This is an odd one. A controversy is brewing at the University of Florida over the administration’s demand that century-old student newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator remove 19 of its signature orange newspaper racks from campus.
Why is this happening? I have no idea, and the Alligator doesn’t seem to either. Here’s a segment of the Alligator article on this development, interspersed with my comments and questions:
During Fall 2009, administrators proposed to UF’s Board of Trustees a rule that would prohibit distribution of all publications on campus unless approved by the UF vice president for business affairs, according to information provided by Alligator attorney Thomas Julin.
Why exactly should the UF Vice President of Business Affairs have control over the distribution of student publications? Why is the default posture to disallow publications rather than to allow them? And why is the decision of what expression to allow at a public university considered to be a business decision?
UF didn’t contact the Alligator about the change, and the Board approved it Dec. 11, 2009. The change was published but not sent to the Alligator.
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