Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis weighed in on First Amendment rights during at a stop at Florida International University, days after a federal judge’s ruling shone a spotlight on the higher learning institution.
The governor was at FIU’s Modesto A. Maidique Campus in West Miami-Dade on Wednesday morning to highlight the state’s new program — the Coalition for Operational Readiness and Education, or CORE — which aims to train and teach students in careers for emergency management and disaster response.
DeSantis’ visit, however, comes just days after a federal judge temporarily sided with students at FIU who sued the university after they were disciplined for a silent protest in opposition of the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on campus.
U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Becerra issued a preliminary injunction finding the students, who are members of a group called the ICEbreakers FIU Coalition, are likely to succeed on their claim that the university violated their First Amendment rights when university officials disciplined them.
DeSantis said he supports freedom of expression as long as it doesn’t disrupt campus activities.
“My view has always been you can say things that are offensive. You can say things that other people don’t like. You can say things that are even hurtful. That’s kind of what the First Amendment is all about: It’s protecting speech that we don’t agree with or like,” he said. “Where it becomes an issue on college campuses is when those types of activists, activism, infringe on the rights of others through their conduct and behavior, and that could mean disrupting class, it could mean disrupting campus operations. The idea that a speaker would get shouted down, that’s not free speech, that’s different than that, so we’ve drawn that line, I think, pretty clearly. We can’t be in a situation where a student is going to be protected from views that they disagree with, and that’s just the reality that we believe in.”
FIU officials said the university will comply with the court’s order while it considers its legal options.
Source: News Miami – Fox News
