From: KnightNews.com <news@knightnews.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 14, 2014 at 6:13 PM
Subject: Re: Public Records Request regarding “no signs of any kind”
To: Kerry Welch <Kerry.Welch@ucf.edu>
Cc: Gregory Mason <Gregory.Mason@ucf.edu>, Youndy Cook <Youndy.Cook@ucf.edu>, Grant Heston <Grant.Heston@ucf.edu>, Chad Binette <Chad.Binette@ucf.edu>, Courtney Gilmartin <Courtney.Gilmartin@ucf.edu>, Belinda Boston <Belinda.Boston@ucf.edu>, Maribeth Ehasz <Maribeth.Ehasz@ucf.edu>, Scott Cole <Scott.Cole@ucf.edu>
Hi Kerry,
Thank you for the note back and for the information. We appreciate the opportunity to talk directly with you about the issue. While we also appreciate the help we get from UCF News and Info., it’s often easier for us to more completely understand the situation by talking directly with people close to the situation.
If UCF doesn’t have custody of the message at issue, we will go ahead and request it from IFC when we follow up with them. If UCF does have custody of the message (perhaps UCF was cc’d on the email), we’d kindly request any UCF employee with custody of it to please forward it to us.
Based on your email to us, it’s our understanding that UCF in fact is not imposing the restrictions outlined in the IFC message. Rather, it was merely IFC — an entity without the power to restrict a student’s speech or movement on a public sidewalk or punish students for engaging in protected speech — sending the message without UCF’s blessing. Thus, students who aren’t disruptive would be free from government interference or sanction for walking on public sidewalks, making signs congratulating new members or engaging in other forms of constitutionally protected speech during Bid Day.
If our understanding is incorrect, please let me know by 8 p.m. Also feel free to reach out to me whenever if I can help get the word out about any of the outstanding events OSI puts on throughout the year.
Sincerely,
Jake Rakoci
News Editor
KnightNews.com
