March 14, 2000, was a historic day. Charles Grapski left the Alachua County Courthouse to grab a bagel only to come back to hear that the verdict was ready. When the jury gave its ruling, Grapski was in tears.
A total of $6 million in damages was awarded to Grapski for the defamation he suffered as a former UF Student Government candidate.
To understand the verdict, you have to go back some years. In 1923, a leadership honorary, Florida Blue Key, was formed at UF and soon became highly influential. As one analyst put it in 2004, “the doors to the governor’s mansion, Legislature and judiciary in Florida all seemed to unlock with a Blue Key.”
But as in all institutions, things started going astray. Since getting into FBK was vital to becoming successful after graduating from UF, its membership became tied with student politics, and not in a pleasant way.
By 1995, the world knew the proverbial had hit the fan. In that year’s Spring elections, Charles Grapski ran for the Student Body presidency, making a fatal mistake. He ran as an independent — not realizing that he was upsetting the System that controls the UF Student Government.
Soon, fliers appeared across campus, falsely claiming that Grapski was a convicted child molester. After losing the election, Grapski went to the Eighth Judicial Circuit in Alachua County, suing FBK for its collusion with the System.
Even before the jury gave the verdict, it was clear that FBK worked hand-in-hand with the Greek coalition that controls UF student politics.
A judicial notice confirmed that FBK “has historically employed a house and group system of control over members and aspiring members to determine candidates for student government elected and appointed offices, Florida Blue Key membership and slates of candidates to run for student government offices...”
The jury went further, ruling that FBK had defamed Grapski “through a conspiracy.”
Although the names and faces have changed over the years, the culture of corruption persists.
Two years ago, an Alligator investigation revealed how FBK membership is controlled by a “powerful few,” with anonymous sources saying that membership in the prestigious honorary depended on “backroom deals” among UF’s multicultural and Greek groups.
At the time, the Alligator noted that the new FBK class — picked by leaders from Theta Chi, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Alpha Epsilon Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Epsilon Pi — was “nearly devoid of diversity,” with only six members from minority clubs.
Although it might seem like the Greek coalition is racist, there was another reason for the lack of diversity.
That year, the System, which usually dominates campus politics despite representing a fraction of the student population, almost lost. The minority community that aligns itself with the System was blamed for its low voter turnout.
Unlike the Greek community, minority groups — Asian American Student Union, Black Student Union and Hispanic Student Association — have their hands tied when it comes to using coercive tactics; all they can do is encourage their members, nothing more.
Contrast that to 2010, when sororities were recorded to have bribed their members with alcohol for voting and punished non-voting members by withholding food.
This, my friends, is UF at its worst.
Next week, I will suggest practical steps on how we can begin to tackle this systemic corruption.
Until then — particularly when the front page Thursday inevitably shows folks from the System celebrating their election victories the night before — let’s enjoy ourselves.
After all, how many Americans, without traveling to the Middle East, can ever experience such undemocracy?
[Zulkar Khan is a UF microbiology senior. His columns appear on Tuesdays. A version of this column ran on page 6 on 2/18/2014 under the headline "UF student leadership controlled by System"]
