Prior to 3/5/2008 the newsclips are available in a PDF archive.
News Clips 02/22/2013
ACLU asks FAU to disassociate itself from stadium sponsor
Source: Palm Beach Post, 02/22/13
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The American Civil Liberties Union called on Florida Atlantic University to reconsider naming its football stadium for a group that runs prisons Thursday.
FAU announced Tuesday that its football facility would be called GEO Group Stadium after the Boca Raton-based firm, which is giving the university $6 million over the 12-year length of the agreement.
Carl Takei, staff attorney at the National Prison Project for the ACLU, told The Post on Wednesday that the GEO Group is “a terrible company with a well-publicized track record of abuse and neglect and FAU should be ashamed to be associated with them.”
Thursday, the ACLU went a step further, asking the school to disassociate itself from the GEO Group, whose CEO, George Zoley, is an FAU alumnus.
Pablo Paez, spokesman for the GEO Group, said he was confident the public “will come around” once it recognizes the positive impact the agreement will have on the university and the area.
“While there may be a short-term financial benefit, an educational institution needs to carefully consider the long-term impact on its reputation, its students and its faculty,” Takei said in a statement. “There are costs to its legacy that the university needs to calculate.”
The ACLU’s website provided a link to an online petition calling on FAU to drop the GEO name. The petition — at least the second such online drive — had 1,816 signatures as of Thursday afternoon, with a goal of 5,000.
FAU did not return messages seeking comment.
