I’d hoped we could decide democratically what we wanted to work on this semester, but since we aren’t having our first meeting until halfway through the semester (it’s Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Reitz Union rm. 361), I think this term’s action is going to be by “executive decision.” In the fall, more people will be more involved and more knowledgeable, and we’ll have more time to plan, so the environment will be better for seeking wide input. Nevertheless, I want to know what people think of what we’re doing.

So, here are some ideas for what to do this semester. Please comment and discuss your reactions.

• Host a discussion panel on Kahle v. Ashcroft, a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Internet Archive. The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the Copyright Renewal Act and the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. The ACLU is representing Kahle, and Campus ACLU has expressed interest in co-hosting a panel with us.
• Community screening of Eyes on the Prize. (Perhaps we could co-sponsor with Campus NAACP or BSU.)
• Write a Student Government resolution stating that UF students oppose network restrictions and condemning ICARUS (the current version) for indiscriminately blocking access to legal technologies and try to pass it through the SG Senate.
• Design questionaires for SG candidates to see how much they support our beliefs. Real-world political organizations do this for candidates. You write up a handful of questions, send it to the candidates, and make the responses public.
• Design similar questionaires for the upcoming city commission elections.

I think these are the only specific projects we can realistically tackle this semester. There is, however, some ongoing work being done, which may lead to specific action in future semesters:

• Feeling out the willingness of UF to replace proprietary software with open source software — for example, the listserv software, or putting Firefox in the computer labs
• Feeling out the willingness of UF to support open access research, encourage faculty to publish in OA journals, to make their own publications available online, etc.
• Responding to events as they happen, supporting or opposing them
• Encouraging our members to get involved with the national
  FreeCulture.org movement

As an aside, I have to say that, in my experience so far, UF is pretty enlightened compared to a lot of other schools (with the exception of ICARUS, which, as we understand, is being mitigated in the next version.)

Please comment here or email me and let me know how you feel. Too ambitious? Something important missing? Should the priorities be somewhere else? I want to hear from you.