The UF mandate to eliminate all free-standing private boxes and replace them with UF-sanctioned modular boxes will work to stifle free speech, the diversity of voices on campus and the free flow of information to students.
Starting a publication is costly, and this UF regulation will present a new obstacle for these fledgling publications. These new costs will also affect small publications that rely on limited funding for printing and operating costs. These publications are not likely to have a large enough budget to afford box distribution on campus with UF’s soon-to-be-implemented fees.
New publications and those with limited income often buy used newspaper boxes to increase distribution at a reasonable, one-time cost to the publication. Those boxes can be painted with free paint and set up for free.
In addition, putting extra pressure on publications to raise more funds just to distribute on the UF campus could negatively affect the content of those publications and their ability to cover the stories and issues they deem important to readers.
As it stands, many free papers, or papers that are not-for-profit, do not have allegiance to organizations, advertisers or boards of directors. Because they do not have financial backing from any one of these, they are free to investigate any story, criticize leadership and align with whatever politics they please.
Introducing money and licensing agreements to the distribution of ocally or student-produced media on campus is an extreme disservice to UF students. These freethinking papers are at risk of being thrown off the radar or drowned out by publications with more funding.
UF students of the past had the privilege of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the freedom to choose and consume from a wide array of voices. Now it looks like UF students of the future will have a limited number of free speech outlets, and those that remain will come with limitations to speech as a result of allegiances to advertisers or other funding sources.
UF is once again putting its financial burdens on the backs of students.
It’s time to tell the administration that we will not accept this assault on free speech.
UF students deserve to have a diverse selection of student and local publications to choose from. The decision to tax the distribution of all publications on campus, student-produced or otherwise, will not only eliminate the Alligator’s orange boxes, but it will also eliminate all existing and future publications with a different or independent point of view who struggle just to be in print, let alone distributed on campus.
Keep free speech free!
