Tampa, FL – On Tuesday, September 3, Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (Tampa Bay SDS), along with 20 other students and community members, held a pro-Palestine rally at the Marshall Student Center Bull Fountain to demand that the University of South Florida (USF) administration reverse the expulsion of Victoria Hinckley and suspension of Joseph Charry, disclose and divest investments to Israel, and stop attacks on the student movement.

Before the rally was scheduled to start, campus police and USF administration, including Dean of Students Danielle McDonald, were waiting for Tampa Bay SDS outside the student center. While students gathered signs and banners to hold the event, McDonald, immediately approached and stated that students will face conduct charges if they continue with the protest.

When Tampa Bay SDS attempted to reason with her, she refused to listen and continued to threaten code of conduct charges on SDS members. One SDS member, Isabella Deschene, stated, “even though no event ever occurred, Dean McDonald demanded everyone disperse or they would have academic charges or would get trespassed if they were not a student.”

This comes after Tampa Bay SDS had faced their group being expelled from campus for leading their Gaza solidarity encampment last spring.

In the beginning of the fall semester, USF covertly enacted new policies, such as policy 6-028, that would severely limit a student’s right to protest. This policy requires that event spaces be reserved, and that “the use of amplified sound or elevated voices/volume on any campus must be in conformity with this policy.”

Additionally, The USF dean of students office sent the following statement to students last week, clearly infringing on a student’s right to free speech and assembly, “As a public university, we must uphold the constitutional right to free speech, and we must ensure that our academic endeavors are not disrupted. Therefore, under the First Amendment, USF can apply content-neutral limits to all activities based on time, place, and manner.”

The students in Tampa Bay SDS are not discouraged from organizing, despite the political repression from USF administration. Allie Enriquez, a member of Tampa Bay SDS stated, “I feel the need to continue organizing because political repression does not mean that the issues being protested will go away.”

The USF administration is scrambling for illegal methods to repress the student movement, and their moment of repression will be ended through students continuing to fight back.

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