Here’s a story with a strange ending: There was once a student at UF who became involved with campus politics. As the liaison between the majority party and the fraternities, she sent an email ensuring the frat boys don’t forget to lend their support.
But endorsements wouldn’t be enough: She reminded the 25 fraternity representatives to collect “I Voted” stickers from everyone and provide the governing party with $250 checks. Her message ended with, “DELETE THIS AFTER YOU GET THE INFORMATION!! WE CANT HAVE ANYTHING ON RECORD! Sketchy, but do it!”
The “enforcer” now has a gig on the Rules and Ethics Committee as a senator in Student Government.
I mention this to take some heat off the Accent Speaker’s Bureau, which was unhappy with my highlighting of the bureau’s nepotism last week. After openly admitting the Student Government has some cronyism, also known as legacy positions, an Accent representative said in a letter to the editor, “I blame the Student Body more than I blame the University of Florida Greek system.”
The year I came to campus, members of the SG majority party met with Greek officials for a quick blackmailing session during elections. In attendance was the then-Student Body president.
In a recording of the meeting, sororities are heard threatening to punish its members if they don’t vote by depriving them of food and promising alcohol to those who conformed. A student, allegedly a senator, applauded the Mafia tactics, saying, “That’s amazing, that’s what you need to do.... Not too many sororities do that, that’s awesome.”
This criminal behavior isn’t new. Former Florida Gov. Bob Graham said during his years at UF, there was a strong “emphasis on clandestine activities,” with phones being bugged and newspapers being stolen if the Alligator endorsed the “wrong” student party.
And then, there is the notorious, yet highly effective, code of silence.
When a UF sorority member summoned up her courage last year to post a Facebook status about Student Government — “It’s patronage politics, and that’s what I hate so much about it. It’s not democratic at all.” — she was rebuked in the most Orwellian terms: Her opinions were deemed “unsisterly and inappropriate.” The backlash from the Greek system reminded others to keep their mouths shut.
Anyone who speaks up is fair game — even the Alligator. After it reported in 2012 of Will Muschamp’s endorsement of an opposition candidate, the then-Student Senate president pro tempore confessed to dumping hundreds of Alligator copies into the garbage.
The newspaper’s president emeritus wrote in 2011 that some UF administration members and “various student ‘leadership’ organizations drastically cut advertising dollars spent in the Alligator” over the years, giving an impression that there was a “continuing attempt ... to suppress the voice of the Alligator.” This semester, the editorial board did not fully endorse either party.
Those already in power will continue to shield themselves, telling us to stop whining and get involved. These empty words mean little to UF students who are well-aware that the SG system is inherently undemocratic.
The administration should tackle this plague of corruption if it’s serious about making UF a top 10 public school.
Zulkar Khan is a UF microbiology senior. His column runs on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 10/30/2013 under the headline "Don’t blame Student Body for corruption"
