Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Tampa Bay SDS.

On Tuesday, April 4th, one of our members, Lauren Pineiro, retroactively received student code of conduct violations relating to our protest on March 6th in which we were brutally attacked by University of South Florida police officers. This comes as two of our other members, who were previously charged, are having student code of conduct hearings. Pineiro is set to graduate at the end of this semester, with a major in Sociology and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, but these conduct violations could put their degree in jeopardy. Additionally, the communication from USF states that the school intends to charge Pineiro with two misdemeanors and a felony, like the Tampa 4. It is clear that USF is trying to intimidate us by stacking our members with false charges in order to eliminate student protests on campus. After we successfully prevented a USF employee from being fired for supporting our protest, we can see the university becoming more desperate.

We have consistently asked to speak with administrators; however they all ignore us. Yet, they all, including President Rhea Law, continue to spread false narratives about us and support the police who brutally attacked students. We find all of the charges unlawful and in violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech. By attacking us, USF and Rhea Law firmly plant themselves on the same side as Governor DeSantis, who seeks to completely gut tenure, gender studies, and African American studies. We are not at all intimidated by the university’s attempts to silence us, and we will continue to organize on campus in support of student’s rights, diversity, and increased Black enrollment at USF.

Defending diversity is not a crime!

Drop the charges on the Tampa 4!

#TampaFL #Tampa4

Tampa, FL – Almost 200 trade unionists and supporters signed an open letter to the University of South Florida demanding AFSCME member Chrisley Carpio keep her job. Carpio is one of the protesters the USF Police Department brutalized at a Students for a Democratic Society protest for diversity on March 6. She is one of four protesters arrested and facing felony charges for battery on a law enforcement officer. Carpio was placed on administrative leave on March 7.

USF human resources emailed Chrisley Carpio on Wednesday, March 22 with a notice of a Monday, March 27 hearing on a request for her termination. Carpio hadn’t had any charges filed against her when the email was sent. USF also initially denied Carpio’s request for union representation during this meeting, a violation of her Weingarten rights under federal law.

By the date of the request for termination hearing, 180 people had signed the letter of support for Carpio. Dozens of people joined USF Students for a Democratic Society’s call-in campaign to USF human resources in support of Carpio. USF moved the request for termination hearing to Thursday March 30, to allow Carpio’s union representation to attend.

A spokesperson for AFSCME, Nat Bender, gave a statement to the Tampa Bay Times in support of Carpio’s right to free speech and the protection of her job during the investigation.

“What USF is doing is not only unfair, it's criminal. Instead of defending education, multicultural programs, and Black studies and women's studies from DeSantis' attacks, they're trying to fire a worker who dared to stand with students. They need to fire the police chief and [USF President] Rhea Law. They need to take a stand against these attacks. They need to drop the charges. And they need to give me my job back,” said Carpio, a member of AFSCME Local 3342 and Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society.

If USF fires Chrisley Carpio, AFSCME Local 3342 will fight for her job. The signatures to the letter of support show students and trade unionists alike agree protesting is not a crime and workers should not be fired for supporting diversity on campus.

#TampaFL #Labor #Tampa4

New Orleans, LA – On Thursday, March 9, over a dozen students at the University of New Orleans rallied at the school administrative building. They demanded that the Florida State Attorney drop all charges against four University of South Florida students who were brutalized and then arrested earlier in the week.

Students United, an affiliate of Students for a Democratic Society, organized the protest in response to a national call to support the Tampa 4. UNO students also pressed their demand for increased Black enrollment. Organizers demanded that UNO take action to support a growth in Black enrollment up from 23% to represent the people of New Orleans, a 58% Black city.

Students United showed strong support for the other members of the SDS facing charges in Florida, with signs declaring “Protest is not a crime.” Students United member Mathieu Ricciardo demanded that the “unjust charges be dropped, and the students be returned to normal status at their college.” They went on to point out that the DeSantis governorship in Florida is a “new frontline of organized reactionary politics” with “attacks on abortion rights, trans rights, voter rights and DEI programs.”

An organizer from the YDSA Loyola agreed that the attacks on the people need to be met with resistance, saying, “It’s time for us to stand up and fight back now before it reaches us.”

Referencing the fact that this was the first protest called without the administration’s involvement on campus in over a decade, Ricciardo called for solidarity with students around the country, saying, “This is the burgeoning of a new grassroots student movement in New Orleans.”

This new student movement in New Orleans has elected to fight back by struggling to increase the Black enrollment on their campus to adequately match the make-up of the city. “There is no sensible reason why the student body doesn’t represent the New Orleans area, in terms of demographics”, said Raven Ford, from Students United. Calling for measures to increase Black enrollment, such as adding an African-American and Diaspora Studies major, Ford added, “We are the New Orleans community and the student body should reflect the New Orleans community,” and “the curriculum should highlight all history, not just whitewashed propaganda.”

