The UF student groups involved in a campus free-speech controversy that got national attention met last month to discuss the issue and to put it behind them.
In November, posters for a screening of the film "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West" that included the headline "Radical Islam Wants You Dead!" were put up around campus. Some Muslim students complained, saying they were offended.
Yaser Ali, the president of student group Islam on Campus, said, "We want to move forward from this."
Christian Waugh, president of the Law School Republicans, one of the groups that sponsored the film's screening said the groups met to make peace.
Matt Klein, a justice on the Student Government Supreme Court, sent an e-mail to all students before the movie was shown, linking the students who removed the posters with "Radical Islam."
After UF Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin sent an e-mail to all students encouraging the sponsors of the screening to apologize, state politicians and members of the national media criticized the UF administration for suppressing free speech.
State Attorny General Bill McCollum e-mailed a letter to Telles-Irvin on Dec. 3, arguing that the suggestion of an apology violated students' free speech rights.
Following the letters, Telles-Irvin issued a second e-mail to the student body on Dec. 6 that clarified the first. It stated that students had a right to free speech, but it did not retract the suggestion of an apology.
On Dec. 13 Telles-Irvin sent a third e-mail to all UF students retracting the suggestion of an apology.After several attempts to contact Telles-Irvin, she responded with an e-mail stating that she had no further comment.
The Law School Republicans were pleased with the university's last e-mail response.
"The administration was finally able to understand that its actions did chill free speech," said Christian Waugh, organization president.
However, Islam on Campus felt differently about the position taken by the administration in the last e-mail.
