University of Florida College Republicans Sue After Chapter Shut Down Amid Antisemitism Allegations

(SeaPRwire) –   The College Republicans chapter is suing the University of Florida’s president, alleging the school’s move to deactivate it violated free speech rights after learning that at least one member participated in an antisemitic action.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in federal court against interim president Donald Landry, the University of Florida College Republicans requested a judge to halt the school’s decision and reinstate their access to facilities on the Gainesville campus.

The lawsuit states, “The University of Florida punitively deactivated and shut down the UFCR, in response to alleged viewpoints expressed by a member of UFCR, and in an effort to silence the club and chill its future speech.”

In an email, UF spokeswoman Cynthia Roldan Hernandez stated that the university does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Over the weekend, University of Florida officials reported they were notified by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that the federation had dissolved the Gainesville campus chapter upon finding that some members had “engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture.”

UF officials said in a statement that the university will help reactivate the campus chapter with new student leadership once the Florida Federation of College Republicans is prepared.

According to the lawsuit, the deactivation was not grounded in any university policy or rule, but solely on a member’s expression of a viewpoint “which was alleged to be antisemitic.”

The lawsuit also claims the university failed to give the College Republicans sufficient notice and did not allow the chapter a chance to present its side of the story.

This action at the University of Florida represents the second instance this month of a public university in Florida acting against a Republican group accused of racist or antisemitic conduct.

Earlier this month, Florida International University in Miami initiated an investigation into a group chat created by an official from the Miami-Dade chapter of the Republican Party that contained violently racist slurs, antisemitic remarks, and misogynistic language. Students and several prominent conservative leaders at Florida International University were involved in the chat.

Last fall, New York’s Republican State Committee suspended a Young Republican organization after a group chat was made public that contained jokes about rape and casual remarks concerning gas chambers.