TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A confrontational Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday morning touted recent arrests and dismantling of pro-Palestine encampments at Florida universities. That was as protesters at the University of Florida chanted nearby, close enough they could be heard during a morning press conference.
"This has kind of become a common occurrence," DeSantis said. "Well, we don't do that here in the state of Florida, and so they did have an encampment, and it lasted about a few minutes."
For more than a half hour, DeSantis and other state education officials denounced how UCLA, Columbia and other schools have dealt with similar protests. Some resulted in the disruption of graduations as demonstrators occupied buildings and grounds. The governor vowed he'd "keep order" and wouldn't let something similar happen here.
"We're going to do it right," DeSantis said. "We're going to be focusing on academic rigor. We're going to be focusing on the pursuit of truth. We will not let the inmates run the asylum in the Sunshine State."
But members of DeSantis' party think more could be done. State lawmaker Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, said earlier this week Florida's antisemitism laws already on the books aren't being used to the fullest — a policy he helped craft.
"It's been a great source of disappointment to me," Fine said. "The legislation requires students who engage in antisemitic behavior to be treated the same way as students who engage in racist behavior. … If someone was chanting the N-word, walking through campus, they'd be gone in 30 seconds, as they should be.”
Florida's chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations, meanwhile, has denounced the governor for already going too far. Recent student arrests at Florida State, the University of Florida and the University of South Florida, mixed with rhetoric conflating pro-Palestine protests with the terror group Hamas, are chilling free speech, CAIR said.
"All they (students) are asking for are conversations to have, and how they want their universities to be invested and I feel they have a right to do that."
Protesters have called for schools to divest from Israel as one of their main goals. The request was a nonstarter for Florida's University Chancellor Ray Rodrigues. During the morning news conference, he said there would be no appeasement or divestment for Florida's universities. Later, Rodrigues then dismissed concerns that state officials were chilling speech.
"You may have seen a very large group of students and outside campus agitators joining in to protest our very speech," Rodrigues said. "None of them seemed chilled… and that's my answer."
