When giant graphic billboards of aborted fetuses — which displayed Planned Parenthood’s name next to images of the 9/11 terrorists attacks and compared abortion to the Holocaust — were erected recently on the Student Union stage, you may have been arrested for standing next to it, quietly passing out “Keep abortion legal” fliers.
That’s according to an in-depth analysis and research KnightNews.com has conducted of UCF’s “Free Assembly Area,” Student Union policies and other university regulations, with the help of several First Amendment watchdog groups.
The Chicago-based Center for Campus Free Speech has questioned many of UCF’s policies under the Speech Zone section of its Web site. It specifically questions a policy which explicitly restricts students’ “Freedom to hear, write, distribute and act upon a variety of thoughts and beliefs” under certain “regulations.”
One such “regulation” states: “Non-university or off-campus printed materials shall not be distributed or circulated by students or student organizations without first being stamped by the office of the Director of the Office of Student Involvement.”
In the example of the anti-abortion display on the stage outside UCF’s Student Union, the KnightNews.com analysis concludes a pro-choice female Jewish student, perhaps upset over the Holocaust in Nazi Germany being used to fight against abortions, would be violating UCF rules if she quickly photocopied 20 “Keep Abortion Legal” fliers and passed them out — without first getting an approval “stamped” by OSI Director Kerry Welch’s office.
According to UCF’s Golden Rule, which is used by UCF’s Office of Student Conduct to punish students and organizations in violation, “Students and organizations are responsible for the observation of all University policies and regulations.”
For that reason, KnightNews.com’s analysis concludes the hypothetical female Jewish student — with arguably much less graphic and distracting fliers say “Keep Abortion Legal” — could theoretically be suspended from UCF by its Office of Student Conduct for passing out a flier next to the giant bloody fetus billboards without the state’s approval first “stamped” on it.
What if the female Jewish pro-choice woman spontaneously gathered a few of her friends to help her pass out fliers next to the stage? In that case, she could be not only be suspended from school, but also threatened with UCF police action, according to our analysis.
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That’s because UCF has established First Amendment restrictions — which our analysis found questionable — on “University organizations and University-related organizations” as well as “non-university” organizations.
While the policy regulating “demonstrations and other exercises of free speech and assembly” is less restrictive for “University organizations and university-related organizations” it does not explicitly identify regular, individual UCF students as falling under the less restrictive policy — especially if they belong to an outside, or unrecognized student organization.
“Non-university organizations and persons,” however, are expressly restricted to 10 “Free Assembly Areas,” according to UCF regulations. The giant anti-abortion display, located on the stage of the Student Union — where foot traffic is the highest — falls outside of this “Free Assembly Area.”
Which leaves the question: Could tuition-paying students exercise free speech, pass out fliers with a couple friends — or gather news and video during SGA elections outside of the “Free Assembly Area?”
Several attorneys and First Amendment experts KnightNews.com has consulted with seem to think so. But UCF — so far — has refused to say. The university’s actions, however, during the recent SGA Presidential Elections, and reportedly to members of the Young Communist League, suggest UCF will pick and choose which tuition-paying students can exercise First Amendment rights outside of the “Free Assembly Area.”
This analysis by KnightNews.com, and its new “Our Fight For Free Speech” segment, was spurred when KnightNews.com reporters were ordered into a “Free Assembly Area” by Student Union officials during its coverage of the UCF SGA Presidential Elections one week ago today. Photo evidence shows the competing publication, the Central Florida Future, continued to collect news and photos outside of the “Free Assembly Area.”
KnightNews.com had earned a reputation for aggressive reporting and critical editorials relating to UCF’s administration at the time its SGA Election Coverage was restricted to the “Free Assembly Area,” while photo evidence shows the Future in the area near the Union stage — where the abortion display was a week earlier — and where all the foot-traffic and election activity was happening.
