Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday ordered state universities to close down chapters of College students for Justice in Palestine, a Palestinian advocacy group.
The State College System of Florida, the physique that governs the 12 public universities within the state, famous in a letter to college leaders earlier this week that the SJP chapters wanted to be dismantled as a part of “a crackdown on campus demonstrations” due to the group’s “dangerous help for terrorist teams.”
“Based mostly on the Nationwide SJP’s help of terrorism, in session with Governor DeSantis, the scholar chapters have to be deactivated,” Ray Rodrigues, the system’s chancellor, wrote within the letter.
“It’s a felony underneath Florida regulation to ‘knowingly present materials help’ … to a delegated overseas terrorist group,” the letter mentioned.
With greater than 200 chapters throughout North America, SJP is a nationwide pupil motion that organizes for “Palestinian liberation and self-determination,” in keeping with the nationwide chapter’s web site. Conservatives have lengthy criticized the group, claiming it helps the militant group Hamas and is antisemitic. SJP has denied these accusations.
Rodrigues wrote that SJP was lively in at the very least two Florida universities, however he didn’t identify the faculties. The College of North Florida in Jacksonville and Florida State College in Tallahassee seem to have lively SJP chapters, in keeping with social media.
Neither SJP Nationwide nor the State College System of Florida responded to HuffPost’s request for remark.
The information has stirred backlash, with critics saying the transfer violates freedom of speech and unfairly targets Palestinian activism, notably these vital of Israel’s bombing marketing campaign in Gaza after the Oct. 7 terrorist assaults in Israel by Hamas. Individuals voicing their help for Palestinian rights have confronted on-line intimidation and have even suffered professional consequences from their employers or universities. A coalition of organizations, together with the nationwide SJP chapter, led a walkout on more than 100 campuses throughout the nation on Wednesday in help of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Florida’s college system mentioned it primarily based its resolution after the nationwide SJP despatched out a “toolkit” to its over 200 college chapters that allegedly referred to Hamas’ assault as “the resistance.”
HuffPost was not capable of confirm that such a toolkit exists.
DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, has vehemently endorsed Israeli forces cutting off clean water and different primary utilities in Gaza in retaliation for Hamas’ terrorist assaults. Final week, he mentioned the U.S. mustn’t soak up any Palestinian refugees as a result of they had been “all antisemitic.”
Omar Saleh, the managing lawyer for the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, known as the memo “disturbing” and mentioned DeSantis’ motion on SJP chapters “ought to concern the nation.”
“All that is going to do is silence any campus participation and free speech,” he mentioned.
Equating the scholar group and terrorist organizations was “harmful,” Saleh mentioned, including that the state’s rhetoric has the potential to silence different organizations or encourage hostility towards them.
Palestine Authorized, a authorized group devoted to supporting Palestinian activism and free speech, mentioned banning SJP was unconstitutional.
“Florida, notably underneath the management of Governor Ron DeSantis, has been actively undermining education, freedom of speech and social justice movements, together with by banning anti-racist programs and making an attempt to criminalize protest,” the group mentioned in a statement printed on Wednesday.
“It is a blatant assault on college students’ First Modification rights, and it will likely be challenged in courtroom,” the group added.
Saleh mentioned the scholars are at the moment working with organizations to discover their authorized choices.
“That is past a matter involving a overseas battle. That is affecting our Florida. That is affecting our nation,” Saleh mentioned. “These are American college students who’ve these rights. That is about our personal freedoms.”