Update (1/9/24): This story has been updated to include a statement from Jalen Kitna.
Over 1000 people have signed a petition urging UAB and the Department of Athletics to reverse their decision to allow Jalen Kitna to commit to the Blazers football team.
“To students, this seems indicative of UAB’s failure to protect its students in favor of their athletic programs,” said Brookelyn Stoves, the author of the petition, in an accompanying statement. “The student body is greatly disappointed and disturbed by Kitna’s admittance, and are prepared to boycott all UAB football games in the upcoming semester if Kitna is not dismissed.”
In November 2022, Associated Press reported Kitna was arrested on five felony charges involving possession and distribution of child pornography, and was subsequently dismissed from his role as backup quarterback for the Florida Gators at that time.
In July, AP reported that those charges were dropped as part of a plea deal requiring that Kitna plead no contest to two misdemeanor counts of breach of the peace and serve six months probation.
On December 30, ESPN reported that Kitna had been admitted to UAB.
In a statement to ESPN, UAB head coach Trent Dilfer said the Department of Athletics had performed “extensive due diligence” in making its decision. “I firmly believe Jalen learned valuable lessons and will carry himself well and show great character as a member of our community,” said Dilfer. “Otherwise, he would not be at UAB.”
“I acknowledge that I made naive decisions that I deeply regret and have since learned from,” Kitna said in a statement. “As a result, I took responsibility by pleading no-contest to second-degree misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges related to those decisions.”
According to a Gainesville Police Department report obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, Kitna participated in groups on messaging apps including Kik and Discord that “discuss, solicit and distribute child sexual abuse material.” Kitna indicated that he was aware of those illegal activities, but he “tries to shy away from it,” the report said.
The Independent Florida Alligator reported that Kitna “admitted to struggling with an addiction to child sexual abuse material,” according to the case’s affidavit, which was obtained by the Alligator.
On January 1, Brookelyn Stoves, a senior English literature major, created the petition on Change.org in opposition to Kitna’s admission to UAB.
“As someone who fought hard for the football program to come back through FreeUAB, this is not what I fought for. UAB Alumni do not support the department selling their soul for a mid pedophile,” one petitioner said in an attached comment. “Is it worth dying on this hill? We will be boycotting until this is corrected.”
“This petition is in place to remind the University of Alabama at Birmingham that the student body is not blind to the silence which we are met with, and we will not be ignored,” said Stoves.
