FIRE wrote this letter Wednesday to various Florida public universities:
FIRE is deeply concerned by reports [link] that Florida's public universities … have been ordered by State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, at the behest of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to derecognize campus chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine due to their affiliation with National Students for Justice in Palestine, which distributed a guide to protests to its student chapters. {The guide [link] called for "a national day of resistance from the student movement for Palestine liberation on college campuses" on October 12 and provided an RSVP link for a meeting on "'how to organize a protest,' including roles, security, media training, and more," as well providing additional ways to engage in the movement should protest not be possible, including teach-ins and writing local statement of solidarity. It also includes information about the organization's messaging and framing, hashtags for social media use, and graphic templates..}
By insupportably alleging that communications about campus protests from the national organization to its campus chapters constitutes material support for Hamas' terrorist activity overseas, this order unlawfully threatens students' clear expressive and associational rights under the First Amendment. To avoid violating clearly established law, [Florida universities] must not comply with the order.
In a letter to all State University System of Florida presidents on Monday [link], Rodrigues said that "based on National SJP's support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student [SJP] chapters must be deactivated. These … student chapters may form another organization that complies with Florida state statutes and university policies."
