of Operations Mike Kilbride and Speaker of the Senate Patrick Stauffer to find out more about how this decision was made.
Here’s what we asked on your behalf:
Can you please let us know who in SGA has attended these committee meetings?
How SGA decided that students wouldn’t want the option to start tailgating before noon?
We also asked that the top SGA leaders please forward us a copy of any minutes or agendas or SGA reports/e-mails discussing these game day committee meetings which recommended the changes.
KnightNews.com will update this breaking story when we hear back from SGA.
If you have further questions about this major change to tailgating rules, please comment below or e-mail us at new@knightnews.com so we can ask your leaders on your behalf.
To read the full story from the Orlando Sentinel, click below:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/college/knights/os-grid-ucf-tickets-0210-20100209,0,4082607.story
