FAU students protest stadium naming deal

Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

FAU students demanded to talk to their university president about the stadium naming scandal, prompting her to say that she didn't know all the details about GEO Group -- or whether human rights violations they allegedly committed really happened.

About 50 FAU students staged a sit-in outside school president Mary Jane Saunders' office to protest the sale of the school's stadium naming rights to GEO Group -- a protest that caused Saunders to say she doesn't know everything about the for-profit company that paid the school $6 million and prompted her to question the validity of accusations against them.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, students -- calling themselves members of a group entitled the "Stop Owlcatraz Coalition," utilizing the name the stadium has picked up since GEO Group bought naming rights -- waited outside her office for two hours, at which point Saunders briefly addressed them and agreed to meet with them on Friday.

Saunders' speech to the students is the first time she's really spoken publicly about the school's decision. At first, she had declined to answer questions about the naming decision when a reporter brought up GEO Group's allegedly rampant mistreatment of prisoners at an immigration detention center. Here's video of her talk with students, via Deadspin:

"I don't know all the answers, I don't know everything about this company. I do know that there are some things that have been discussed that may not be true," Saunders said, a statement that prompted one student to audibly ask if she was being serious.

Saunders also said the naming deal provides "a wonderful opportunity for us to think about the impact of privatizing prisons," and that she looks forward to having an open dialogue session about it.