Leading up to the election, KnightNews.com published an editorial endorsing the Daniel Seeff and Kevin Wolkenfeld ticket, citing its commitment to “total transparency” in SGA. Then, after KnightNews.com had to threaten legal action against UCF and contact Florida’s Board of Governors to get a copy of the $15 million SGA A&SF budget proposal, it released a very critical editorial against SGA President and Board of Trustee member Brian Peterson regarding transparency on the A&SF Committee. KnightNews.com also uncovered a controversy regarding tailgating time changes — with UCF accusing the Pulitzer Prize winning Orlando Sentinel of “misleading” reporting, and the Sentinel standing by its story.
These issues KnightNews.com uncovered through its reporting and editorials became major issues in the campaign, and by many accounts, helped the last-minute Seeff/Wolkenfeld ticket come within 126 swing votes out of the 9,418 cast of upsetting the Kilbride/Lochrane ticket, even though the latter was already established in SGA, and was reportedly planning its campaign for months.
The other campus publication, the Central Florida Future, did not endorse either candidate — which by its own admission was unexpected, as no current students could remember the last time this publication did not endorse. The Future, which was reportedly kicked off campus years ago for likening UCF President John Hitt to Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler for alleged restrictive policies, was recently bought by the Gannett Corporation, which owns USA Today.
Students, however, still work hard at running the Future and controlling content.
KnightNews.com’s analysis concludes because KnightNews.com is student-owned and operated and has never accepted one cent in revenue, that its student reporters would have a greater argument of being allowed to gather news outside the “Free Assembly Area,” under UCF’s own regulations.
During KnightNews.com’s analysis and investigation, it was also discovered that while KnightNews.com was experiencing the extreme disadvantage — even having the threat of police being called on reporters who did “any media stuff” across the sidewalk marking the end of the “Free Assembly Area” — the Central Florida Future was conducting a major “Housing Fair” on Memory Mall.
According to the Student Union’s Web site, Memory Mall reservations are also controlled by the Union. Operating under the assumption that the Union charges for business to have events on Memory Mall, Gannett Corporation was paying the Union at a time when the Union looked the other way to allow its corporate-owned Central Florida Future media source to gather news wherever it pleased, and restricted the independent, student-owned and operated media from doing so outside the “Free Assembly Area.”
This housing fair and continued unequal application of the rules, as documented by photo evidence, took place following an e-mail and story KnightNews.com sent last Monday to UCF’s General Counsel’s office, Student Union Managment, UCF Chief of Police and Media Relations Office asking for help resolving the dispute.
Not until KnightNews.com announced last Wednesday morning that it would be joined by a local private attorney when its reporters risked suggested arrest by walking out of the “Free Assembly Area” at 5 p.m. Wednesday, did UCF even acknowledge the e-mail which politely asked for help resolving the dispute.
KnightNews.com’s analysis has not yet confirmed whether UCF’s administration ignored the e-mail asking for help because it believed restricting the media source which published critical editorials and exposed questionable appointments regarding the side touting its positive relationship with UCF administration. However, KnightNews.com has put in public records request for UCF President John Hitt’s e-mails to try and determine if any written proof of bias may exist.
UCF has not responded to that e-mailed public records request yet which was placed Friday. The e-mail was placed after UCF Associate General Counsel Youndy Cook responded to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s Adam Kissel claiming our reports, which told of how KnightNews.com was restricted to the “Free Assembly Area” while competing media were not, were not accurate.
Cook did not point out any specifics about what was not correct.
KnightNews.com asked Cook to immediately explain what was not accurate, so the record could be corrected — if there indeed was something inaccurate — or so UCF’s side could be given as well, as part of KnightNews.com’s commitment to neutral reporting in its news articles.
As of this time, KnightNews.com still has not received any written or spoken assurance that its tuition-paying student reporters can gather news outside of the “Free Assembly Area” — where everything from anti-abortion protests to SGA elections happen each year.
KnightNews.com will update its readers on this situation as part of its new Our Fight for Free Speech segment.
