The Student Alliance party's attempt to halt the use of public funding to promote the "Renew Your Reitz" student fee was denied Monday afternoon at the Alachua County Civil Justice Center.
Four members of the party filed a motion against UF President Bernie Machen, members of the UF's Board of Trustees and several other university officials for allowing university money to be used for creating and distributing fliers calling for the Reitz Union renovation.
Judge Robert E. Roundtree said the complaint, as filed, was not valid because the statute cited by party members applies to city and county governments but not universities.
"This is an issue of public funds being used to promote a campaign," said Student Alliance party Senate leader Jonathan Ossip. "It would be like using public funds to promote the campaign of someone in the Democrat or Republican part[ies]. It's an ethical concern."
On Friday afternoon, the four members filed a motion for temporary injunction, an action that, if passed, would have forced the Reitz Union renovation campaign to immediately remove all promotional signs, posters and fliers from campus.
The motion asked the court to prohibit spending public funds to pay for political advertisements in support of the proposed Reitz Union student fee, according to the official brief submitted by Ossip.
The 53-page brief was compiled over the weekend by Ossip without the help of an attorney.
"We've been flying by the seat of our pants," he said.
Although the Reitz Union renovation campaign will be allowed to continue through the elections of Feb. 23 and 24, Ossip said he will press further legal action on the matter to prohibit public funds from use in future campaigns.
Ossip said there needs to be a law prohibiting publicly funded campaigns on campus.
While Ossip is pushing for legal action against the UF administration, he and others in the Student Alliance party are also campaigning politically against the student fee, which would help fund renovations and expansion and require students to pay a $20 flat fee per semester and a fee of $3 per credit hour. The fee would not be covered by the Bright Futures Scholarship Program, he said.
"Nowhere on this does it say anything about where the money is coming from," he said, holding a "Renew Your Reitz" flier.
