The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees met Tuesday, June 25 to approve a campus-wide ban on camping.
Students and members of the public attended the meeting, to speak out against these changes. No one in attendance spoke in favor of the ban.
Senior Muah Dahn was there. She said she’s disappointed by these changes, which make it harder to protest on campus. She’s a political science major, who is active in several student groups including the Florida Student Power Network.
“We have a very large pro-Palestinian demographic, but regardless of what side you stand on, it’s an attack on your political free speech,” Dahn said.
Terri Falbo was also at the meeting. She’s a member of the public who wanted to support students speaking out against the ban. She herself, protested against apartheid in South Africa on her college campus in the 80's and 90's.
“I have a feeling that it’s totally being done for political reasons to suppress a political viewpoint from being out there,” Falbo said.
The action comes after pro-Palestinian protests were held at UCF, and at universities across Florida at the end of the last school year. Dozens of students were arrested on the University of Florida, South Florida and Florida State University campuses during these protests.
The new rules ban camping on any UCF property unless it’s part of a university-sponsored activity that has been given written approval by leadership. Tail-gating, ahead of football games, will not be impacted by the ban.
The trustees also approved new rules that limit on-campus events to between the hours of 8 am and 8 pm Sunday through Thursday, and between 8 am and 10 pm on Friday and Saturday. In addition, no event can run for more than five consecutive days.
Any events held outside these hours, must be, “specifically approved by the University at least fifteen calendar days in advance, so that the University can make custodial and security arrangements.”
Governor Ron DeSantis told university officials last spring to avoid canceling commencement ceremonies due to protests.
He called on any student who disrupted a graduation ceremony to be expelled, and any student who threatened Jewish students as part of the protests to be expelled or deported, if the student was an international student.
Campus protests against the Israel-Hamas War, along with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza spread across the U.S. last April. According to the United Nations, the death toll in Gaza now exceeds 30,000. The majority of the deaths are women and children.
The first major encampment and protest took place on Columbia University’s campus, with students demanding the university divest from Israel.
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