Education

University Of Florida Doles Out Suspensions Of Up To Four Years For Arrested Pro-Palestinian Protesters

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jaryn Crouson Contributor
Font Size:

The University of Florida (UF) suspended six students ranging from three to four years on Tuesday due to their alleged behavior at an anti-Israel protest, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Chris Summerlin, UF’s dean of students, overruled sentencing recommendations by university hearing bodies that examined each case and suggested lighter punishments such as probation or shorter suspensions, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The protesters were first arrested in April due to allegedly defying university guidelines prohibiting disruptive and violent behavior in a campus demonstration in protest of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Four of the students — Keely Gliwa, Tess Segal, Roseanna Bisram and Augustino Pulliam — were arrested for allegedly failing to obey police officers, with Gliwa, Bisram and Pulliam also being charged with resisting officers without violence, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Another student, Parker Hovis, was charged with trespassing, while UF student Allan Frasheri was charged with felony battery on an officer. (RELATED: Elite University Settles Lawsuit With Jewish Students Over Alleged Campus Antisemitism)

Frasheri was suspended for four years, while the rest were suspended for three. Gliwa, a master’s student who was expected to graduate in May, also had her diploma withheld, according to the Tampa Bay Times. All of the students will need to reapply to the university if they intend to continue their education following the suspension.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 18: Pro-Palestinian protesters participate in a Nakba Day rally and march on May 18, 2024 in the Bay Ridge section of New York City. Dozens of arrests were made during the rally and march as protesters faced off with hundreds of police. Nakba Day is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians to mark their 1948 expulsion from lands that are now part of greater Israel. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 18: Pro-Palestinian protesters participate in a Nakba Day rally and march on May 18, 2024 in the Bay Ridge section of New York City. Dozens of arrests were made during the rally and march as protesters faced off with hundreds of police. Nakba Day is an annual day of commemoration for Palestinians to mark their 1948 expulsion from lands that are now part of greater Israel. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Three others were arrested at the protest but were not current students, including Charly Pringle, a student at the nearby Santa Fe College, who was suspended from her school over the incident, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

UF is one of many universities that clashed with protesters following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and is part of a growing number that have issued harsh punishments to protesting students. Yale, Columbia and New York University all saw mass arrests following violent protests and encampments, and Vanderbilt University suspended multiple students who allegedly assaulted a police officer at a protest.

“People don’t get to spit at cops, you don’t get to barricade yourselves in buildings — you don’t get to disrupt somebody else’s commencement. We don’t allow protests inside,” UF president Ben Sasse told CNN in May about the protests. Sasse made the university’s stance on protesters clear in a memo released prior to the arrests that outlined prohibited behavior and potential consequences, including issuing trespasses and suspensions.

UF did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

You're signed up!

You're signed up!
You're signed up!

You're signed up!
You're signed up!

You're signed up!
You're signed up!
You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel