People during a march calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on October 21, 2023. Photograph: Octavio Jones/Reuters.
A judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit that said Florida’s proposed ban on a pro-Palestinian movement on college campuses violated students’ free speech rights, ruling that the case was not merited because the ban had not yet taken effect.
The Florida university system, joined by Governor Ron DeSantis, asked colleges late last year to close branches of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a student movement that has become the focus of activity on American campuses since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. .
However, the colleges did not take any action consistent with this proposal.
Mark Walker, chief judge of the US District Court for Northern Florida, wrote on Wednesday that the governor’s description of members of the organization as terrorists understandably alarmed them.
But he said that closing the organization’s branches “remains just speculation.”
After a judge denied the organization’s request for a preliminary injunction on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the organization, said it would file a lawsuit again if officials in Florida took any step to close its branches.
Human rights defenders have observed a rise in rates of Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias, and anti-Semitism in the United States since the outbreak of war in Gaza in October. American universities are witnessing severe tension amid this conflict.
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