Tampa, FL – On Monday, November 25, a group of students and community members held a rally to demand free speech on campus. The University of South Florida’s (USF) administration continues to deny students the right to free speech and assembly, with police saying they cannot hold events or even leaflet.

The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) are demanding that USF stop the repression and drop USF policy 6-028. This new policy, introduced by the USF administration in the summer, puts limits on campus events, requires administration approval of protests, bans bake sales, and launches other attacks on students’ free speech.

In particular the students are demanding the right to protest the U.S./Israel genocide in Gaza.

Students chanted, “When the student movement is under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Signs read, “Protect free speech on campus” and a banner reading, “Defend student protests for Palestine.”

This rally was organized after the formal university hearings for Saba Indawala and another student, who were both placed on interim suspension after an October 1 “Defend Free Speech on Campus” rally. In a victory to the student movement in Tampa Bay, both of their interim suspensions were lifted, allowing them to return to campus.

Members from Tampa Bay SDS, as well as the Tampa Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, spoke out against the policies, the repression and the violence that the USF administration continues to enact on student activists.

#TampaFL #FL #StudentMovement #FreeSpeech #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #SDS