For the first time in history, UCF released video footage from its secret panel hearings to KnightNews.com and it is raising serious concerns about the integrity of the hearing process.
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After reviewing two and a half hours of footage, the hearing’s credibility, professionalism, and the gray area of registering events all came into question.
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The Alpha Tau Omega fraternity was suspended in late August for a year following an unregistered party. They were the fourth fraternity in less than a year to face suspension following a secret conduct hearing, that lawyers say are illegal under Florida’s Sunshine Law. KnightNews.com investigated what exactly goes on behind closed doors in these hearings.
Credibility questions arise
One of the most questionable aspects of the hearing was how the panel seemed to put words in the mouth of the police officer when writing its final report.
“I was curious if there was a structured attire for the females as you have described for the males,” panel member Joe Schofield asked a UCF police officer during the hearing.
“It didn’t appear so,” UCFPD Officer Tirado said.
However, in the panel’s final report where they explained why ATO was deserving of a one-year suspension they said, “…UCFPD Officer Tirado stated that most people at the party were dressed formally to fit the theme. Based on this information, the panel feels that this was a structured event that should have been registered with the university.”
Not once in that final report did it mention that officer Tirado stated that it didn’t appear that there was a structured attire. On top of that, the star witness that testified in the hearing is also not the most credible source of information.
When UCFPD found the witness on Greek Park they said that she lied about her bottle of vodka being a bottle of water and tried to hide it from them. Eventually, she admitted that she stole it from the ATO house. The combination of thievery and lying to the police officers was not addressed as her testimony was viewed as complete truth by the panel.
Finally, the officer repeatedly praised the ATO president for cooperating with the police on putting a stop to the party.
“Of course they were very helpful in helping us to stop the party and to get everyone out,” Officer Tirado said.
This, as well, was not mentioned once in the final report as consideration when determining how harsh the punishment would be.
Major gray area surrounds which events must be registered
The hearing also revealed a gray area within UCF’s policy to register events. The ATO president, David Scaff, brought up a point about what should be registered versus what should not be registered.
“We have 3 guys sitting in a room together watching football and say we should probably register this with University, but do you really need to register a football game? Well yes you obviously do,” Scaff said.
Scaff went on to say that there needs to be better communication between organizations and the University on the policy of registering events.
“There’s a lot of gray in that area because what three people can do in once instance and what three can do in another is very different, and I’m first to realize that and I realize there needs to be better communication as far as that goes,” Scaff said.
The general level of seriousness in the hearing was not exactly what one would expect during a hearing where an organization’s livelihood was at stake.
Laughter by the panel members broke out when the UCF police officer explained that the females were wearing tight clothing and “not their Sunday’s best”.
The conduct hearing veered off into questioning that wasn’t revealing any pertinent facts or had any relevance to the situation of an unregistered house party. At one point a panel member asked about the fraternity’s creed and continued to ask about it until the president finally told them he did not want to recite it.
The fight for openness and transparency
The KnightNews.com lawsuit against UCF to prevent the university from holding secret organizational hearings is moving forward. UCF has repeatedly failed to get the lawsuit thrown out.
The Sigma Chi fraternity, which was initially suspended until Fall 2016 after one of these hearings, successfully appealed the suspension and will return to campus in Fall 2014. They accused UCF of breaking its own rules and a UCF VP agreed, granting the appeal and reduction. Currently, Alpha Tau Omega is appealing its suspension as well.
Check back to KnightNews.com for more footage we’re working to upload from this hearing and updates on the lawsuit against UCF.
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