Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida. Credit: Pablo Corredor via Wikimedia Commons.
Chris Summerlin, dean of students at the University of Florida in Gainesville, chose not to offer slap-on-the-wrist penalties to pro-Hamas protesters arrested on campus on April 29.
Instead, Summerlin applied multiple-year suspensions of some students, the most severe penalty short of expulsion. The students in question will need to reapply should they wish to continue their education at the school, an option not allowed if expelled.
Summerlin, who began his position in April, rejected recommendations from hearing bodies that examined police videos and heard testimony. Tess Jaden Segal, 20, and Allan Hektor Frasheri, 21, received suggested sentences of one-year suspensions; Summerlin took it a step further and administered three- and four-year suspensions, respectively.
Segal said in a statement that her protesting for the university to divest from was “is an act of tikkun olam. I stand in solidarity with Palestinians not in spite of my Judaism but because of it.”
Frasheri also faces criminal charges for allegedly spitting on a university police officer. The court scheduled a hearing for him on July 24.
Other students receiving three-year suspensions included Roseanna Yashoda Bisram, 20, and Augustino Matthias Pulliam, 20.
When the encampment was attempted, the university stated that while peaceful protests are protected, “Camping, putting up structures, disrupting academic activity, or threatening others on university property is strictly prohibited,” and the rules have been in place for years.
Steve Orlando, a spokesman for the university, said in April that “The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences.” He added that the protestors had been reminded of the rules for several days, and that prohibited activities would result in a three-year ban. “Individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply.”
The students are appealing their suspensions and calling for the state to drop charges against them. They say the three year ban is a “de facto expulsion” as it puts their education on hold for three years if they want to continue at Florida.
The nine who were arrested, none of whom have prior criminal convictions, turned down deferred prosecution agreements from the Alachua County State Attorney’s Office, where they would plead no contest or guilty and the charges would effectively be dropped from their records if they committed no further crimes during a period of time, usually 12 months.
Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, reported that one student arrested during the protests lied about being suspended for three years by nearby Santa Fe College. The college reported that not only has Charly Keanu Pringle, 21, not been suspended, she had not been enrolled as a student since the previous spring.
She had shared fraudulent emails and an AI-generated voicemail with a reporter to back up her claims. She also said her brother had sent the emails detailing the suspension, but he had died a month before she was arrested.
Her supposed suspension was included in a news release distributed by the students who were arrested at Florida.
Pringle has been banned from Florida’s campus for three years.
From JNS and SJL reports.