by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News July 12, 2024
Seven students who ignored warnings and attempted to start a pro-Hamas occupation of the University of Florida have been suspended by the university for 3 to 4 years.
The students were arrested by university police or Florida state troopers during an April 29 demonstration on a plaza on the Gainesville campus. All seven remain banned from university property.
“For many days, we have patiently told protesters — many of whom are outside agitators — that they were able to exercise their right to free speech and free assembly,” a university spokesperson said. “And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university.”
According to local reports this week, Dean of Students Chris Summerlin overruled the recommendations from recent disciplinary hearings for light punishments for the students after hearing testimony and watching police video of the protests and arrests.
The hearing bodies had recommended probation for Keely Nicole Gliwa, 23, of Gainesville – a master’s student who expected to graduate May 2 – and a deferred suspension for Parker Stanely Hovis, 26, of Naples, Florida. The university withheld Gliwa’s diploma and suspended both Gliwa and Hovis for three years.
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In other cases, the hearing body recommended a one-year suspension for Tess Jaden Segal, 20, of Weston, Florida, and Allan Hektor Frasheri, 21, of Largo, Florida, but UF suspended Segal for three years and Frasheri for four years.
The university suspended Roseanna Yashoda Bisram, 20, of Ocala for three years, the same duration as the hearing body recommended. Augustino Matthias Pulliam, 20, a freshman theater major from Jacksonville, also was suspended three years. Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, of Jacksonville, said she had been suspended for three years in a separate disciplinary process at Santa Fe College, but that was not true. Pringle hadn’t been a student there since spring last year, according to school records, and administrators said she had not been suspended.
The seven students said they have submitted appeals to overturn their punishments, which they said were pending.
The suspensions mean that each would need to reapply for admission to UF. The only worse punishment would have been to expel them, which would have prevented them ever from returning.
“The University of Florida was clear from the very beginning that an arrest for violations of prohibited activities would result in an interim suspension and a trespass order for three years,” the university spokesperson told Campus Reform.
University of Florida suspends pro-Hamas student protesters for 3 to 4 years added by Editor Two on July 12, 2024
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