A petition offered to those that passed by the speakout garnered over 60 signatures. Many students volunteered to speak out on the mic against the injustice of low Black enrollment. After 45 minutes of speeches and chants, the UNOPD came to shut down the students’ sound speaker, but rally persisted in making their voices heard by shouting and chanting.

Readers can support the Tampa 4 by calling Florida State Attorney Susan Lopez at (813) 272-5400 to demand that all charges be dropped and can support Students United's petition at https://linktr.ee/studentsuniteduno.

#NewOrleansLA #Tampa4

Minneapolis, MN – 20 people gathered at a busy Dinkytown intersection for a rally organized by Students for a Democratic Society at the University of Minnesota to show solidarity with the Tampa 4 and demand that all charges against them be dropped.

The Tampa 4 are young organizers who were brutalized and arrested by University of South Florida police officers during a protest hosted by Tampa Bay SDS calling for protections for diversity programs and increased Black enrollment at their university.

Videos of the incident have amassed thousands of views across different social media and news platforms. The four protesters who were arrested – Gia Davila, Chrisley Carpio, Laura Rodriguez and Jeanie Kida – are each facing bogus felony charges as well as two or three misdemeanors.

Between speeches, UMN SDS members chanted and handed out fliers to passersby, urging them to join them in a call-in to Florida State Attorney Susan Lopez to demand that all charges against the Tampa 4 be dropped immediately.

Former SDS member and current Minnesota Abortion Action Committee member Olivia Crull pointed out the broader message that these arrests communicate, stating, “These students were right to chant and to yell and take up space so that they and their fellow students could have access to the education that they deserve. And for that, they were brutalized. This was an attack on the fundamental right to protest.” Crull concluded that this event points to the growing trend of political repression that is coupled with attacks on diversity programs and the teaching of Black history at schools in Florida and beyond.

The rally closed out with the promise of continued solidarity with Tampa Bay SDS as they navigate their members’ charges, as well as the assertion that defending diversity is not a crime.

Other supporting organizations were Freedom Road Socialist Organization and Anti-War Committee.

To stay up to date on the case of the Tampa 4, follow @tampabaysds and @nationalsds/ @newsds on Instagram and Twitter.

#MinneapolisMN #Tampa4

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

On March 6, Students for a Democratic Society at the University of South Florida held a protest near their University President’s office to demand that their university take a stand against House Bill 999, which is the latest in Governor DeSantis’ attacks against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and to demand that the USF Administration take immediate action to Increase Black Enrollment and restore the Diversity department at their College of Arts and Sciences. In response, the University of South Florida Police Department attacked protesters, utilizing chokeholds and other cruel methods, brutalizing and arresting 4 protesters, including members of USF SDS, without even making clear what they were being charged with and where they would be taken. One protestor who was complying with officers was dragged to the ground and kicked in the head.

After the police held our members all day in the county jail, a mass call-in campaign successfully led to their release. But the fight to defend the Tampa 4 is not over. After releasing the Tampa 4, the police announced a series of completely bogus charges, including felony counts. This is nothing less than a blatant attack on the right to protest, and an attempt to criminalize protesters fighting back against DeSantis’ reactionary attacks in the face of University Administration’s compliance with those attacks.

Chrisley Carpio – a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and one of the Tampa 4 who was brutalized and arrested by USFPD – had this to say: “What happened was a nightmare. Students and workers fighting to oppose House Bill 999 and increase Black Enrollment at USF, were put in chokeholds, and groped and beat for daring to say something. Governor DeSantis and President Rhea Law are bear responsibly for this. We won't leave campus; we won't stop protesting. USF and the county need to drop the charges on the Tampa 4; they need to condemn DeSantis' attacks on diversity; and Rhea Law needs to step down as president. We won't back down until DeSantis' racist attacks and USF's cowardly compliance come to an end.”

As these attacks on diversity programs on campuses continue to expand across Florida and the rest of the country, and as DeSantis bans AP African American Studies and any discussion of racism from K-12 schools, we continue to demand the protection and expansion of multicultural studies and DEI programs, the increasing of Black enrollment – as our Tampa chapter has raised – and the teaching of Black history in all schools. We demand that Florida universities refuse to comply with DeSantis’ attacks on DEI.

Students for a Democratic Society condemns this blatant display of brutality by USF PD at this action. Protesting is and will remain – as long as we continue to fight for it – a right.

In the face of this police brutality and repression, we will not back down from the fight to defend our fellow student organizers and to protect diversity programs and cultural studies on our campuses across the country. On March 7th we called an emergency day of action to drop the charges against the Tampa 4, and SDS chapters and students and youth organizations across the country have already responded and taken to the streets, and we will not give in until every last charge against the Tampa 4 is dismissed. When the right to protest is under attack; when our members and student organizers are under attack, we have no choice but to fight back. An injury to one is an injury to all!

Justice for the Tampa 4!

Drop the Charges!

Defending Diversity is Not a Crime!

#TampaFlorida #TampaFL #StudentMovement #StudentsForADemocraticSocietySDS #PoliticalRepression #Tampa4