Protesters will be banned from the University of Florida’s campus buildings on Nov. 1, when the school's board of trustees plans to consider Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., to be its next president.
The university’s outgoing president Ken Fuchs said in a statement Monday that the school would enforce a two-decade-old rule prohibiting protests inside campus buildings, and that student violators will face disciplinary action under the school’s code of conduct.
“UF supports the First Amendment right to free speech and embraces our university as a place where people are able and encouraged to exchange differing viewpoints or express their feelings through peaceful protest. As our core value of freedom and civility states, ‘We are a community that affirms and embraces openness to an inclusive range of viewpoints.’ With this commitment comes an obligation to protect the rights of everyone in our community to speak and to hear,” Fuchs stated.
“I want to be clear that the university holds sacred the right to free speech, and I strongly encourage you to exercise it,” Fuchs added. “It is a blessing that distinguishes our great country from many others around the world, and as many from those other countries will tell you, we must protect it vigorously.”
Sasse announced earlier this month that he would resign from the Senate to become the university’s next president.
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