Pro-Palestinian protesters break out into chants at Florida State board meeting

When pro-Palestinian groups showed up for public comment at Florida State University's Board of Trustees meeting Friday, they were surprised to learn it had already happened.

The schedule said the general meeting started at 3 p.m. Members of the FSU Students for a Democratic Society and other organizations began arriving around 2:15 p.m.

FSU spokeswoman Amy Farnum-Patronis said the committee meetings that ran before ended early.

"Thus, the general board meeting started earlier than the time listed," Farnum-Patronis wrote in an email. She pointed to a meeting notice that read, "The agenda will be followed in subsequent order and items may be heard earlier than the scheduled time."

Around 20 people from a mix of student and community organizations didn't like that answer and decided to attend anyway, silently waving Palestinian flags in the back of the meeting room.

Some held signs, including one that had a marker-drawn Palestinian flag beside the words, "DOES FSU WANT TO PROFIT OFF ANOTHER GENOCIDE?" Someone at the front of the group held a phone aloft, the screen filled with the words, "FSU SILENCES ITS STUDENTS."

Following Hamas' brutal surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 and the subsequent war, tensions are high on college campuses across the state and nation. That was made clear at 3:08 p.m., when members broke out into chants, briefly interrupting the proceedings of FSU's governing board.

The meeting and the rally

"We have a question," one person shouted at 3:08 p.m. "Why did you expedite public comment so we couldn't come here? Why does FSU continue to fund genocide through its partnerships with Israel? Can any of you answer that?"

Then came the chants:

"Free, free Palestine."

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

Police escorted the protesters out of the school's University Center. No arrests were made, and they gathered for a rally outside.

"If we need to shout our speeches at you through the window, we will," said Cas Casanova, who started the chants during the meeting, through a megaphone pointed at the building.

The members proceeded to give the speeches they had planned for the board, occasionally breaking out into chants.

Three Jewish students stood near, one wearing an Israeli flag like a cape and another playing music on a Bluetooth speaker. A couple of the pro-Palestinian protesters shouted "shame" at them during the rally, and one person gave them the middle finger.

Casanova, pulled aside during the rally for an interview with the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida, is the former president of the FSU Students for a Democratic Society but recently graduated.

"We called the office to make sure that public comment would be occurring at the time it said online," Casanova said. The groups had also announced they would attend the meeting in a press release. "They took that opportunity from us to be able to speak. ... We said, 'We want to speak anyway, and we're not going to let ourselves be silenced just because they sped up the agenda.' "

Casanova said the chanting, though, was impromptu and unplanned.

What's happening in Florida

As the Israel-Hamas War protests continue across Florida college campuses, Gov. Ron DeSantis has faced mounting pressure to do something about antisemitic speech.

While the pro-Palestinian protesters Friday and others across Florida say they've also faced increased hate speech from pro-Israel protesters, DeSantis called rising Islamophobia "so-called" during the latest presidential debate, a statement that was derided by President Joe Biden's administration.

"It’s the antisemitism that’s spiraling out of control," DeSantis said at the Wednesday debate. "That is what we have to confront."

DeSantis also touted that he had deactivated student groups he said supported Hamas at the University of Florida and the University of South Florida.

But his top higher education official said otherwise in a meeting the morning after.

The governor maintains that deactivating the groups is still his directive and blasted university administrators for "bureaucratic roadblocks."

DeSantis' deactivation calls alarmed First Amendment groups, who said it would represent an unconstitutional suppression of speech.

Meanwhile, the no-deactivation news further angered Florida Rep. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, who recently switched his election support from DeSantis to former President Donald Trump, blaming the governor's handling of Jewish concerns.

"This administration doesn’t mind passing bill after bill after bill after bill that end up in court," he said, before naming a multitude. "All of a sudden when it comes to protecting Jews we get worried about going to court.

"He didn’t mind removing state attorneys who weren’t doing their jobs, but, again, when it comes to Jews, 'Well, I’ve said it and people just aren’t listening to me,'" Fine said.

This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Pro-Palestinian chants break out during FSU board meeting