ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — College Republicans are suing the president of the University of Florida on free speech grounds over the school’s decision to cancel its chapter after learning at least one member engaged in anti-Semitic behavior.
The University of Florida College Republicans filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday against interim president Donald Landry, asking a judge to halt enforcement of the school’s decision and restore access to campus facilities in Gainesville.
“The University of Florida punitively deactivated and shut down the UFCR in response to alleged views expressed by a member of the UFCR and in an effort to silence the club and cool its future rhetoric,” the organization said in the lawsuit.
University of Florida spokesperson Cynthia Roldan Hernandez said in an email that the university does not comment on pending litigation.
University of Florida officials said over the weekend that they were notified by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that it had disbanded its Gainesville campus chapter after determining that some members had “engaged in a pattern of behavior that violates its rules and values, including recent anti-Semitic gestures.”
University of Florida officials said in a statement that when the Florida Federation of College Republicans is ready, the university will help relaunch the campus chapter under new student leadership.
The suspension was not based on any university policy or rule, but solely on the “allegedly anti-Semitic” views expressed by a member, the lawsuit said.
The university also failed to provide College Republicans with adequate notice or give the chapter a chance to explain its side of the story, the lawsuit alleges.
The deactivation effort on the University of Florida campus marks the second time this month that a Florida public university has taken action against a Republican group accused of engaging in racist or anti-Semitic conduct.
Earlier this month, Florida International University in Miami launched an investigation into a group chat initiated by an official of the Miami-Dade chapter of the Republican Party that included violent racist slurs, anti-Semitic remarks and misogynistic language. The conversation involved Florida International University students and several top conservative leaders.
Last fall, the New York Republican State Committee suspended a Young Republicans group after it posted a group chat that included rape jokes and flippant comments about gas chambers.
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