2010.
It was a year filled with highs and lows for Knight Nation. From UCF football and basketball both earning top 25 rankings for the first time ever, to a cheating scandal in UCF Professor Richard Quinn’s Business Management class, UCF received plenty of national attention.
And just as the University of Central Florida Knights were fighting their way toward a historic Liberty Bowl victory over the Georgia Bulldogs, KnightNews.com published a video looking back at some of the biggest stories of 2010.
Take a look at the video we put together showing some of the biggest stories of the year:
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RODg75e3pp4
How about this New Year? Here are some of the big stories we’ll be working on in 2011:
Marcus Jordan and the UCF Knights Basketball Team
As the UCF football team wraps up its best season in program history, the Knights basketball team’s best season ever is just beginning. All eyes are on Marcus Jordan as he and the Knights work to maintain their perfect, undefeated record as long as possible in 2011. Count on KnightNews.com to be there with them every step of the way.
Will President Michael Kilbride’s SGA Hit a Breaking Point in 2011?
UCF’s SGA saw itself raked over the coals by both campus, local and national media after KnightNews.com uncovered controversial spending scandals ranging from a lavish retreat outside Disney World to a nearly $8,000 reception desk bought during a time when tuition and fees are soaring and Florida is faced with about the worst unemployment in the nation. Since Fall, several of Kilbride’s high-level cabinet members have jumped ship and resigned. SGA found itself responding to letters from KnightNews.com attorneys twice in 2010 over holding what lawyers say are illegal, secret meetings and making unprecedented interpretations of what “campus media” is in order to avoid mandatory advertising for SGA elections in any UCF student newspaper — be it online or in print.
But as a New Year revs up, it looks like the biggest unresolved controversy swirling around this embattled SGA administration is whether Kilbride is legally justified in stripping senators from seeing his financial spending database. It’s an unprecedented move KnightNews.com has learned Kilbride made hours after the retreat scandal broke to try and avoid leaks to media about his controversial and questionable spending. Senate Chairman Fernando Gonzales told KnightNews.com he believes Kilbride is overstepping his power by hiding his spending from the senators mandated by Florida law to allocate how UCF spends student Activity & Service Fees. Gonzales is fighting for more transparency from Kilbride, and in October asked SGA Attorney General Nicholas Gurney to issue a legal opinion on whether Kilbride has any right to hide this his spending from senators.
That opinion has not yet been released. But this issue is sure to resurface in 2011, and could potentially spill over into the 2011 Spring SGA Presidential Elections — possibly intensifying what is an already traditionally turbulent time in SGA. Count on KnightNews.com to bring you coverage on the secret spending database controversy and the UCF SGA 2011 Presidential Elections.
Pegasus Landing vs. UCF
After KnightNews.com reported how UCF had concerns over an apparent toxic mold problem plaguing Pegasus Landing Apartments –a complex the university used to recommend to new students — the university severed tied with the former “affiliated housing” complex. UCF Police still patrol there, however. Both sides have lawyered up, and the future this relationship, and students who live there, is still unclear.
Can you think of any other big UCF stories we should be on the lookout for in 2011? Feel free to share them in our comments section below.
