Three developments have me fretting...
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
After FAU President Mary Jane Saunders wrote a letter affirming she's "unequivocally committed to freedom of speech," I figured student media director Marti Harvey would back off her warning that the UP staff couldn't meet with me "off campus or on campus for the purpose of advising.”
So Karla asked Marti about that on Monday. I was within earshot and heard Karla say, "Does President Saunders' letter mean I can meet with Koretzky now?"Marti replied curtly, "You'll have to ask her what it meant." And that was that.
Yesterday, Karla tried to follow up with Marti, knocking on her closed office door. Karla says, "I heard her in there. But she wouldn't answer."
BROWN NOSING
Yesterday at 5:02 pm, the secretary for Student Affairs vice president Charles Brown called Karla. That's unusual, because Student Affairs administrators usually bolt for their reserved parking spaces right at 5.
This is a common tactic with FAU's Student Affairs. As I've mentioned before, past editors and I were often invited into meetings without being told what for. If we asked, the answer was a vague, "We just wanted to talk about the newspaper." Then we'd be interrogated about our latest acts of journo-terrorism.
Karla, being hip to this maneuver, insisted on knowing what she was getting into. I was quite surprised that Brown actually got on the phone himself. "I just wanted to talk to you about all of this that has been going on," he told her.
Just wanted to talk? That hasn't gone well for the UP in the past. But Karla has a 1 pm appointment.
SPEAKING IN CODE
Last week, FAU's Board of Trustees approved changes to the Student Code of Conduct – at Brown's request.
Any action of the University with respect to off-campus conduct shall be taken independently of any off-campus authority.
Since I had no idea what that meant – although it didn't sound good – I asked Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center, to explain it to me. This is what he said...
I think the most logical reading of this change is that FAU is asserting it can penalize you for something you did off-campus regardless of the fact that civil or criminal authorities investigated the same conduct and declined to bring charges, or even exonerated you.
Does that mean FAU could use this against Karla for talking to me? Will Brown drop the hammer on Karla tomorrow? Will this story ever die so I can stop writing this damn blog? Stay tuned.
