In the past week, pro-Hamas activists at Columbia University built a tent city on school grounds, as Matt covered. Not to mention, hundreds of staff members walked out of work to join the protests. At one point, Minnesota Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter was suspended from school and later arrested for her involvement.
On Thursday, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis said in remarks that if a college student in his state tries to harass Jewish students, they will be expelled from school.
“We’re not going to tolerate that,” DeSantis said of pro-Hamas protesters who have been blocking roads across the country.
“You look at these universities…when we have students who are doing that…some of stuff with Hamas, I think it’s absurd that someone would go out and demonstrate on that, but, if you’re chasing Jewish students around, when you’re not letting a Jewish professor enter a building, when you’re targeting people like that…that’s not free speech. That’s harassment,” DeSantis explained.
“And yet, at Columbia, at Yale, all these places, those folks rule the roost. They do whatever they want. And these administrators and the presidents of these universities are weak. They’re scared and they don’t do anything. You do that in Florida, at our universities, we’re showing you the door. You’re going to be expelled.”
At places like Columbia and Yale, Hamas protesters rule the roost, and the universities are too weak and scared to do anything—even as these mobs harass Jewish students and faculty.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 25, 2024
If you try that at a Florida university, you are going to be expelled. pic.twitter.com/pY1VkoiTwn
Earlier this week, WUSF reported that DeSantis said that he would deport foreign students who partake in this kind of behavior.
"I think the students, if they're foreign students on visas, their visas should be canceled and they should be sent home. That should just happen,” DeSantis said.
“The students do this stuff, and know there's not gonna be any repercussions. The minute there's repercussions, you will start to see a change in behavior,” DeSantis added.