The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, or FIRE, is advocating for University of Florida students suspended after a pro-Palestinian protest in April.
School administration tripled a disciplinary committee’s recommendations for one-year suspensions for the protestors.
Last week, UF denied the appeals of students impacted.
FIRE attorney Jessie Appleby said the university issued rules specifically aimed at the demonstrators, which differed from the school’s existing policies. She added the university’s actions resulted in viewpoint discrimination, which is a violation of the student’s First Amendment rights.
Of the nine arrests, six people were students at UF. Appleby said in some of the cases, the arrests were misunderstandings because when police issued dispersal orders, students did not immediately move.
“The individual facts are nothing like what people might expect if they did see some of the more chaotic images coming out of other universities,” she said.
The students’ infractions were minor, according to Appleby. She said the punishments do not fit the crimes.
“The protesters in Florida had not done anything wrong,” Appleby said. “This was not anything like we saw out of Columbia or UCLA. These were genuinely peaceful protests. So there was no reason to crack down the way UF and other Florida schools did.”
Appleby said now it’s the students who are paying the price for the school’s overreaction. While there are no current plans to take UF’s decision to court, Appleby said the students are looking at what options are available.
Tess Segal is one of nine people arrested during the peaceful pro-Palestinian protest on April 29.
A disciplinary board found her not responsible for disruptive conduct and recommended a one-year suspension. But UF’s Dean of Students Chris Summerlin overrode the recommendations and tripled her suspension.
Segal appealed. Last week, the university’s administration denied her appeal and upheld its decision.
“And as, upsetting as all of these developments have been, we don’t want to lose focus from the point of being out there, which was standing with the people of Palestine,” Segal said.
Segal added the rhetoric surrounding many of these protests nationwide was deeply concerning.
“I resent the implication that the suppression of student dissent and free protest, free speech, somehow protects Jewish students. I am a Jewish student,” she said. “I was one of the many Jewish students at the University of Florida, and frankly, I don’t feel any safer in a world where we’re not protecting free speech.”
Segal was supposed to graduate in 2026 but is now suspended until 2027.
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