Tampa protest against repression of pro-Palestine students
Tampa, FL – On July 10, around 50 students and community members rallied and marched in support of students targeted by the University of South Florida (USF) for participating in a Gaza Solidarity encampment in April. Two students, Joseph Charry and Victoria Hinckley, were suspended and expelled respectively by the university, and now a third, Icarus Jaspard, was hit with code of conduct charges.
Hinckley, a member of Tampa Bay SDS, along with the other two students, was expelled only one assignment away from graduation. Charry was suspended for a year while being on an international student visa, endangering his status in the U.S. with deportation. The third student, Jaspard, was hit with code of conduct charges nine weeks after the Gaza Solidarity encampment, in a clear effort by USF to stop the ongoing student movement for divestment in apartheid Israel.
The event was hosted by Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society, whose members spoke on the demand for USF to disclose and divest from companies complicit in the genocide in Gaza, on the continued attacks on the student movement, and on each of the students’ conduct charges. Other community organizations such as the Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression were also present and gave a speech on the U.S. government and Israel’s intention of starting a war with the people of Lebanon.
“Through protesting and resistance, we will see the charges on the USF 13 and the students dropped,” said Tampa Bay SDS member Saba Indawala, referencing the 13 people arrested during the Gaza Solidarity. Indawala continued, “The student intifada continues to grow stronger and stronger and we will get USF to stop its attacks on the student movement.” Community members cheered in support of the students.
Afterwards, the protesters marched to chants of “Protesting is not a crime, free free Palestine!” and “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest!” At the end, members of Tampa Bay SDS shared a petition created in support of the charged students, and a national call-in flier organized by National Students for a Democratic Society to oppose USF’s attack on Icarus Jaspard.