NGO sues Florida over ban of pro-Palestine student group

The American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] has challenged Florida's ban on pro-Palestinian university groups, arguing in a federal lawsuit that the state is violating students' free speech as tensions roil US campuses over Israel's brutal war on besieged Gaza.

Florida’s university system, joined by Governor Ron DeSantis, last month ordered colleges to shut down chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine [SJP], a group at the centre of US campus activism since Hamas surprise blitz on October 7.

The suit on Thursday — against DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential hopeful, and several state university system officials — seeks a preliminary injunction to a state order blocking SJP from receiving school funds and using campus facilities.

"Members fear that at any moment the University will disrupt their ability to sustain their growing momentum for their advocacy," the suit said.

At least two Florida universities — the University of Florida and the University of South Florida — have SJP chapters. Students at US universities have clashed over issues emerging on both sides of the nearly six-week-old conflict.

Some accuse their schools of ignoring the plight of Gazans under Israeli fire and others of not doing enough to denounce antisemitism.

The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court in Florida by the ACLU, ACLU of Florida and Palestine Legal, cites a Supreme Court decision affirming students' right to associate and speak out on matters of public concern, and another case establishing that federal law does not criminalise "independent political advocacy" as long as it is not done in coordination with, or at the direction of, foreign terrorist groups.

Bans across universities

Brandeis University has also banned SJP indefinitely, and Columbia University and George Washington University have suspended the group.

The schools have cited the national organisation's support for Hamas and said their campus chapters violated school policies.

The student groups call the suspensions and bans unjust. Videos posted to Instagram have shown Palestinian supporters rallying at Columbia and George Washington on Wednesday in protest over the SJP groups' suspensions.

Florida's university system has said it based its ban on a "toolkit" issued by the national organisation to chapters that referred to Hamas' attack as "the resistance" and stated, "Palestinian students in exile are PART of this movement."

In his October 24 memo ordering the ban, State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said the national SJP identified itself as part of Hamas' attack and that it was a felony under Florida law "to provide material support... to a designated foreign terrorist organisation."

Brian Hauss, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project and counsel in the case, said the student plaintiffs in the state university system were victims of "guilt by association" in this case.

"They are a completely autonomous and independent group that is in no way beholden to the national Students for Justice in Palestine," Hauss said in an interview, adding that he did not believe the national organisation could be found criminally liable for its statements about Hamas.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion in besieged Gaza has killed over 11,500 Palestinians, most of whom are children.

The Israeli death toll stands at 1,200, officials say, after revising it down from 1,400.