The Office of Public Policy Events (OPPE) at the University of Central Florida was established in accordance with Florida Statute s. 1001.93, which mandates that each state university within the State University System maintain an office dedicated to fostering open dialogue on public policy issues. The OPPE is designed to promote intellectual diversity and civic engagement through events that explore a wide range of contested public policy topics from multiple, divergent, and opposing perspectives.
At UCF, the Board of Trustees has assigned the responsibilities of the OPPE to the Office of Civil Discourse & Engagement (CDE), led by Haley Winston, who also serves as the Director of Public Policy Events. The OPPE reports directly to the Office of General Counsel and is committed to organizing at least four public policy events each academic year—two in the fall and two in the spring. These events include debates and group forums that feature speakers from within and outside the university community, representing widely held and opposing viewpoints on issues such as climate change, immigration, artificial intelligence, and more.
All OPPE events are open to students, faculty, staff, and the general public, unless attendance restrictions are necessary to meet a compelling governmental interest. The office maintains a searchable, publicly accessible calendar of events on its website and in the UCF library system, detailing event titles, speaker affiliations, and sponsoring entities. Additionally, video recordings of each event are posted online within 10 business days and remain accessible for at least five years. These recordings can be found below.
For questions, please contact Civil Discourse and Engagement | Office of Public Policy Events: cde@ucf.edu.
Upcoming Event
Paths to an Impact in Restorative Justice
When harm occurs—a crime, a campus conflict, an institutional failure—communities must decide how to respond. Traditional justice asks what rule was broken and what punishment is deserved; restorative justice asks who was harmed, what they need, and whose responsibility it is to repair it. This group forum takes that unsettled choice as its subject: what role should restorative justice play alongside—or instead of—traditional systems when harm occurs? Bringing together voices from criminal justice reform, clinical and public-health practice, community organizing, and lived experience of the justice system, panelists will offer opposing perspectives on whether restorative approaches can complement, reform, or replace conventional punishment; how mental health, crisis response, and reentry fit into the response to harm; and what genuine accountability requires. Presented in collaboration with UCF social work faculty member, Iradly Roche and the School of Social Work’s student organization, the forum carries a practical, career-facing aim as well: to show students—especially social work students—concrete paths into policy work and advocacy as a means of changing the systems they will one day practice within. Open to students, faculty, staff, and the public.
Date, Time, and Location
Thursday, Nov. 5
3:45-6 p.m. (EST)