When I came to study in the United States a year ago, I never thought that I could be penalized for exercising my right to free speech on the campus of a public university. But a decision by the UF Supreme Court last Friday means that very thing could now happen to any one of us, and as a student senator, I want to make sure every UF student knows about it.
During the Summer while most of us were away, members of the majority Swamp Party — then the Unite Party — in your Student Senate made an absurd rule stating that if anyone encourages you to vote for them in a Student Government election more than a week before the vote takes place, they could be disqualified from the ballot. Ridiculously, this means that for another week I cannot even let you know whether or not there’s an election on Oct. 2 and 3.
Two weeks ago, I went to the student-run Court to argue that the Senate’s decision should be ruled as a violation of your First Amendment rights. There are clear provisions in the Student Body Constitution and the election statutes saying that SG will respect the rights granted by federal and state law. The UF Supreme Court has even referred to federal or state cases in the past when making judgments. But despite all of that, the current Court decided on Friday that it believes it does not have jurisdiction to decide how federal or state laws should be interpreted.
The effect of this decision is potentially chilling. It means that even if the Student Senate decided to make the most oppressive rules about elections, the Supreme Court has declared itself powerless to do anything. For example, if the majority in the Senate decides that it is forbidden to criticize the Unite Party — or now the Swamp Party — in any way, there is nothing the Court will do. Essentially they’re saying, “Sure, your right to free speech may well have been horribly violated. If you think that’s the case, go to a district court outside of UF because we can’t help you.” That’s all well and good, except that most students would have no idea of how to appeal to a district court and even if they did, it is prohibitively expensive. In any case, a district court might take years to hear the case or never hear it at all.
I believe that if the UF Supreme Court cannot or will not act as a mediator in cases where students’ rights are clearly violated, the system of checks and balances in our Student Government is fatally flawed, and students have no one else to defend their rights. So, we will be appealing this decision, first by asking the Court to seek advice from their law professors and the Florida Bar about whether the decision they reached last week was correct. Failing that, we will take this to the UF administration and, if necessary, beyond. Your right to speak freely on campus about who spends more than $17 million of your money every year is at stake – it really is that important.
David Bradshaw is a senator and campaign manager for the Students Party. You can contact him at opinions@alligator.org.
