This week, students across UCF are casting their ballot for who they want to be SGA President and Vice-President. If this was like other years, we would just see candidates and their supporters outside major student areas, with some giving out T-shirts and food in exchange for their vote. Then it would be over and we would all move on, this time with a brand new SGA president.
This year, we aren't facing a normal election. Instead UCF and its' SGA has found itself in the midst of controversy and mudslinging, facing multiple accusations in the process. It started when Jacob Milch and Elaine Sarlo, two SGA candidates, were accused of multiple campaign violations and kicked of the ballot in a closed hearing. They appealed the decision due to the closed hearing, but the appeal was denied. As a result, there are two candidates on the ballot as opposed to three.
What should have been a simple decision was made controversial when Jacob sued UCF and SGA for kicking him off the ballot in a closed decision. In a Facebook post, he claimed that the students were having the voices erased "before they were even able to speak", and that the hearing was closed to keep them from knowing what was happening. He named three of the nine allegations against him and Elaine and claimed that his freedom of speech was infringed upon. Recently he went onto Fox and Friends, making the accusation that he was kicked off the ballot because he was a conservative, officially bringing UCF into the national spotlight.
Running with this story was Knight News, a UCF publication that had already faced problems with SGA secrecy, and was requesting that students help them fund their lawsuit against UCF. At first, their articles about SGA discussed the high cost to obtain public documents, which became a problem with the controversial Aramark deal. Then it became into a barrage of accusations and attacks against current SGA president Cait Zona, who they claimed was hiding secrets from students and abusing her power. When Jake and Elaine were kicked off the SGA ballot, it seemed like the perfect example of SGA secrecy and Knight News milked it. There have been op-eds focused on former SGA candidates claiming that the decision was wrong due to the secrecy and the fact that Milch is a marine. Knight News even ran with the Fox News' hypothesis that the SGA decision was partisan, accusing the College Democrats of UCF of reporting Jake and Elaine to SGA.
The problem with these reports is that they're incredibly one-sided and biased. Court documents showed that Milch could have made the SGA hearings open by waving his FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) rights. He chose not to. The Judge in this case determined that Milch was trying to entrap SGA in a "Catch 22". So to claim that SGA made the hearings secret in order to hurt Milch is misleading and fails to cover the entire truth. As well, Milch has only revealed three of the things he was accused of, taking advantage of the fact that the hearings were secret, therefore the other accusations were secret. Now, Milch is using any method he can to get people on his side. He and Elaine were not the only conservative candidates on the ballot, and to claim otherwise not only denies the campaign of the remaining conservatives, but purposely manipulates Republicans who have never stepped foot here into taking his side. As for the claim that it was the College Dems who took down his campaign? This is based off the actions of a few people who attended the meeting where Jake and Elaine spoke. The College Dems were also not the only club that let Jake and Elaine spoke, and other clubs ended up having members report them.
This election has turned ugly, and it didn't have to be. Whether the hearing should have been closed is debatable, but Jake and Elaine did break campaign rules, as was admitted by Milch. So they were kicked off the ballot. Now, Jacob Milch is saying whatever he needs to in order to gain support, and Knight News is saying what they need to support him and their narrative. Students deserve to know the full truth and then come to their own conclusions. Now, UCF looks bad and our SGA is dealing with a mass amount of false accusations. This isn't how journalism should work, and this isn't how we tackle SGA secrecy. Students deserve better.
